rwarren, check out the topic, "Anti-Online points" under the FAQ section of this website for more info on those "dots". But if you like, i can give you the long and short of it, since i just understood the system a few minutes ago...there are three colors of dots...red, green and gray..red dots signify a negative response to you, green dots signify a positive response, while gray dots signify an "equal" balance of green and red dots. Basically, you get those dots when users assign them to you...if they like what you post, they give you a positive rating (green), if they DONT like what you posted, they might assign a negative rating (red). now, how about you giving others points..its the same thing. Just look for the "Assign Positive or Negative Anti-Points to this Post" and click on that..there you can do the same for him/her. Hope i managed to help you...