I can see why people don't take the reputation feature on these boards very seriously but I am surprised the reference system isn't used more, at least this shows you are a genuine client or that a profile of a lady is a genuine one as an established member is vouching that they have personally met them.
If you are not familiar with giving someone a reference, once you have actually met the person you can go to their profile click on the Tab references and give them one or see if they have any so you know you are dealing with a genuine person, it ain't going to help every time but every little helps right!