Where is $post['reputation'] defined?
 

Since I didn't get much luck here (at least, not yet :p), I decided to try and code this myself by using SELECT distinct.

To do this, I needed to fully understand how reputation is defined and created. The road block I've come across is, I cannot seem to find where $post['reputation'] is defined. I searched every vbulletin file, and see it defined nowhere. I checked the post table and there is no reputation column so I'm pretty lost at this point.

I've looked thoroughly through functions_reputations.php and reputation.php. What am I missing?

Did you check reputation.php?

I did, and $post['reputation'] is nowhere to be found. I'm new to PHP so it's very possible I'm missing something here.

I'm currently going through reputation.php line-by-line, but if someone more experienced could help me out with this relatively simple problem of how $post['reputation'] is defined, I'd be very grateful.

It's a field in the user table. You will have to look for the function that updates that field. The field value could be updated based on several factors (post count, reputation given to them, date since joined), so if you are wondering how the value increases, you will have to look into those different areas to see what is done.

Better not search for $post['reputation'], but only for 'reputation'.