The new rule seems to have decreased the rep abuse significantly since it was added. It might seem like a stupid or even silly idea for many of you, but it actually does work. So please respect the rules and don't write it. If you want to say that someone have done a good job at anything then you can write at least a sentence about it to give the person some credit instead of writing "+ rep". It's a one word reply and that itself has always been against the rules as spam. To write a sentence or more and add "+ rep" in the end serves no other purpose that to point out that you are giving rep, to other users as the person you give the rep to will notice that anyway.