Not silly...the reputation system has always worked like this (needed to give reputation to other members before giving reputation back to the same member again).
The "must spread some reputation around"...is one way we prevent abuse's of the reputation system. You may have been giving the same reputation to the same people for years...but you must have interspersed giving rep to the same people with other members as well.
We take the reputation system seriously...since it can be a very important measure for members with an issue/question...to gauge the quality of a response from any given current member. And a members reputation is also useful when involved in Buy/Sell/Trade transactions (trustworthiness).
We definitely appreciate everyone's use of the reputation system.
This