duno what ur talking about... i click the scales, get 2 options (approve is uprep; disapprove is down.rep) and a place to type a message.... that's the neg rep with scales... which i believe shows up red in "my IC", where as uprep shows up green if given by a full member and grey if given by a member... with... like..... less than 250 posts (?).... i think.
and it does tell you WHO gave it (via "my IC"), where as the "no" vote would not report to you WHO gave it in "my IC".
There are differences in what you can do with the scales, it may be to do with people's account settings. For example, I have received quite a few funny pics through the rep system from stoner4life, but I can't send any back, because I don't get the option to choose pos/neg and leave a message on S4l's "My IC," by using the scales. Similarly, Wiggs has his turned off entirely.