1. A computer-implemented method for querying a reputation system to rank a set of items, comprising: obtaining a query comprising one or more dimensions and one or more weights associated with the one or more dimensions, wherein the query further comprises one or more quantiles associated with the one or more dimensions, wherein the dimensions comprise skills and the items comprise users, wherein the quantiles specify skill levels desired for the users, and wherein the weights specify importance of the skills; obtaining a ranking of the set of items in the reputation system based on a closeness of reputation scores for the items in the one or more dimensions to the one or more quantiles, and the one or more weights, wherein the closeness of the reputation scores to the one or more quantiles is based on a rectilinear distance between the reputation scores and the one or more quantiles; and providing the ranking of the set of items in a response to the query.