Rate content and attribute points to author I am looking for a module that allows users to be rated points +1 -1 . Any suggestions?  I would like individual users to be rated like stack exchange. I would also eventually like to have a rating for a node, e.g. project which also contributes to the user's points.
You're looking for the User Points module. For node ratings you can use the User points Nodes and Comments or/and the Fivestar modules. There are also plenty of other modules that integrate with the User Points module, there's a nice list in the User Points Contributed modules page.