Why do people actually care about Y!A points?

Question

I mean you get a lot of answers saying, 'ha,ha two points!' and 'Man, you must have too many points to waste on these questions.'

Do people actually judge others on how many points they have and by that, how much time they spend in front of a computer screen each day? Why are people so worried on their points? Should we not be doing our best to give quality answers or at least have a bit of fun with not so serious questions and answers?

Answer 1

I think that once you impliment some sort of points or rating system it becomes human nature to be "better" than anyone else.

With that, there will be those that will become obsessed with it. They will, as their points rise, begin feeling arrogant or even talking down to those that aren't on their "level" of intelligence (and I use that word VERY lightly).

Long story short, it human nature at it's finest.

Answer 2

This is actually a really good question. It's a major reason that the Net is changing the world.

There are two major types of economies. "Gift" economies have been far more common through human history; these are economies used by people without currency systems and include lots of barter, sharing, and...gifts, surprisingly enough. Currency economies use some kind of tokens ("money") to represent things. Doing so makes it much easier to value things, obviously, and also to count, store, and remember them.

For the past few centuries, we've not really had a gift economy in the West because it's not convenient compared to a currency economy. On the other hand, there are lots of things that a currency economy doesn't track very well--like the answers that a bunch of strangers post on a website. In essence these are gifts--I am giving you my time and in exchange I get a warm fuzzy feeling and maybe, eventually, something of a reputation online. When you add points to this mix, it is more likely that I'll contribute because now I have goals...how many more to get to Level 3? It's also more likely that some people will be able to recognize my level of contribution and ask me more stuff, making me feel important. So Yahoo!, which now wants to be about "social portal" stuff like Yahoo! answers, provides points to encourage this behavior.

I suspect that people with a *lot* of points may get special prizes from Yahoo!, and if they don't now I think they will in future. That's how the theory of this stuff works, anyway.

Maybe you think Answers is a little silly, and you may be right. But consider: Linux, the operating system, was created like this by a bunch of people posting changes to a listserv and recognizing the talented folks among them. That's a very significant achievement. Online roleplaying games work the same way. Think about it: you can actually be world-famous on a game with a lot less effort than it would normally take to be world-famous anywhere else. The same thing goes for Answers.

Answer 3

Because people are childish. I do that 2 pts. thing when someone asks a totally idiotic question that doesn't make sense, but normally I try to give the best answer I can.
As for the points, I'm curious as to see what happens at level 7. I think I'm on 5 now.

Answer 4

Your right and I agree but to answer your question, people by nature are competitive and the people that came up w/ yahoo answers must have know that when they created it b/c it defiantly worked in their favor don't you think?

Answer 5

The more points you get the more answers you can answer and the more questions that you can ask.

Answer 6

i want enough points to get to level 5.. i spend 18 hours a day or more on here, i am a professional troll.

Answer 7

I totally agree! But three's nothing you can do to avoid the idiots who only care about the amount of points that they have!

Answer 8

It's a challenge to get the most points.

Answer 9

i know it's kind of funny. i dont really care about points but i like yahoo answers, it's a nice waste of time.

Answer 10

I agree with you, and how many points a person has means nothing to me...