Not for me. The points are meaningless. It's the people that are changing. So touchy anymore, it's not enjoyable.

I think it is great fun and what it takes is ferreting out those unanswered questions or those questions that got pushed off the home page by newer questions and bringing them back for another round. I love when I can find someone else's question, maybe with only one or two answers and it goes to the front page and does so much better than it originally did. I love it when someone else does this, too. There are still interesting questions out thee. There are great answers I haven't read and commented on. THere is plenty to keep people's interest.

For me, AB is a learning and sharing experience. Has never been about points for me. Sure, I don't like when people come on here and start all types of trouble on purpose but that is just part of life. I try not to complain too much cause no one wants to hear it.

Yes

It really has nothing to do with the points system. I've seen this before. This happens every summer as hordes of bored school kids flock to the internet for entertainment. It gets better as soon as school starts.

I am in favor of reducing the amount of negative points we can give each other. And I remember just as soon as I entered this kind of answer for a similar question that I got downrated like it was Trollfest '07 which only solidified my point. I don't even see the point of being able to give negative points. If you don't agree with an answer, don't give points (no Down rates) and state your dissenting reason. Nowadays the only reason I give negative points is to retaliate against people acting trollish on me and I am very keen at deductive reasoning and I always get my troll. Seriously we should abolish the negative points and maintain the positive points. People like to be rewarded for their efforts and I feel that it is great that we can give points. By no means am I a point miser either. I beg anyone to check any of my questions and find someone who has not received points for their contribution, no matter how inane it may be, clearly not a +6 case. My version of trolling is to give a +1, I find that to be most insulting of all. That's my spiel, how do ya feel?

I think that is a big factor, coupled with the fact that AB has *so* many questions and answers already, it becomes difficult to come up with new, different, and innovative questions.

I finally started joining in on the fun and look what happened to me: http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/3408756

When I joined this website less than 4 months ago, it took maybe 3000 to 4000 points a week to make the leaderboard. I feel like the leaderboard has been very friendly to me, so I do not want to sound hypocritical. And we can have bursts that lead to over 6,000 points per week. But truly, if you are making a thousand points a day, you either know the answer to everything, have no interruptions, or know the golden ticket through moderations. I think AB is still very fun. I adore my friends. I adore my friends being loyal and participating in Q+ A with me, even as we all tend to be out of points for each other. I believe in the quality over the quantity, even when I do higher-volume participation with Answerbag. I believe in building rapport with comment threads and finding AB a social community more so than a place to accumulate points. It baffles me when my questions have more answers than points. But I have to cool down and relax. I really don't do it for the points. In the spirit of the site, it should be about fun. I remember being a kid in an arcade, playing ski ball, basketball, and all sorts of fun games. Every time you played a game, you got tickets, and you could trade the tickets for a prize. At the time, the games seemed so fun because you wanted to acquire those tickets and win something magnificent. Well, I'll tell you... Everything I won... whether edible, crappy, defective, or silly... was just stuff. I can't even tell you how I used my tickets. I can remember actually playing those games, and the joy it felt to play with my friends and have a great time. That's how points are, too. They give the illusion of an "objective" but there is no real object. AB is fun as long as we never put too much stock in the points and the quantifiable. Turn the ratings off. Take the time to uprate all the answers to a question, just because. Enjoy it. Where else can you exchange so many great ideas with so many great people? How often do people really want to know all about YOU? Take it as a true privilege and feel blessed to be here. That's what I say.