Your opinion on which answers and questions are more important becomes more valued since you can dole out more points.

Isnt it funny, we all want them and dont like being downrated yet they are in reality, pointless (pardon the pun) :o)

Have you played video games? Or any other games with points for that matter? It's just fun having them.

I think they work both ways; we like giving more points to good questions and answers. It also tells us that people are reading and responding to what we think and how we feel.

I think of it as getting kudos for a good question, or response. Like a "high five!"

yes, I use them in many ways to point things out to mark places on maps to give out points to make points to point a direction to make stars (it takes 5 points to make a star) to make a pointy witches hat to seperate dollars from cents now if we ran out of points we could not do alot of things and life would be pointless.;'))

I wish there were no points given at all for anything. Just questions,answers,leave comments....have fun.

Not really. I don't care one way or the other. I just want comments. ;)

It's a small recognition or appreciation without saying any words.

Whats the point in them really? Not being naive or anything, but in reality.Recognition is all that I can think of. =)

not unless it's really that important to be right or popular. I don't really pay to much attention to my points but I'm pretty free about giving them out.

Gathering, no. But giving, yes. as it helps separate or make rise the better questions and answers, especially the answers. That is what they are for. Not for the members themselves. Though even there, it's nice to be able to see people's percentages and how generous OR NOT, that they are with others, to see if they take the time to Uprate answers so the point system can work.

Sure, if you think they're a form of nonverbal feedback. You can see patterns in the way people react to AB. Some people express their response to Q/A, even comments, in that way. Points also encourage participation by people who feel comfortable with the gaming aspect of the board. I think it's kind of interesting to watch the points and interpret them as a flow of nods and headshakes... The moderation points seem to come from admin choices made to reward housekeeping. They make sense to me but some people seem to think they are not a good thing. I don't (yet) have a coherent theory of why "points gathering" occurs but it has something to do with egos and subgroup formation. I find that I react positively to plus points, myself. That's probably a typical response...

I like points, they let you know whether or not people agree with you.

I'm saving up for my condo in the tropics.

Yes, many, many points: "The suburb is home to the Eltham Wildcats Basketball Club, one of the largest junior basketball clubs in the world, whilst Eltham Cricket Club and Eltham Football Club are also popular gathering points." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltham%2C_Victoria "The stone crosses at Tjora date from about the year 1150. In early Christian times, these stone crosses were used as gathering points for religious ceremonies before churches were built." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola "They needed to bring provisions for themselves until reaching local gathering points and from this point on, were provided provisions from daimyo's warehouses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashigaru "Many grocery stores that carry a type of food products from a certain culture such as Italian or Middle-Eastern have served as gathering points for many immigrants. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grocery_store "The tortilla is now preserved in a shrine in New Mexico and is now New Mexico's largest Christ Belief gathering points." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_the_Heretic "The main method of gathering points is by using the fireball piece to evaporate lakes, the amount of points depending upon the volume of water." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetrix "The courtyard is the center and social gathering points for the students living in these townhouses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryant_University "Initially, the organisers planned to have a gathering point at Dataran Merdeka square. However, it was later revealed that this was a red herring to distract the police. The locations of the four gathering points were only released the day before the protests by word of mouth, mobile phones and emails." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bersih_rally "Despite relatively low numbers, in their many thousands of years of existence the cyborgs build several elaborate facilities which serve as starting points for missions, and gathering points for new recruits. Preservers deliver their findings to these locations for storage. Incidentally, these facilities also serve as power bases for high-ranking cyborgs, known as Executive Facilitators." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Zeus_Inc. "Initially, public parks served as the most important gathering points for the Iranian community; Ueno Park and Yoyogi Park were the most commonly frequented by Iranian migrants." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranians_in_Japan "The main gathering points include the local pub (The Royal Oak or Y Dderwen Frenhinol) and the local post office. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachub "The towns of Lake Havasu City, Quartzsite, and Yuma, Arizona become central gathering points in the winter." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workamping "His importance though is not to be found in his writings, but in his ability to identify and promote new artistic talents. His salons, some of which were held at his private apartments, some at the presidential palace of La Moneda while his father was president, were the most important cultural gathering points of the time." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Balmaceda "Shipps details how the LDS church changed its central gathering point from Utah to local stakes anywhere in the world as spiritual, cultural and physical gathering points." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Shipps http://www.esrf.eu/Infrastructure/Safety/Evacuation/GatheringPoints/gatheringpts/image_view_fullscreen

None whatsoever. . . Unless the points aspect of AB appeals to you. I find them useless, because they do nothing. Does a higher point total mean I am more popular than everyone else? No, it could mean that I cheat, I spend way too much time here, I am an avid moderator, or I am a suck up (a few examples). Does it mean that I am intelligent and my answers are awesome? No, it could mean that because of some other reason I get lots of points. Try it, pick a few ABers from the different levels and actually read their answers, are they pointworthy? It all depends on how you define pointworthy. Points are important to each ABer based on what they get out of them. But they should not be confused, which they frequently are, with accurately measuring the value of any ABer.

No point of them Most seem like its their life

Is there a point to anything when it comes down to it...nihilistically speaking that is..