[quote]I imagine it's because some people (such as DTL) are empathetic and just don't want others who make threads to feel put down for no good reason because people disliked their posts. Now you could argue that the OP of any thread shouldn't care about such a trivial thing, but emotions are often seemingly illogical and out of our control. What doesn't and doesn't matter is up to the individual.[/quote] I suppose the nature of empathy could lead to that. I guess I just, personally, find it odd that people care about the votes here when they seem so seldom used in comparison to a place like Reddit where karma whoring not only runs rampant, but has several observable results (such as a widely viewed front page, a visible karma total for your post and profile, and a potential to be gilded). The votes here always seemed utterly pointless.

Some people think of them as opinions, rather than ratings. And others' opinions can hurt, more so for some than others.

[quote]Some people think of them as opinions, rather than ratings. And others' opinions can hurt, more so for some than others.[/quote] Fair enough. I guess it's just news to me that the voting system is actually catching on here. I always assumed few people paid attention to it beyond hitting the up vote button to silently agree or bump a post.