I find that reading the responses to the questions you give is more of a motivational factor than the points. You can't even buy a toaster oven with them, even if you have a million points. They are simply a way of keeping score. The variety of responders is amazing: From people who know everything about everything to people who aren't sure what they had for lunch. I would fall in the latter category.
218044
i would say getting responses to questions because the points aren't very useful. However, it is a nice feeling to know that you have tried your best to help someone else.
539467
nope its a great strategy. it can get you an easy 10 or 15 points(Trust me, I do it all the time)
139356
The points help you to attain higher levels. At higher levels, you get additional access to the website, and also special thank yous.\n\nBut yeah, really, the points don't give you anything in the real world. \nSource(s):\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/info/scoring_sy...
97311
I know what you mean. It is incredibly annoying when looking through the answers to see what people have said, and then you get some stupid people that just write '2pts'... I mean, they're not even trying.  Usually, when I see people that do that, I go and see their profiles and other questions they've answered, and if they have several, I report them.\nIt's annoying, it's like they feel that's what the point of this site is, to get points... \nI say, if you don't know the answer, or are not even going to bother to try and figure it out... then don't answer at all, the point of this site is to ask questions when you truly want to find something out... and to learn what others think, and have to say about various topics and things.
21338
No, it's not easy...for two reasons: It's hard to think of questions that are different than those already posted and it's hard to give up those 2 magic points! \n\nBut somehow, it seems worth it. There are some nice people out there.
98192
I do this for fun, when I feel like it.  I never use my whole quota for the day, if I did I will have plenty more points. They are irrelevant to me, because Iam not getting anything out of them.  Be the top scorer?     Whoopi, no big deal.  I got a life beside this.
120350
You mean the ones that post things like "Thanks for the 2 points" and so forth. I understand your frustration. It almost makes me wish there was a penalty for posting an answer. Or maybe, you don't get anything for an answer unless it is chosen as a best answer.\n\nI don't know. The way I see it, Yahoo! has to make the final decision.
59647
Most of the questions in every category are pretty stupid. You've got to wade through them a little bit and separate the wheat from the chaff, but I think it's worth it.\n\nI'd also point out that one of the beautiful things about YA is that anyone can post thought-provoking questions. If you're down on the quality of questions, it's up to you to raise the bar.
113201
I agree that it gets tiring wading through questions that have no value. It seems that there are a couple of reasons for posting the same question. Most of the duplicates I see are very juvenile and show no imagination, so I assume these are being posted by unsupervised children and ignore them. The others are there when the asker doesn't feel that they've gotten a satisfactory answer the first time.
73753
People start off innocently enough. The first few levels have reasonable limits for answering questions and such, so people get used to maxing out their limits for the day. As they get to the higher levels, they find that though it's taking up more time they just have to reach their quota.\n\nThe users that provide good answers get selected as Best Answer, and it gives them a sort of rush. It feels so good that they have to keep doing it.\n\nThe points and levels give people a goal. Often people will think, if I can just get to this level then I'll give it a rest. However, they keep going after they get there because they see all the people ahead of them.\n\nThere's a Yahoo! Group for addicts, but it may actually encourage use of Y!A rather than discourage it. If interested, you can find it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnswerholicsAnonymous/
57948
i think it is the sense of community, but its also weirdly addicting.  once youve come on and maybe asked a question yourself.......you kinda sit there at first and wait for the answers to come back to you......so you look at some questions to answer for people in the mean time.  then you check more questions to see what people are writing about.  then your score keeps going up and that is pretty fun.  then you as another question and the process keeps going on.  thats how it happened for me anyways.  now i come on, even if im not asking questions just to see what people are asking about, and to see if my life experiences thus far can helpl anyone out!
354881
They're not all rude responses.  Think of it as if you walked into a busy mall and shouted out a question.  Some will relate to your question, some will be experts on the topic, and then some won't be very knowledgeable at all, but will want to make a joke of it.  I think you get a mix of answers here.  You wouldn't want to base your life off of an answer you get here, but you might get something to consider.  And, it does depend on the topic.  For example, I don't see alot of rudeness in the food recipe area.  In any case, if you can ignore the 'rude' ones here, you will find there are alot of nice, genuine folks here as well.
69908
it is both for fun and for some fun way learned knowledge.. usually people are tryin to find the answers so that they can earn points but at the same time they learn stuff too while they are searchin for it... I think this makes it rather fun and enjoyable.. and here info about the prizes...\nPoints and Levels\nTo encourage participation and reward great answers, Yahoo! Answers has a system of points and levels. The number of points you get depends on the specific action you take. The points table below summarizes the point values for different actions. While you can't use points to buy or redeem anything, they do allow everyone to recognize how active and helpful you've been. (And they give you another excuse to brag to your friends.) \nPoints Table Action Points \nBegin participating on Yahoo! Answers One time: 100 \nAsk a question  -2 \nChoose a best answer for your question 2 \nPut the answers to your question to a vote 2 \nAnswer a question 2 \nVote for a best answer 1 \nRate a best answer 1 \nHave your answer selected as the best answer 10 \nReceive a "thumbs-up" rating on a best answer that you wrote (up to 50 thumbs-up are counted) 1 per "thumbs-up" \n\n  \nLevels are another way to keep track of how active you (and others) have been. The more points you accumulate, the higher your level. Yahoo! Answers recognizes your level achievements with our special brand of thank you's! Level Yahoo Answers! Thanks You's Points \n7 Be the first to find out! 25000+ \n6 Be the first to find out! 10,000 - 24,999 \n5 Be eligible to be a Featured User on the home page masthead. 5,000 - 9,999 \n4 Be eligible to be a Featured User on the community editorial page. (coming soon!) 2,500-4,999 \n3 A super-special Yahoo! Answers thank you. (coming soon) 1,000-2,499 \n2 A special Yahoo! Answers thank you. (coming soon) 250-999 \n1 Full access to Yahoo! Answers! 1-249 \n0 Limited access: you cannot ask a question but have level 1 privileges 0 \n\n  \nAnd finally, as you attain higher levels, you'll also be able to contribute more to Yahoo! Answers - you can ask, answer, vote and rate more frequently. Level Questions \nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/info/scoring_system;_ylt=ApjObZvVMnG4w7oPFBzVmHnzy6IX
46888
If you pick a best answer or you put the question to a vote you get the points back.\n\nIt is to make you an active participant and not just a leach.
7093
You can anticipate the quality of both the questions and the answers improving over time; partly as the "novelty" factor wears off and partly as people who aren't earning points get bored from the lack of positive feedback and go away.  At some point the "search" function of the site should become more useful than the "ask" function.  (At least, this is how I think Yahoo expects it to go.)
337046
good for you.  I just got up to level 3 by answering a lot of questions and voting for best answers.  by the way, you could vote best answer on any question and you get 1point.  i wish they give more than just 1 point.
59630
You can also get to the next level (with more answers allowed) faster if you rate, vote, put your asked questions to a vote, etc.  When I run out of answers, that's what I do.  At least it's getting me closer to the goal of answering more.  (I'm the same way, I love answering questions!)  :)