Counter to the standard Andy Roonie rant where the target of his rhetoric never replies, let me step forawrd and claim partial responsiblity for this issue.
Forgive me for I have sinned...
I am a star abuser!
I have set a personal goal to be the first person to award more than 10,000 stars. I only have 420 left to go.
I will assign stars anytime I would have "smiled and noded" if the conversation was in person.
If i see a rookie asking an important basic question that all rookies should know, I MAY give them 5-stars.
If I see a frequent flyer being very patient with a questioner, I give them stars.
If I see a question I would like to see someone answer I give it stars.
If I do not know the answer to a Q I give stars.
If I know the answer and want to find out if others know the answer, I give stars.
If you make me laugh you get stars.
If you make me think you get stars.
If I can't beat your example I give stars.
So...
I will give stars to any question that I want to get noticed by others or Q I want to follow-up on.
I will let others comment on why they assign ratings to questions.
Ben
PS I only assign 5-star ratings because in my book there only 10 possible ratings available rated and not rated.