So what's with the new rating system for answers?

I came to this category wondering the same thing.

I thought something was wrong on my end when I logged in this morning, but

apparently Y!A has gone through some design changes that, as far as I know,

we were not given advance notice to expect and I find the Thumb-up/down buttons

have been replaced with a mishmash of choices that I still need to figure out how

I'm supposed to use them.

An "Amusing" button? What's up with that?

Agreed. There was nothing wrong with the old system except for the few incredibly insecure people that build their self-esteem on likes. Any bad answer that isn't reportable will now go unchecked, and personally, I may leave because I rely so much on the ability to collapse answers that truly piss me off or take up pages in order to keep a clear head for giving good answers.

that is o.k. once you get used to it. There are too many techniques though, and also you'll't see what ppl voted for. Oh wait, what the hell? I have the thumb device again! YAY! should be a glitch though. prob. received't very last lengthy!

probably had some pansies complain who were overly sensitive about someone thumbing them down on the web, so yahoo ended up removing thumbs down.

I can't believe they gave in to a few whiny pvssies and did this. I'm considering leaving for real now. Not sure

That is something that is happening sporadically for some folks. Have not yet run into myself, but can't wait until I do. There are some threads on the Suggestion Board (on the ABOUT tab) talking about it, but nothing official from staff yet as far as I know.

One very good use for the thumbs down is that it swiftly collapses long and boring posts into a few lines, so they can more easily be ignored.