How come people that rate answers do so not by merit or quality, but by whether they like the answer?

How come people that rate answers do so not by merit or quality, but by whether they like the answer?

~~~ For the same reason that we are not still swinging from trees (most of us, anyway)!

Evolution!

My child came home from school many years ago with a paper where the teacher said that 'socks' were also spelled 'sox'.

The advertizing wotld drives much linguistic evolution!

The teacher suggested that I look it up!

Sure as sh!t! Either way!

Language is always changing!

"A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used." -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Ego is also weak and needs to attack that which threatens it, vanity, like so many 'Xtians' demonstrate!

Or agree with others of similar 'beliefs' to help compensate for lack of Faith!

This makes the most sense if your religious and are upset that people disagree with your opinion of ancient belief. If not, you have a good point but did it occur to you that people seem to more often believe misinformation than what we consider fact? That's why I take issue with religion as it divides us as brothers and sisters in arms.

I give thumbs up to things I sometimes don't quite agree with cause sometimes people think clearly as people and not religious diplomats. I have a hard time believing anyone would care much or answer incorrectly unless it pertains to belief. That being said, I your religious and need religious answers.....ask an athiest.

Anyway, no matter what, people aren't going to be perfect nor know all the correct answers. Although one thing you can be sure of is, all humans will never agree with most everything if not all things.

I don't think you have really thought this through from either an objective viewpoint or from a good understanding of the wide varieties of beliefs that people can have.

Think about it this way, there are many people that are convinced that that the earth is flat or that some sort of god was involved with how the universe was formed - they will select answers based on their beliefs, rather than any objective view.

You clearly have no idea what people are like on Yahoo Answers. Look at what gets thumbs upped and thumbs down in the politics section.

Wait, why does thumbs up and thumbs down even matter?

If I do thumb down an answer it's pretty much because I don't agree with the answer. But. I have also given a thumb up to an answer I didn't agree with simply because I thought it well thought out and worth consideration. Some though will thumb you down regardless of how good or bad your answer is. They didn't like one answer you gave so they thumb down every thing you give.

You might notice that the icons are thumbs pointing up and down. I think you know what that means to most people.

Because thumbs up or thumbs down means you like an answer. It doesn't mean an answer is more eloquent, or has more merit. Why should I like a well spoken answer which is very well presented, but in my opinion wrong?

Few come here for real answers, you don't -

My ratings are honest, what's wrong w/you?

I would give this question a down thumb!

If I get a thumbs up - my work is not complete.