Regarding your last question, I think that people like to know how many people agree with them. E.g. if I upvote something, then I usually want to know if my vote made a difference. However, I also find that if I'm the one of the first to vote on something that I find really interesting, then I am sometimes disappointed to find that node only has 2 or 3 rep when I think it deserves much more.

Not sure where any of this is leading. I'll stop rambling. But please don't "reap" me!!!

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