With the stars the people who are worried about rep influencing votes are concerned again.
Anything can influence voting. But, knowing a post is in a range of reps is different than know the rep. I'm not even keen on the Best Nodes and Worst Nodes pages showing reps, since then someone can try ti influence them.
Well, that 5,6,7 series was from earlier in PM history, when votes were harder to get, so their * mean more than the * from the first list.
Well, with a simple scale all things can be evened out :)
I don't approve of hiding information without a good reason. 5,6,7 communicates to me exact, direct numbers. * means little. (Even Ebay, designed for the dull, includes the actual number with their little symbols)
But what do the direct numbers communicate to you? That the 7 is more valuable than the 5? The 6 is less correct than the 7? The numbers lead to a bias, when all have a *, then you don't have the bias between them. The * communicates that in general, some people agree with this post enough to give it a vote. And, the difference with Ebay, is that they don't use numbers/symbols to help teach. PerlMonks is a learning tool, Ebay is a spending tool ;)
If you aren't having the stars show up until the person has voted (or given a null vote), I see no reason NOT to provide the number.
Nope, stars there all the time so the casual user can weigh posts.
If you are having the stars always present, I again see no reason not to provide the number, and now have to defend the system to those who fear "me too" votes.
Psychologically, I believe the number will have a different effect than a star. It is like a general rating, which people (at least in the US) are used to (movies, restaurants, music reviews, etc...). A 17 is not really more valuable than a 12 (or 9, or 3 for that matter) but seeing the numbers will make someone pay more attention only to higher numbers. The star representing a range, again, will help stop that bias. IMO :)
Cheers,
KM