Patrick, I have the same reactions. The points are good for parsing, but they are also good discipline in posting comments. Something that ultimately gets 1 point was probably was not worth posting anyway. Something that was downvoted was probably poorly worded to begin with. (Also you guys have a poor appreciation of Maine humor. Unfortunately my GF and my kids agree with you.) What surprises me is that you like anecdotes from decades past in SV.

Bottom line: keep the points so that some of us become a little bit better in our writing.