I absolutely, emphatically, and unequivocally agree with @wundayatta.
I have long since lost count of the number of people who have come to fluther and as fairly new or even brand-new users have started in on wanting to change how the points work. There is no need for this. The system was designed with great wisdom and good sense, from first to last.
Probably everybody has wished now and then for some little thing to be different; I know I have when I’ve accidentally GA’d a comment that I meant to flag, and I couldn’t undo it. There have also been a few moments when I would have deducted points if I could. (It was better that I couldn’t.) But I don’t imagine for one second that I could have designed a better system than Ben & Andrew’s, and neither would I elect a complaining newcomer to redesign it for us. It does not need to be improved.
@phoebusg, naturally you are free to do exactly as you say:
> I would rather reward more the answers – as said – that address the question.
Like you, I don’t care to give lurve to off-topic one-liners and smartass lurve-seeking quips. But sometimes someone gets off a great pun or an apt and subtle jest, and then I applaud with my GA. I would not want anyone telling me what I can and can’t give points for.
In no case do I need others to show me which answers to read. This isn’t about efficiency. It’s about individual subjective response.