I don't disagree, Raj. This is something we are constantly chewing over, and the whole thing is being discussed again at the moment.
We did have a 'respect rating' where members could show respect to other members, and we also had a negative 'thumb' on the 'rate this' field, but neither worked as planned, as some people engineered a high respect rating deliberately, and with the negative 'rate this' thumb, some members found every post was getting a thumbs down. [:?]
It is good for new people to the site to see that any reply to their questions is being given by somebody who is well established on the site and therefore their answer will be respected. The post count sort of achieves this - we have very little post count padding here, and any that is spotted, is amended by a mod.
We are unlike other boards I read, in that if a person asks a question, and it is answered, we don't always feel the need to post the same answer, agreeing with the first person who replies - unless that person is unsure with their reply, or is incorrect in something they say.
I have noticed - particularly on the DIBB - that the question can be answered in exactly the same way by a number of posters - as if this adds weight to the first reply.
We are fortunate to have a fair few people - not just the mods - who spend a lot of time on the site and are very quick to reply to questions comprehensively.
Having said all that, we are always looking for ways to improve the site, and are very grateful when anyone takes the time to make suggestions. So we will chat about it among the mods and see what we Pete can come up with. [}:)]
Nick