I'm still cheerfully baffled by all the ways points can be scored, and imaginary money earned :)
No doubt it will make sense eventually, and in the meantime I'll upvote with no power and do all the dumb newbie things I possibly can.
There will always be the cynics and the angry people on any platform. Stack Overflow has even managed to reach a stage of partisanship and bitchiness, just when someone asks a question badly. Success breeds contempt. Maybe you should measure your success by how much static you get back? Judo the negativity into a positive attribute!