This would mean that to gain XP from voting, you must vote ++.
Hrmmm...
What is the difference of someone logging in and down-voting anything one sees, vs. logging in and simply up-voting anything one sees?
To me they are equally damaging. .to the community and voting/XP structure. (or equally non-damaging perhaps).

Which would somewhat indicate an agreement with the author of the node

That is not at all true. The same person who is logging in now, and down-voting everything to gain XP, would just start up-voting everything to gain XP. Correct?


Update: Does it upset you that much to know that someone who has contributed little (if anything) to perlmonks, might conceivably become a saint? If they contributed little, they will continue to contribute little and go on being ignored in their sainthood. No bother.

Update: Anyway, haven't you ever come across someone in life with high(er) credentials who just was not very bright. and you thought to yourself "how on earth did they get to where they are, they know absolutely nothing of what they speak?" Well, what they know is How To Play The System. Same rule applies here, with XP. You will spot them for who they are, and learn to ignore their higher than deserved XP rating.

cheers -xtype