The title of this node should be "Experience Points and What they mean to me" Or "Experience Points, an illustration of cunning manipulation of the human mind" Or even "Experience Points Are really NOTHING about Experience but more about Marketing and using the human EGO to satisfy a need".

1. It is human nature to want to help, whether you're an experience programmer or someone just learning....every body likes to feel that they had enough knowledge about a subject that they were able to help someone who had less knowledge.
2. Programming is an art form to most, and when a person has put in a degree of intellectual effort to produce a creative object they are NATURALLY quite sensitive to criticism, even if that criticism is a "down" vote.
3. We live in a society where competition and striving to be the best is a way of life, and it is also human nature to find you're not as good as you'd like to think you are...that someone was able to find flaw with your thought process..To try to say we shouldn't feel that way is saying we shouldn't be human.
4. Often the rebuttals are harsh and carry a superior tone that also invokves a natural resistance or bad feeling about the response, instead of learning a new way or a better way to code a topic...many will resist the response in sort of an emotional self defense.

Is the point system good? Yes, I think so because even though some wield their voting power improperly, voting on silly things such as grammer or context unrelated to programming(I've been downvoted for having my tag line bolded even!), it still ultimately provides positive reinforcement in a negative way.
Human nature will entice the most competitive to become better and they won't be able to resist honing their skills until they see one of their nodes on the all time best list and thus will enhance the world of perl development. (A lot like what our capitolistic system does to our society)
Just my two cents, thanks for opening this discussion...It gave me an opportunity to vent my HUMAN frustration and egotistical opinion :-)

TexasTess
"Great Spirits Often Encounter Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds" --Albert Einstein