You make some good points about XP abuse. Ignoring my own nodes (all of which are perfectly reasonable and enlightening, of course), I've seen some folks get bashed severely for saying things that really didn't deserve it. Certain topics are simply tabu. You mention them at your peril. This is why I keep saying that a node's reputation is based on its popularity, which isn't necessarily the same as whether it's informative, on-topic, well-written, well-reasoned, presented respectfully, and so on.

To the credit of the Monks, however, I see a whole lot more fairness and reasonableness here, than I see in what I laughingly refer to as "real life". I guess I get downvoted more often in "real life" than I do here...