When you write, try to put things in such a way that it will be easy to point to your nodes

All kidding aside, I don't understand the reasoning behind downvoting posts because a monk links to his or her own nodes. I've done it a couple of times to avoid repeating something that was already said. I don't know if the posts were downvoted or not since I don't much care what my XP is but I have noticed more than one discussion about said practice.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole post ++/-- thing is about improving the quality of our community, not about who does or doesn't have the most XP. If a monk has already written a post that can help answer a question or provide value to a conversation, why shouldn't he or she link to that post?

And one more thing, why do people feel a need to place value on their XP? Are we all really that insecure? Seriously -- I don't understand why it matters. Any thoughts?