Ratings
 

Is there really a purpose for all of the stars and names for just making post? What good is this to us?

I worked for a Behavioral Psychology association and (even though I was their financial manager, I picked up on some of their buzz words and key terms) I believe this would be an example of what they call "positive reinforcement". In laymans terms, it gives the member who posts a sense of reward for posting. The more one posts, the greater the number of stars (or as in Will's case, the golden stars), thus the greater the reward for posting. The stars may not be enough of a reinforcer for some, but for others, they gain copious amounts of satisfaction from the number of stars they 'earn'.

(BTW, I'm not kidding about the 'positive reinforcement'. It really is a term and it really does mean what I said. And yes, I really did work for a psychological organization.)