And, which meant more to you? Say you're playing a video game, and trying to collect points. It makes a difference whether you play at the easy or expert level

And, which meant more to you? Say you're playing a video game, and trying to collect points. It makes a difference whether you play at the easy or expert level, because the points are not fungible, and are only a reflection of your performance rather than an objective measure. If you care about what you are writing, whether it's genuinely helping someone, or it's trying to explain the counterpoint to some popular misconception on an issue, simply getting a positive score, or a score > -4 where it effectively disappears, could keep your effort from being a complete waste of time. And yet, even if you were all-knowing and all of the readers were misinformed, downvotes and upvotes still matter because they are an indicator of how well you made your point and how well it is being received. In Anderson Cooper's case, does he follow his ratings exclusively for the ad revenue they facilitate, or is it rewarding to see how many viewers he is reaching? Furthermore, do the ratings numbers mean as much to him when they are a thousand households shown a personality during a daytime talk show and a thousand households shown an in depth story? I can see how both would be rewarding, even if they had no effect on his earnings whatsoever.