Does the average number of GAs that have been given to the answers on a particular question affect your perception of what a GA is "worth" in the context of that question?

If I see that everyone on a question has GA’s except for one lone person, I will give that one person a GA if their answer is good and not a dickish answer.
Other than that, if I think someone has given a GA, no matter who they are, even if I have butted heads with them, I give them a GA.

When I see a “General” question that has no or few GAs, I am more likely to spend some time to try find an answer. If it’s “General” and has a ton of GAs, then the work has already been done.

If it’s in “Social”, I don’t usually look at the GAs and try to see if someone that has already answered has covered my points. Fortunately, there are some people here that do that quite frequently – and are much more articulate than I am.

Oh, and I tend to give out tons of GAs (carpal tunnel?)

I do thinks that there is a difference from thread to thread. In some threads, witty answers are rewarded.

No. I never grade on a curve; I have absolute (some might say rigid) standards.

I only notice the GA’s that are exorbitantly awarded. If someone is being an ass and everyone on the “thread” is showering GA’s on them anyway, I know it’s time to move to another question. This is the type of question where I will state my opinion and get 7 @digis back telling me how much my opinion stinks.

It will be a very difficult thing to figure out the logistics and psychology of lurve. Everyone has their own moods, personalities, and standards.

Nah. I have my own standards of what constitutes a GA. That’s what I use.

I tend not to notice how much lurve an answer has. I read them all if I have time. I skim them all if I have less time. I skim those of people I respect if I have even less time. Rarely, I will look at the lurve an answer has and use that to decide to read it. Often times it is to see if I agree than an answer deserves that much lurve. I don’t always see things the same as others, so I won’t always agree with the lurve others get. But then, I don’t often agree with the lurve I get. All I can say is we all think in our own unique ways, and we don’t always value the same things.

I pay scant attention to the “lurve” dished out on these pages, fun, but ultimately meaningless digits, that’s all.

To me it generally means that someone’s opinion is like minded barring any other structural blather.

I’m somewhere between @tom_g and @digitalimpression.

If no answer has been given a GA on a General question, I feel like the OP hasn’t gotten a satisfactory answer yet. I’m more likely to give the question a more serious go. Not so much about lurve being worth more. But it affects the psychology of how I approach the question.

On longer threads, I might skim the replies with a lot of GA’s first to get a tone for the thread.

On the flip side, I wish I could give out lurve that was worth more on my own questions—especially General. When you’re wading through a bunch of har-har-but-actually-not-that-funny answers and then finally someone answers your question in a way that is more satisfying that you expected. Sometimes lurve just seems a bit dinky.
(Often, that’s you. In case you didn’t know.)

I am sometimes bemused by answers that receive many GAs, while other very interesting responses have none. My perception of the question is not influenced by the lurve awarded. I find the lurve system cute but unreliable because it can be driven by people’s standing in the community. I give GAs for questions I think are valuable, informative or sometimes and if appropriate funny. If I notice an answer that I feel was useful but has not received any lurve, I will often give it a GA. I think sometimes some really good responses get overlooked.

no. There is a certain degree of arbitrariness in GAs. Some of my most informative answers are probably used while never GA’d. Some of my less than top get GA’d. Occasionally I see a funny get GA’d [as I will also do] but then a trivial response like “haha” gets GA’d also. Probably mutual stroking, but pretty dumb IMHO.

The only thing I think I can gather from a total number of GAs is the popularity of a question. More traffic tends to lend itself to more people clicking GA.

Some of the most helpful and in depth answers I’ve seen are in regards to questions that are factual and specific in nature so won’t be of interest to everyone. Those questions naturally get less traffic and less GAs.

Ohh, the injustices of lurve! ~

To answer your first question I’ll say it depends upon the type of question it is, along with the user who had asked it. I’ve been on here nearly 3 years now and I know full well that some people ask many questions on here, but never respond to anyone, never thanks anybody for helping them (common courtesy) or rarely hands out lurve. So I’ll just say that it depends on who is asking the question, what the responses are and which topic is being discussed.

To answer your second question I say the same thing as I’ve said above, it depends on the type of question it is, the type of question, the responses themselves and who is asking the question. I tend to take a neutral stance on this, since what is considered lurvable on here is pretty much subjective.

No. I am totally random with lurve and often award it to those answers that I dislike/disagree with the most.

Other times I will pick a question at random and award either the odd numbered or even numbered posts a GA.

what? y’all act like there’s money on the table.

@Blondesjon haha

No. I don’t relate the value of a GA to the number and distribution within a single question. A GA has the value I give it, regardless of what others are doing.

Never