Why do I get more "great answers" for posting a link to a competely unrelated funny video than for thoughtfully answering the question?

Because people like to laugh.

everybody loves fun. simple

I’ve noticed it too. I think that, quite frankly, those that value true insight and knowledgeable contributions are in the minority relative to those that prefer to use Fluther to relax and let off steam. Thus, if someone produces a funny response that people enjoy, they will lurve it, but the more serious answers are less favored. Who does he think he is answering that medical question with real information? I wanted a rick-roll.

That hasn’t been the case with me. My serious answers tend to get more lurve than my funny answers. But maybe that’s just because my funny answers aren’t that funny…

When people are happy, they’ll most likely lurve. :P

@DrasticDreamer: That one made me laugh!

@La_chica_gomela :D

The most helpful, insightful, real answers are often more useful to the person asking the question (usually), whereas comedic answers are more recognizable to the whole community.

I lurve both, the helpful and the funny.

i think it’s because, secretly, everyone wants me.

@eponymoushipster You always think that.

@janbb No, no. He doesn’t just think it, he fully believes it. ;)

@DrasticDreamer @janbb i know it, my dears.~

Like I explained in another thread, I don’t attach that much significance to GAs. So honestly, I don’t really care they’re used that much. Like others have said, people like to laugh and when they do, giving an answer a GA is an easy way to show you thought it was funny. It doesn’t mean no one cares about the serious helpful answers, it just means that the funny answers stand out and get a GA for a completely different reason. That said, this is not always the case. I remember I posted a long answer to a question about homosexuality that took me a long time to write and got 13 GAs, the most I’ve ever received for an answer. I have to say that was pretty awesome; it showed people read it and they thought about it enough to give it a GA.

But either way, I don’t mind it that much. I like seeing funny answers. It’s good that people enjoy this site and find it funny and entertaining. The only thing I wouldn’t want is for a question that is seriously asking for help to be overrun with joke answers; to me, that isn’t that fair to the person asking the question. What @jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities said is right on the money as well.

I seem to get lurve for both types of answers, and I know I give lurve to both types. Anecdotal experience doesn’t lead me to feel one is more frequently lurved than the other.

I am just sad when I spend a long time on an answer to get no lurve at all, as if no one has even read it. :-(

most my lurve is probably from funny gee wiz quips I might say… maybe I’m not all that helpful at all? haha

@Darwin: I know what you mean.

Lurve is in the eye of the beholder.

We value your humor over your insight. Sorry. :(

Good question.

Why not?

Edit:@astrochuck Nice one, you beat me to it!

@FireMadeFlesh- Lurve for the Chasers link. I love those guys. I love the episode where they ordered everything on the menu at a McDonald’s and it ends up he’s only got $20.

@shilolo You know you loved my rickroll yesterday :D

Perhaps the collective IQ is high enough that irony isn’t a foreign concept?

@AstroChuck Yeah, they were classics! My personal favourite was where they educated the dog as a doctor at an online uni, then took him to hospital.

Actually, this is the aspect of fluther I dislike the most. On the other hand, it keeps people around for a long time.