The best thing to do with ratings is not give a crap.
Ratings bothered me at first, but I find that this really is the best way to think of them anymore if you're not inclined to always agree with popular opinion - or anyone's opinion. All they are is somebody's opinion, and there's no right or wrong to that, whether the "community" as a whole A-Logs the shit out of your post or not. Unless you're in it for a popularity contest, or want to waste the time and energy reporting everyone who rates you unfairly (for instance, living in a time zone where a popular post is made at 2am your time, then getting a Late rating because you weren't able to get to it within a few hours. Can't help that, but that won't stop someone from marking your comment Late.) it doesn't matter, so better to tune them out, I think.
Negative ratings can't always be relied on to shame everyone into behaving however the group, clique, inner circle, whoever, wants them to behave, either. If you have a different opinion, you have a different opinion, and expecting everyone to agree with you is unreasonable to start with. I think as long as you're not being uncivil to the rest of the forum, or going out of your way to cause disruption, it's better to say what's on your mind, rather than to keep quiet because someone or other might not appreciate your particular take on something. Breaking rules is another thing, but people get away with that all the time (especially talking directly to Chris comments). Nothing is done about it, so it's difficult to see some of them as much more than suggestions, enforced only by the whim of whichever mod is watching at any given moment.
