As cumbersome to navigate as these forums are, I think ball rating posts is probably the worst aspect of them. I've seen good posts rated 1 ball and bad posts rated 5 balls. It seems it's either a) a popularity contest, b) whimsical voting, c) vindictive retaliation, or d) all of the above. Seriously, what's the point?
*disclaimer: I expect this post to get 1 balled repeatedly by people who have nothing better to do.