Why can we rate each others questions?

I dont think its right that someone can rate your opinion as good or bad. So, why are we able to do it. after all, no one but the asker knows what was helpful and what was not.

It is abused sometimes as well. Many times, two people who are arguing on...

a question will rate each others answers as not helpful, and is really childish. Back to my question...

Yes, people try to be vindictive sometimes and rate your answer badly if they don't like you. But I rarely look at the rating of an answer, I mostly just look at the answer itself. I take the ratings with a grain of salt. I'd rather take from the content of the answer. I believe the rating system was set up as the higher the rating of someone's answer the higher on the list it is. That way the best answers (not always the case) are right under the question.

Thanks for rating this answer! Rating answers helps make the site better for everyone, and you should always try to rate the best answer for each question

Off topic answer deleted.
Now, the main reason for it is because it helps make the site better. Not all answers are good, some are bad, and some are plain wrong. Quality is a huge concern for us, so we let everybody rate up to three answer per question.

Last, some questions deal in facts, others, opinions. It is the simple truth that there are zero web based systems that can tell with perfect accuracy what the difference is between a fact or reference question one calling for opinions...even people get it wrong sometimes.

ok thanks thedude and texaskimmie I understand now

 
By being able to rate answers you get a chance to let answerers know how some of the sites members perceived their answer. It makes people who provide quality answers feel good to receive positive results and hopefully causes people giving unsound, unrelated or simply wrong advice a chance to see what others think of their advice and maybe allow them to reconsider the types of advice that they give.