[chirpy22]

Can I ask what the point of rating people's comment on the main site is?
It doesn't seem like they do anything other than make the people that are doing to rating feel good about themselves. As far as I know, you can't search the site by the highest or lowest rated comments. And even if you could, it doesn't matter because people will rate comments based on their opinions of the person that posted the comment. Case in point: testudo. People will rate his comments negatively even if he has something worthwhile to say, just because they are biased against him from previous comments.
It's pretty ridiculous. You should just disable this feature.

[ghporter]

<Obligatory disclaimer>The main MacNN site is run separately from the forums, but we will bring your comment to the attention of management.</disclaimer>

In most cases a site's "rate this comment" feature allows users to reflect on how useful, interesting, informative, etc. a comment has been for them. This is good. On the other hand, when individuals post comments that are argumentative, rude, off topic or otherwise negative, they will get negative ratings. Most people pick up on this and stop being poor posters or just get depressed and move on. Not all negative posters get the hint though. Short of disciplinary action, there's not much that can be done about such posters, and their established track record will follow them. Think of this as the result of their own actions.

You have no obligation to even notice the ratings, let alone pay any attention to them.

[reader50]

The best place to offer feedback to the front page people is via their contact form.

They do sometimes check in here, but my impression is that they don't do it consistently. Their feedback form ought to work every time.