how important is it to make or rate responses to your posts

it does make a big difference. whenever you rate someone, it affects their reputation (their ratings as shown by the colored star beside the username). people who respond to your discussions rate you too, either they give you a (+) or a (-). its better to rate someone with a (+) because it increases their reputation. whenever i respond to a discussion, i always rate it with a (+) as much as possible. i always rate (+) every responses that my discussion get, just to show my appreciation for their on responding to my discussion. ^__^