text: what are the points for on this web site?   to encourage participation and reward great answers, yahoo! answers has a system of points and levels. the number of points you get depends on the specific action you take. the points table below summarizes the point values for different actions. while you can't use points to buy or redeem anything, they do allow everyone to recognize how active and helpful you've been. (and they give you another excuse to brag to your friends.)