What good is it to get points on Yahoo! Q&A but not have a way to rankings of other people's point levels?

Give it time. This product has already changed and improved a lot over the last couple months. The product team are very responsive to feedback. People are just now building up points and the product hasn't even gone public yet. If you're curious about any individual's points (that is, where you stand in relation to them), just click on their username to see their point total.

For now, points and levels are a way for participants to build their reputation within the community. Good news is, the Yahoo! Answers team is working tirelessly on many more features related to the points system, so keep an eye out for them!

For now, points and levels are a way for participants to build their reputation within the community. Good news is, the Yahoo! Answers team is working tirelessly on many more features related to the points system, so keep an eye out for them!

Since there is a context there will be some contextual advertising. And since Yahoo will make money from it, my guess is that they'll going to give some share to the "guy with good answers". And in the end it's going to look like "Who wants to be a millionaire" contest ;)

By giving you points when you answer, and by upgrading your level once a while, they hope to keep you interested. Normally, asking questions and answering to them is quite boring. They hope that when they give you points, you'll come back to answer more.

Since there is a context there will be some contextual advertising. And since Yahoo will make money from it, my guess is that they'll going to give some share to the "guy with good answers". And in the end it's going to look like "Who wants to be a millionaire" contest ;)

By giving you points when you answer, and by upgrading your level once a while, they hope to keep you interested. Normally, asking questions and answering to them is quite boring. They hope that when they give you points, you'll come back to answer more.