I always ignored the numbers. I go where the chatter is. Which is why I love that I can sort by new comments, making it work like an old forum where a comment to a post pushes it to the top, so active discussion stays on the front page.

The numbers serve no real purpose other than complicating the above method of sorting by trying to add a perception of "liked" or "hated" to things that doesn't need to be there.

Instead of anonymously making numbers go up, I need actual interaction for my brain juice.