Does upvoting or downvoting have an affect on where the content my appear?

Question

To clarify my question a bit. When users upvote or downvote a question or comment does it affect where the question appears? For an example if a question is downvoted does it get pushed down the list of questions? If a question is upvoted does it get pushed up the list of questions?

I was also thinking that if the voting feature has no relationship to the content, then it's merely just for points. I tried searching for my answer but, didn't find anything similiar.

If there is a post on this please share the link.:)

Answer 1

Maybe for hotness calculation, and sort questions by voltes. For the rest of the other pages I don't think there's much relevance to it.

Even searches seem to be mostly based on 'content included words' and maybe chronological order.
Unless the algorithm has been updated.

• What search technology does Q2A use?
• Search exact matches relevance?

I believe Points were firstly introduced for gamification. To keep users engaged in answering questions, to show a token of appreciation, and easily distinguish relevant content.