I mean, I know that it shouldn't, if you're just doing things for the fun of it. That's how I was too, until I answered one question in the morning in a way that caused many people to upvote it for some reason.
Because of that one question, I hit the rep cap for the first time, and now this entire day, I've been browsing and looking at the upvotes still piling up on the question and begging "Please, nobody vote for it anymore today. That blank spot on the rep gained spot is a dagger to my heart."
I thought I was someone who was here truly for the joy of helping others. I thought I was a good stack overflow user. But somehow, maybe somewhere along the lines, I got caught up in the game.
I started browsing the questions again in my relentless search to find more to answer, but somewhere along the way, I thought to myself,
"What's the point? Why answer any more things today? Why can't I just wait until tomorrow, when the rep cap is cleared?"
And there really isn't any reason why I shouldn't wait til tomorrow...for one, the question will still be there. However, it will probably likely already be answered. No rep gained, so either way, it's the same outcome. However, there's also the risk that nobody will even look at an answer that is posted after an accepted answer has already been chosen. Why bother putting so much effort into an answer that might not even be read?
And so I am left here watching the upvotes on that accursed answer of mine pile up, approaching doubling in number and yielding me no rep points, my un-capped rep for the day fast approaching 300-400 on one answer alone. And it shouldn't matter. Rep shouldn't matter. But that blank vacuum where a number should be is like the vacuum of my soul.
"why not just wait til tomorrow?" I could just log off the site for good and wait until tomorrow. But something just draws me back. The longing to...answer. But then the previously mentioned phenomenon happens.
I am faced with a moral conundrum and my life is spiraling into a sinkhole of pity and despair. What can be done? Any advice, or analysis of the system?