Stars, upvotes, and likes.

Why does this forum have 3 different ways to show appreciation on a post? I understand the stars and likes, since the stars are tallied on a per-post basis, but the likes and upvotes accomplish the same thing...

I have to know which score to min-max.

In my mind, the people that built the site were like "we don't know what style people will prefer the most, upvotes like reddit, liking like everything else, or good ol' star so were just going to do all of them and let people click whichever button they prefer."

I would imagine there is some more rational reasoning used but until I know what it is, that's how it plays out in my head.

I have the same question: I don't see any guidance in the FAQs. Or I have missed it. . .

I'm not one to be bothered by small details but I must admit, I was rather surprised by the tallies. JMO but the sort of ego that metric appeals to prob shouldnt be an engineer.