There are other parameters by which mod points are handed out than just pure randomness. For example, a couple of years ago it worked for me so that if I had a couple of days of break from Slashdot (didn't load any pages), it often gave me a 5-pack of modpoints, but it didn't if I browsed constantly. Today even that trick does not work at all for me.
But comparing to the old days, there is a clear difference how much mod points there is in circulation in general. Look at this How Do Geeks Exercise article from 2008, and see how the comments are modded.
Meanwhile, many other words and phrases over the centuries have lost the original meaning while "gaining nothing" and yet we're all still here!
Yes, by some miracle we are here... But how many disasters have those language changes caused along the way?
- As you are my main commander, I consult you: should we ignite a World War in the current situation?
- I could care less about that idea!
- Aha, so you care a fair amount. Well, roll out the troops!
What barrier is this? Is there some reason why getting below $0.50/GB is difficult, or is it merely the result of gradually falling prices?
How can people be so worked up about this "barrier" thing? It was obviously chosen as an interesting goal as it is exactly half a dollar per gigabyte. That's all there is to it.
The rest of us could pull open the customization menu and remove the icons we didn't need (or simply those we didn't understand what they did, I suppose) and add in just the ones we wanted. With 'The Ribbon' we're forced to do whatever we're steered into doing by a broken design forced on us by 'Experts' who know better than us how we should be using the software.
The Ribbon can also be fully customized.
Disraeli was pretty close: actually, there are Lies, Damn lies, Statistics, Benchmarks, and Delivery dates.