What, Exactly, Are The -1 +1 Buttons Intended To Be Used For?

[NegativeSpace]

I am wondering if the creators/administrators/moderators of the forum intend for the forum members to use the little red and green "+1" "-1" buttons in the individual posts to be used as casual 'good post, dude', 'this post is lame bro' buttons, or if they are intended to be used as more serious 'this post really deserves the attention of all of the forum members because it is so useful or educational to everyone', 'this post is offensive to everyone and has no place in this forum or in society, and you maybe shoud not be allowed to continue to abuse this forum' buttons.

I had been wondering what those were intended to be used for, but I also want to know because someone -1'd a post of mine from a couple months ago that I think was a relevant and completely appropriate post (else I wouldn't have started the topic). I think the user did that because he responded to the post with a totally uncalled for smartass confrontational attitude, and I responded with my own smartass words and asked him to leave. I don't actually know that is true of course, because the system is anonymous as far as I can tell, but there's no other obvious reason. The -1 is no big deal really. I stand behind my conduct here and everywhere, but on the other hand it does seem like an underhanded way of slandering me, and not to mention, it's an abuse of the forum if it's used purely out of spite like it seems to have been used in this case.

Here's the post in question

[Sitwon]

In my experience, those buttons are just used by twerps whenever they disagree or don't like what you post. I had a similar experience where I tried to be helpful and got nothing but shit and -1s for it.

Here's the thread

I'd say it's pretty safe to just ignore it. This isn't StackExchange or anything so I don't think it really matters.