It may improve the "level of discussion" in some abstract way, but it certainly does make it less useful for individual readers.
It was common, before, for me to jump into the comments of a dicussion, check out the few highest rated ones, and then read the article with that information in mind, coming back to read other comments after that. With nothing to differentiate upvoted comments (unless they happen to be at the same thread level in the same thread), there's no way for me to do that, now. I don't view this as a good thing.
You don't seem to accept that other people may have different tastes than you. I often use the vote count to be more efficient in getting a grasp of the issues quickly, without reading everything. Great for you if you like to read everything from start to finish. Not everyone does, at least not all the time.
> You don't seem to accept that other people may have different tastes than you.
No. I'm well aware that others have different tastes.
What I'm arguing is that this feature that some people find convenient and harmless is not in fact harmless, and actually systemically degrades the site over time.
It's a systems problem, not a problem with any one individual.
It was common, before, for me to jump into the comments of a dicussion, check out the few highest rated ones, and then read the article with that information in mind, coming back to read other comments after that. With nothing to differentiate upvoted comments (unless they happen to be at the same thread level in the same thread), there's no way for me to do that, now. I don't view this as a good thing.