Well, I don’t think a person necessarily needs a lot of medals to comment on a point, clarify a position, or add to a discussion. Of course, I’m biased (and a stupid newb, with too few medals).

However… since medals show up right next to the post, it should be pretty damn easy for anyone with a clue to take anything a newb says with a grain of salt. If they say something very special, you can easily go “That idiot hasn’t got the experience to understand this ****” and move on – if they say something smart, they can inform the debate and help you out. Don’t see why we’d need to be weeded out automatically when it can be more intelligently handled by the reader.

If, on the other hand, you’re concerned about the effect on polls like the one you’re posting here… LOL, you pretend numeric polls are a meaningful way of building consensus or taking the temperature of a populace. The vast majority of the polls I’ve seen online are heavily biased in phrasing, completely ignore a perfectly valid option, or otherwise invalidate themselves.

Asking “Who’s with me, here, amirite? [Yes/No]” doesn’t accomplish much. Starting a discussion is the way to go – and in a discussion, you’re perfectly welcome to weight every response by the medal count next to the post.