Arrows next to questions

[Marisa]

Will someone please tell me the purpose of the up and down arrows placed to the left of each question?

[vitor]

as user mzv already said in a similar question, the arrows are used to "rate the comment, question or answer up or down. up is like a thumbs up on some sites, or a "like" almost, on facebook. notice that the comments toward the top have a higher number, that means people have clicked up, and it's more likely to be seen because of its relevancy"