"Is there any point at all in contributing an answer beginning"
Good morning douglas......LOL.....I sympathise with your point of view, but AB is a "community", a lifestyle which performs many a function for many people for various reasons encapsulating many categories of life and as such needs a hierarchy of some sort e.g chiefs and Indians, corporals and officers........got the picture?
With AB these folks often and mainly qualify by becoming high profile by answering any or all section threads whether needed or not......and periodically throughout the year their performances are publicised by much trumpeting ...e.g best answers, numbers of posts in various sections and so on.
They need this (for various reasons) and AB provides the medium for this and by and large, although "irritating" to many (including myself), is harmless.
You're point is well taken, but it is a matter of "get used to it" cus it ain't gonna change"