You can collect em all as you progress through your smobriety. Kinda indicate work and progress. And when you feel like it, just like Dale said, you can give some away to others. Welcome to Ex? I don't recall your name. Anyhow, glad to see you here. Keep coming back!
As others mentioned. Points aren't used as a currency here on EX to acquire anything by turning them in for something. Some people think about them while others don't pay attention. Some find them motivating while others do not. Whatever approach you take is fine, the important thing is you quit.
In general they can be one of several representations of your contributions to the EX Community. Over time you'll acquire them by writing your own content, responding to others posts, answering questions of others and many many other actions. Few people really earn many points as a majority of the members come here for a short period of time and never will amass a large quantity of points. The people who have been around have will likely acquire more points and may be the people who stand out and who newbies gravitate to early on in their quit journey.
For some they might consider your point level/quantity, the quality of your posts and the length of time you have been a member, how many people are following your content all part of your "online reputation". Those that do may consider their online reputation is a measure of their credibility. But points aren't the sole determining factor of online reputation/credibility.
There are also some people who post infrequently, have been around a long time and have phenomenal posts. So quantity of posts/points should never be the sole determining factor on a person's credibility.
I also use various aspects of the rewards/gamification system here to understand the health of the community and to understand the normative practices and behaviors of the members. It's all quite interesting.\
Mark
EX Community Manager
Wish this response of yours, Mark, could somehow be added or incorporated into About Badges, Points, and Leaderboards .
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see how we might incorporate it.