You've created a bit of a contradiction here by assuming that the quality of content can be determined objectively in the first place. Quality of content is inherently subjective because there's no definitive "perfect quality." A research paper might be extensive and carefully written, but that doesn't mean that it's better content that a wellcrafted joke- a lot of people would rather hear the joke, which gives it subjective quality. The point of an internet community is to align yourself with others who have similar subjective views on quality. If you want jokes, follow a joke page. If you want papers, follow an academic page. The voting system within those pages determines the quality of posts within their subjective viewpoint.

Ya know, just the other day I was thinking "gosh I wish WoW had more micro transactions"

The most recent one was in a game I was DM'ing and I couldn't even be mad about it. The wizard used gust of wind on a gelatinous cube to force it back down a hallway and into a group of goblins waiting to ambush them. The goblins kept trying to climb out of the cube but the wind kept pushing them right back in ;_;

Gust of Wind let's you get up to all sorts of shenanigans.