So far, nearly all of the Star rating's I have given have been on the Halloween Contest entries. I think beyond that I've only rated maybe 4 or 5 actual downloads. Before anyone asks, I've given at least 5 other images better star ratings than what my own entry has because I think they're better images. One of them I even gave a whole 5 Stars to. Don't remember which one it was at this point but I remember it blew my image out of the water.
The only "Use" I see for Stars is to make people feel good about getting them but since the whole system seems to be causing more grief than joy, I doubt I'll be rating anything else.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Albert Einstein