Voting should be encouraged but voting *for the sake of voting* should be dissuaded.

###Voting on answers is pretty self explanatory

It's easy to notice a good answer amongst less-good answers even if it's competing with your own answer.

I know it's very easy for the person with the most points on the site to say "be honest with your votes" but I mean it. We're all here for the same reason: to help people. Not voting the best answers up stops the site working like it's supposed to and that hurts its whole efficiency.

###But what makes a good question?

 - Is it something that affects us?
 - Something we think may effect lots of other users?
 - Something that doesn't have enough attention?
 - Something you don't understand (for technical, not semantic reasons)?
 - Something you can answer?

I personally vote for the first four. I don't think the fifth is enough *on its own* especially if it's done for the reason of getting the question asker over the points threshold so they can give your answer a +1.

Ultimately this isn't something we can enforce. People will do what they want, when they want. But yes, including something in the FAQ might get people to vote more freely.