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Skip, I agree with what you're saying regarding the significance of contribution notes for documentation of the data residing in the profile of a DVD.

BUT:

We are not casting votes on the contribution notes by pressing the "Yes", "No", "Neutral" buttons in the evaluation screen. Those votes are cast on the data that is submitted in the contribution, so a vote cast using these three buttons must be based on the correctness of the data submitted only, NOT the content and/or correctness of the accompanying notes.

You might have had a point (a weak one IMO, but surelyl debatable) until a few weeks ago when the reputation system was introduced, because since then, we have another tool, too:

For the contribution notes, we now can vote seperately by using the reputation votes by selecting the notes section in the evaluation screen of a profile. So, if you agree with the change in data, but disagree with the accompanying notes, you should really vote "Yes" on the data submitted and give a negative reputation vote for the contribution notes.

As the reputation votes for contribution notes can (and in case of negatives probably have to, I don't know for sure) be accompanied by explanatory notes, you'd be able to let the contributor know what you deem wrong and give him a chance to correct the notes (no guarantee, I know, but that's life in DVDP land  ) and still allow the correct data into the online db.

So, IMO, you can perfectly well achieve both: improve the database AND reprimand the contributor for failing to do a proper documentation.

Don't you think that's a better approach than your "No" vote against your own better knowledge and by that deteriorate the online db?

EDIT: I would not apply the above outlined approach to unsourced or obviously faultily sourced submissions unknown to be true, but the case at hand deals with notes deemed insufficient by some and sufficient by others AND the data in question has been verified by those demanding more detailed notes to be correct.

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system intended to reward positive helpful posts in our forums, and to deter negativity

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One question, teacher: does having a right "in this country" - or any country, for that matter - also comprise the World Wide Web? 

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Quoting Darxon:

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We are not casting votes on the contribution notes by pressing the "Yes", "No", "Neutral" buttons in the evaluation screen. Those votes are cast on the data that is submitted in the contribution, so a vote cast using these three buttons must be based on the correctness of the data submitted only, NOT the content and/or correctness of the accompanying notes.

This is exactly what the rules tell us to do.  From the rules:

If a user is following the Contribution Rules and his/her data is accurate, and the contribution replaces data which is inaccurate or violates these Contribution Rules, a "No" vote is considered an abuse of the voting privilege and should be avoided when possible.

I don't see anything in there that says you have to like their sources.  If you know the "data is accurate, and the contribution replaces data which is inaccurate or violates (the) Contribution Rules, a "No" vote is considered an abuse of the voting privilege." 

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When you contribute a changed profile, you are required to include Contribution Notes. Use the space to enter full explanations for all changes and/or additions that you make. Make special reference to any changes where:

    * You have verified there is a discrepancy between the box and the actual content of the DVD - include your verification method.
    * You are making a subtle change that may be hard to spot - for example spelling correction to the overview.
    * You are removing incorrect information.

Contribution Notes provide an explanation of your changes to other DVD Profiler users and Invelos for voting and deciding whether to accept your contribution, so make your notes useful and descriptive.

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Read the prior Contribution Notes. They will give you information about contributions that other users have made. There are two specific things that you need to be particularly aware of:

    * Have other users verified discrepancies between the cover and the actual disc information? If so do not contribute the incorrect box information again.
    * Are there pending contributions from other users, which have yet to be evaluated by Invelos screeners? If so, you need to ensure that your contribution will not overwrite pending corrections with incorrect information again. Or are you duplicating the contribution that is pending, just contributing the same information again?

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What I'm reading in your quotes is that contribution notes do not in themselves constitute data (as in: data in a profile), but that they serve a supporting role in establishing the correctness of a contribution. Leaving out supportive documentation would thus make it more difficult to establish correctness of the contribution, nothing more, nothing less.