Bonus points are basically where we give posts a little edge for various things.

If the poster is a frequent commenter (member of the community and not just a link dumper)
If the post is a text post (more likely to start a conversation and help build community)
The post comes with a starter comment beyond just a link

It's a subtle way to reward people who contribute to community, and make sure core folks are guaranteed to have their post seen and get an absolute certainty of getting out of /new if it's a solid post.

We want to build a community and not just a link dump. Links are good of course. But community is better. And we're not afraid to tip the scales to even further support community.