^nods^
Actually, I had a thought about that a while back. Given that shields aren't typically a total defense (especially during DS9 and VOY) shouldn't the count go up (towards maximum tolerance) not down?
Not sure why that would matter. If your maximum shield tolerance is a given, you could always convert it to a percentage of 'unused tolerance' that's still left, and perhaps they prefer their standard measure in that way? (So say your tolerance is 700 and you are currently 'using/have already consumed' 500, that would mean you still have (700-500)/700 = 28% left?)