I have to wonder if there is any beneficial value in displaying post counts. I realize that the intent of these counts are to indicate those members who may be board seasoned. However, I'd question if the intent really reflects the reality.

Clearly you find people who either create or reply to posts for no other reason than to up the count and try for the next gear. I realize that this is not the end of life as we know it, yet I cannot help but wonder if this "feature" should not be reviewed in light of what its original intent was, juxtaposed to how it is perceived.

 

I agree..

What value there was in the counts that might have indicated experience has been negated by the post count contest. We now how to contend with a lot of junk posts and possible slower response to support them. It would not hurt my feelings if they went away.

 

Ditto. Although I think we have only a few who are actually posting just to up counts significantly. Maybe a limit on how many posts count per day (not a limit on posting, but a limit on counting them!)

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MJMSC
[B]Ditto.

 

There's nothing wrong with posting a lot in and of itself. Posting a lot is not the devil. It's possible for a person to post 100s of posts a day and have each and every post be a good contribution to the board. You don't want to restrict such people. Since the value of a contribution is subjective, who's to say what is a good post and what is a junk post? Is it based on the number of words? If so how many? If the concern is about someone getting into a count contest, then just remove the number of counts by the username, remove the star ranking system, or remove the top 25 lists. If you don't know how many posts you have relative to others than there's not point in getting into a contest right? Also, if there's no ranking system then you aren't going to try to get upshifted. However, let's not restrict the number of posts in a day. Personally, I like the way things are. I don't see what the big deal is. So what if there's a lot of junk posts. Just skip over them. It's not that hard right? People skip crappy programs or commercials on TV all the time. Some of the so called junk posts are pretty damn funny to me. It makes it fun to go through the board. It's very easy to skim the posts for points of interest. I do that all the time with no problems at all. Just stick to the subjects that interest you and you should be fine. If there are some users that you don't like just skip them when you see their name. Also, the off topics forum tends to be where the bulk of the so called "junk posts" (depends on point of view) are. I would recommend just avoiding that forum.

 

I did not advocate the limiting of posts. I do not want to see people like, cdelena, who have brought much technical knowledge to the board, prevented from continuing. However, at the same time there is no reason to offer benefits or enticements to post endlessly. It seems that the post counts offer nothing but that sort of inducement. If we can help reduce the chaff by not creating an artificial award system for such behavior, it seems a small thing towards the greater good.

 

I like having the post counts next to the poster's name. It is one quick and dirty way of knowing who has some credibility and who doesn't. Of course, there are a couple of people out there who screw up the system, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

 

I don't think it's really a big deal. There is no prize for the most posts. It's all for fun, and that's a big part of why we have this forum. I listen to people speak nonsense all day, skipping past boring posts couldn't be easier.

I can imagine where this all came from, but, is it causing you that much grief? I doubt it, but then I could be wrong

 

FWIW, I don't think anyone who posted here advocated a limit on posts, just different methods to either not count or limit counts on posts.

There are only a few posters who have posted for posting sake, so maybe it's not a big deal, but it could be. Anyway, as I've said before, I love it here and am not really that frustrated with the fluff posts, but would advocate a different methodology for the rating system.