Do away with post counts

[Sovak 0]

OK, here is your chance to vote on it.  What is your opinion?  Do the post counts under each person's avatar promote non-sensible and "say-nothing" posts, just to raise the count?  Or do they actually encourage people to post quality messages on our boards?  Should we keep them? Or get rid of them?

[Zertz 0]

I vote to remove post counts and see what happens, on a trial basis.

[The Dude 0]

I think we should stop showing the numbers because I catch myself in the act of looking too much on the numbers :(

[STSF StarDust 0]

While I think the majority of us do strive for quality posts, I know I have seen posts that can't be anything more than padding.

A lot of use more than one name to post, so we would never have an accurate count. I never really bother to look, so doing away with them wouldn't bother me in the least.

If it happened, I am sure there would be screams of protest.

 :(

[Grom 0]

Congrats on reaching 200 Ziggy. :( J/k.  I'm sure there will be screams of protest...so how about removing it just from our individual posts and leaving the count in the profiles? Do you think that might help?

[Garnoopy 0]

When I used to visit foreign forums (ones I had never been to) I would see people's post #'s and know whether that person knew a lot about what happened on the forum or what didn't happen. It gave the person, shall we say, a different level of respect based on how long they had been on the forum.

 

What I have found though in my year on STSF though is that this previously thought belief definitely isn't true. People tend to post a lot of meaningless posts and therefor I have learned to respect people based on what I've read in their posts and their names. We seem to have way to many conversations on the forum that could be carried out on AIM, Yahoo IM, ICQ, or some other messenger service.

 

Sometimes it's nice to look at my post counter and see how many times I've posted, the same goes for others but in truth it isn't really something that is a big deal. GromVik's suggestion might just work and I think that is reasonable. I don't think that I'd like to do away with them completely but perhaps that small change will help the situation.

 

Also, perhaps instead of focusing on post counters we should consider the problem of the content of what is posted and the motivation behind it. If the motivation for meaningless posts is to bring up ones post counter then I believe we should do away with them, however, the motivation might be something else and therefor I submit that more research into what the real problem is should be done before any action is taken.

[Travis Kroells 0]

I agree with Grom, in a sense...Im aposed to the removal of the post counter, but the profile counter, would be a reasonable solution, most people that post for the sake of posting, want others to see how large their number is...if we reduce it to just on our profiles, it would eliminate most of that, I dont check out others profiles, so in sense, those posters would lose all the attention they crave.

[Images 0]

i post for fun, anyone who does so for a number is a fool!

[Vex Xiang 0]

A lot of use more than one name to post, so we would never have an accurate count. I never really bother to look, so doing away with them wouldn't bother me in the least.

 

I've never really understood that ::Scratches head:: If you have all your character names in your siggy, why would you have to create a whole new registration name? Throws off the number of real people who've registered, IMO.

 

Anyway...I just wanted to post because I wanted to tell Sovak that I think his avatar ROCKS!

[STSF StarDust 0]

A lot of use more than one name to post, so we would never have an accurate count. I never really bother to look, so doing away with them wouldn't bother me in the least.

 

I've never really understood that ::Scratches head:: If you have all your character names in your siggy, why would you have to create a whole new registration name? Throws off the number of real people who've registered, IMO.

Wow Grom!! I hit 200!! Thanks for pointing it out, cause I didn't notice. :(

 

I actually created Major StarDust, since that was my original. And then I created a seperate one as a GM, so that when I post my logs its not as a GM, but as my character. Not trying to throw off the member count. :D

 

And Grommie, I like your idea of post counters in the profile.

[HyperDrive 0]

Placing the post count in the profile only (and not on the topic page) sounds like a good idea to me.

 

In reply to what Garnoopy said... I also tend to look at post counts to tell me the "rank" of the person on the boards. However, with iB, I can look at the join date much easier. This tells me exactly how long the person has been a member of the forum, and (if I were new) would help me decide who a good person to ask a question too. Face it, many GMs have less than 150 posts. ::shrugs::

 

So, I'm all for removing the post count. I'm a firm believer in quality over quantity.

 

~HD

[Dumbass 0]

Anyone who wants to post something meaningless is going to fabricate a reason to do it.  I don't think a post count matters to these people unless you're at 497 and just can't sleep until you reach 500, but that is rare.  And even then it's not like you get a free set of steak knives or something.

 

A post count by itself is a misleading statistic.  It places the same value on a multi-page log entry as it does on simply a few words.  What would be interesting, although probably not doable, would be adding an "average words per post" count.  That way we could have an idea of who'se posts are likely to have some content.

[Captain Huff 0]

I have never looked at my own post count or anybody else's.  I don't even know where it's listed and please don't tell me because I could give a flying donut.  :D

 

My vote:  Dump 'em.  Talk when you have something to say, listen when you have time to listen.  I'm all about quality, Baby.  

 

But that's just my little opinion, and if they continue to be listed, I'll continue to ignore them.  Selective denial is a beautiful skill.  :(

[Dumbass 0]

Huff - The post count is right below your avitar.    :(

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

I think the feature isn't a horrible thing. In addition, if it's abused, many have come to learn there are ways to reset them should it be necessary. :(

[Captain Huff 0]

grrr....

[Zertz 0]

Well really, the point is, would anyone really miss them if they were gone?

[Nemesis 0]

Well maybe they should be like cars turn over when you reach a certain amount. Oh wait heres an idea how bout not caring because now its become worse then the people who cared about their post count. Why are you all making a big deal out of a little thing the abusing things were only jokes and people took it too seriousily. Cool it they are only posts and you can tell if some one is abusing by what their post say and if they relate to the topic not by the post count. For lets see Fred and the Webmaster have the highest post counts I don't think of either of them abusers of the post counts now everyone just take a deep breath and move on with your life and quit caring about this. :(

[Sovak 0]

Whoa, Nemesis!  I had no idea this was such a sore point with you!  I had no idea discussing the pros and cons of listing post counts would cause you such consternation.  I noted that it seemed to be a hot topic, so I just asked for everyone's opinion.  We are all entitled to one of those, yanno. :(

[Nemesis 0]

I don't mind discussing things but its only a post count and people don't really look that much into what they are saying. Most people were only joking about the post count and people took it too seriousily and need to chill its only a post count like come on isn't there more important things to be discussing or evening caring about then a post count.

[Sovak 0]

I don't mind discussing things but its only a post count and people don't really look that much into what they are saying. Most people were only joking about the post count and people took it too seriousily and need to chill its only a post count like come on isn't there more important things to be discussing or evening caring about then a post count.

Yes, there are a lot more important things.  I daresay there are even more important things than Star Trek ::gasp!:: :(

However, discussing things is what we do here.  Don't criticize people for having an opinion about something, even if it is not something you, in particular, don't care about.  I know people who think that any discussion about a certain science fiction show that plays on television is not too terribly important, either.  There are plenty of people who would tell you to "chill" for bringing up the topic.

 

Post your opinion, tell us you don't care, if you like.  But don't belittle those who do.

[Cmdr Laura Issia 0]

::(: There are post counts under our avatars?  ::looks:: Oh, yeah, there are.   Wow.  

 

Guess we know how often I look at 'em, huh?  I wouldn't mind seeing them removed.

[Images 0]

hmmmm gets kinda freaky when we all talk of slicing things from the boards!

[EMH_mark_2.3 0]

post numbers are lrrelevant

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

Someone asked above, "I guess the question is, would anyone miss them if they were gone?". I disagree. It will take work to remove them and I have to ask, why bother? If the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it. :(