Removal of Post Count?

From the FAQ I came across this:

2. What are the member ranks and how do I change mine?

Answer: Your member rank is also known as your post count based group. As you've probably guessed, the number of posts you have determines what your member rank is. The full rundown is as follows:

Now my question-- is post count really that necessary for this board, considering its past of members simply spamming to get their post counts up? I noticed that custom avatars are no longer 50 posts required, but the ranking system does give a rather small instigation to spam.

What are your thoughts...?

I do see what you mean about people spamming to get a certain rank. However, it kind of looks like the number of spammers just for post count purposes went down after we removed the rule about having to get 50 posts before you can get a custom avatar. I also think that post count is a pretty good way to see who's one of the major contributors to the forums, as well as how long someone's been here, among other stuff.

I say we keep the Post Count, as it isn't causing too much trouble for the mods and admins right now. ^^

[Doctor Oak]

Your forum post count will be directly tied to a few upcoming features of the site - to ensure that those who contribute and are active the most get the most benefit of those features and that those that come along just to clutter up the server can't do so.

We don't really have any issues with people spamming to get +1s on their post count. Such people typically wouldn't last very long here anyway so it's not really something they're going to get away with.

Well that's a relief in a sense-- though why isn't post count affected in the general discussion board?

You say new features will be open to members that have higher post count, yet the contributions made in that section are not counted.

[Linkachu]

Well that's a relief in a sense-- though why isn't post count affected in the general discussion board?

You say new features will be open to members that have higher post count, yet the contributions made in that section are not counted.

Because it's not quite the general discussion board. Both Random Chatter and the War Room are for general discussion, and while the War Room is for more solid discussions - Random Chatter is mostly meant to be used for light, fun topics to get people chatting. We decided to leave posts uncounted there so that people are less shy about posting and less worried about getting warned for spamming.

From what I've seen, it works, too. Nobody really seems to mind the lack of posts counting, probably 'cause the majority agree that quality > quantity. Hell, I've seen people feel BAD about certain posts of theirs counting because they didn't feel it was a worthy reply... XD

IMO, if you're just posting in the Random Games topics or fun stuff on Random Chatter, you're not 'contributing' the same way as members posting more thought out replies on the other boards - so I personally have no qualms with the way things are running now. This is debatable, mind, but I've long felt that certain people posting on Random Chatter could've placed their threads on the War Room...

Last edited by Linkachu on Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well, I understand that it does seem like sometimes people spam. But, if there's something coming up that has to do with post counts, I disagree with doing away with it. I mean, it does sort of show, in a way, how much people are:

1. Who is and who isn't very active on the site
2. Uh, I had something else, but I can't remember now...stupid recurring-short-term-memory-loss-that-haunts-me syndrome >_< No, not really...

But anyway, I don't think the Post Counts are important, but there isn't really a hasty need to get rid of it.

In my opinion, the post count is important. It helps (at least in the past) determine the regulars. In addition, it helps the newbies determine who is considered higher-up in the forum pecking order. In addition, I quite like the new amusing titles. I want to see them all.