Post Count Question

[Steven P. Administrators]

No this isn't a new Neowin policy I just want to gather (if I can) the general feeling towards this if we were ever to consider it.

[Nautica]

I think that it creates an atmosphere of pettiness...

and is not congruent to neowin!

[Dazzla Veteran]

You can do what I've seen on a few other forums. The post count is hidden by default and you can only see it by entering someones profile but it's not visible on the forums. Perhaps this will stop the post count ###### but still offer a sorta guide to new members as to members with experience if they need any help.

[Nautica]

You can do what I've seen on a few other forums. The post count is hidden by default and you can only see it by entering someones profile but it's not visible on the forums. Perhaps this will stop the post count ###### but still offer a sorta guide to new members as to members with experience if they need any help.

Thats what I mean!

good call m8!

[sphere]

I don't believe you should disable them. Maybe hide them from users not logged in, or stick the post count in the profile like Dazzla said.

Would this affect the stars?

[Steven P. Administrators]

You can do what I've seen on a few other forums. The post count is hidden by default and you can only see it by entering someones profile but it's not visible on the forums. Perhaps this will stop the post count ###### but still offer a sorta guide to new members as to members with experience if they need any help.

I agree

[RadishTM Veteran]

Sounds like a good idea Dazzla :yes: ....

Radish.

[Nautica]

hmm, or have a "begginer", intermediate, "experianced" ect....

just my 2 pounds... ;)

edit// to let people know the experience on neowin/hopefully tech savyness lol (spelling)

[Dazzla Veteran]

hmm, or have a "begginer", intermediate, "experianced" ect....

just my 2 pounds... ;)

edit// to let people know the experience on neowin/hopefully tech savyness lol (spelling)

But then we have the same problem as the stars (if the experience level is determined by posts), people will spam to get a higher experience level. Unless we can somehow take into account other factors :/

[sphere]

Unless we can somehow take into account other factors

Maybe we can setup a system where members can 'give a point' for a user if they believe he or she has contributed well to the board.

For example: Johnny has problem with his computer. Mary helps out and finds a solution. Johnny is happy and decides to give a point to Mary for her help.

[Nautica]

hmm, or have a "begginer", intermediate, "experianced" ect....

just my 2 pounds... ;)

edit// to let people know the experience on neowin/hopefully tech savyness lol  (spelling)

But then we have the same problem as the stars (if the experience level is determined by posts), people will spam to get a higher experience level. Unless we can somehow take into account other factors :/

or have it based on time enrolled?

oh well, it was just a thought, it would be best to have the post count, but hidden from the avi.

[john smith 1924 Veteran]

i agree with that idea of like a simple levels as opposed to post count; post counts give a useful guide so if you want to get rid of them id like someway to gauge user's...

[tomwarren Veteran]

I think it matters how long you have been here more than your post count. Postcount is a rough and in sometimes accurate guide to how long a user has been at a forum but member no says it all.

[Jay]

No, post counts don't give a useful guide.

A user that joins and just posts junk for 1000 posts would have a better "rep" than somebody that joined and made 100 posts which helped 2000 people according to the "post counts serve as a useful guide" theory :)

Another idea would be to disable counting posts for the general/non-tech related forums. This would also serve as a useful guide on who's being the most helpful where it matters at Neowin :)

[sssqqq]

At the end of the day it's just a statistic, and statistics can be interpreted how you want...

[Tobbe]

Yeah! Dazzla is the man! :D

Stars shouldn't be based on post count.

[DJP]

IMHO just leave as it is, neobond.

It is working good why change it.

[Keldyn]

It has been my experience that the majority of "spammers" are not here to raise their postcount. Rather, they spam for no other reason than create a disturbance. So what if a member made 1000 posts within a month or two of joining. So what if they spend most of their time in the one word story game, or word association games. (post counts are locked anyhow)

That is not spam. The real spammers usually last no longer than a day or two. We have a competent team here. I think those that are complaining about postcounts should stop and think on why it really upsets you so much? If it is really just a statistic, as you say, than why not just leave it be. It hurts no one. I could not give a poop either way, but i fail to see how this will change anything.

[Dazzla Veteran]

If it was based on a time frame, it would classify people who have been here for 2 years yet posted once as experienced. Also, if it was a combination of time and posts then it's just based on posts per day.

I'd just scrap it all, you know you wanna ;)

[Jay]

It has been my experience that the majority of "spammers" are not here to raise their postcount. Rather, they spam for no other reason than create a disturbance.

No Keldyn, those would be "trolls", not "spammers" :)

Spammers post just to post, or post for the sole reason of executing $postcount++; without offering anything to the discussion.

[Joel]

My vote is disable the postcount visibilty in threads, leave it in the profiles.

[kainashi]

i'll have to agree with dazzla on this one. they did it at another forum i used to go to awhile back, it worked. :)

[flakingbiscuit]

I think post counts should be viewable in profiles, not in each post. People seem to think the more posts they have, the better they are and they should get a higher amount of respect, which that's not what it's meant for. It's the quality, as said many times before. I don't care about my post count. People that noticed they lost so many posts after Neowin restored the DB from Feb. 13th. I don't know how many posts I had, or should have, and I don't really care. I post when I feel like it, and I could post either a "haha" in the jokes section, or a big long post in Real World Issues. I don't think we should get rid of post counts, just make then less easily accessable, like in profiles.

This is just something I thought up. I think there should be some type of rating system, like if you think the post that someone put was helpful or not, you can rate that post on a 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 scale. Of course, you couldn't vote for your own posts. That would mean people would have to go out of their way to say that the post someone submitted was helpful or whatever, but it would be good because people would'nt say that a post is good if it isn't.

Just my two cents... ;)

[gigatexel]

You can do what I've seen on a few other forums. The post count is hidden by default and you can only see it by entering someones profile but it's not visible on the forums. Perhaps this will stop the post count ###### but still offer a sorta guide to new members as to members with experience if they need any help.

I still think this is the best idea. Should the stars also be removed? Or leave the stars and have them based on the number of years you've been a member of neowin, one star for each year.

[xsivforce]

Another idea would be to disable counting posts for the general/non-tech related forums. This would also serve as a useful guide on who's being the most helpful where it matters at Neowin :)

That is a good idea IMO. :yes: