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Should we disable the member post count?

Should we disable the member post count?


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JimG.

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Okay, I finally read through all the previous responses :eek: One thought is if there could be a reputation system that worked "correctly" then that would be fantastic. Beano's other forum with Karma points sounds interesting but I would want to hear more. I think giving people an extremely limited amount of reputation points (like one or two per week tops) eliminates the popularity contest.

Reputation points should absolutely not be self serving as they are on a forum like T4T (which I am not ragging on the forum, but I just don't like the system on that site). In other words, you shouldn't need to "rep" other posters to get more points. It creates a self serving feedback loop for the highest number of posters and especially small "in" groups. The whole idea of reputation on internet forums would make for a fascinating sociological study.

What you would want to avoid is having posters that don't post much not being able to accumulate or distribute rep points at the same rate as veteran posters. In reference to my previous post's example about trip reports, another content issue is that someone that only posts trip reports could rack up tons of reputation points without really contributing any non-trip report content. So there would need to be some balance in that respect. I think reputation would be most beneficial when someone asks "can I trust this person that I don't really know to give a reliable answer?" I am not sure posting a lot of quality trip reports really contributes to reliable answers and good posting etiquette.

From a forum culture perspective, AlpineZone has always had a higher noise to signal ratio than other forums that discuss Northeast skiing and riding. There is a lot more chatter here which is both good and bad. You used to be able to avoid the chatter because it was often relegated to the Misc forum. Lately, the chatter has gone up across the site with lots of posts that don't contribute anything (not just GSS though obviously that is the most obvious of the post whores). Quite frankly, that is a turn off but other people may like the noise.

What I usually do when reading a thread, is that when posts break down into noise, I just stop reading and stop following the thread. Eventually, I just post less, read less, and visit less.

Will getting rid of post counts stop noise? No. May it decrease post whoring? I really don't know, there is no guarantee. Some people just love to log in and post anything even if it is "bumping" a thread that is the most recent thread on the top of the forum listing. Personally, the community and culture of AlpineZone has historically very strongly promoted post whoring by posting thread and post numbers and having congratulatory threads on reaching posting milestones. As long time members can attest, I have often ridiculed such quantity focused posting and thread topics and I am big on "quality" posting and threading.

All that said, I still think having the post counts public is fine. If the problem is post whoring and high noise posts, I don't think getting rid of the post count totals is going to fix the problem. Just my two cents but I figured I would get this thread back on track with some serious discussion and a full addressing of the issues at hand.

I agree with this for the most part.

I believe the noise part of the ratio has increased dramatically in the past 6 months or so.

So I refrain from making historical proclamations.
 

Greg

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Good feedback. So what are everyone's thoughts on disallowing post whoring, or at least discouraging it? Not sure there is a way to be truly objective there and it sounds like a lot of work to monitor. And like anything else, some will like it, others won't.
 

Beetlenut

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Good feedback. So what are everyone's thoughts on disallowing post whoring, or at least discouraging it? Not sure there is a way to be truly objective there and it sounds like a lot of work to monitor. And like anything else, some will like it, others won't.

I think it will take care of itself. Everyone on this list knows who posts quality and who posts quantity. Like it or not, everyone on this list has a reputation derived from the content of their posts. As adults, most of us "get" that we're responsible for our actions and words. As for others, well they still have time in life to learn that lesson. I'm sure most of us on this list will be more than willing to help them learn that lesson.
 

MRGisevil

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Don't have the inclination to read ten pages so I don't know what's been said and this might be redundant, w/e. From site owner to site owner I can tell you that monitoring post whoring is is a.) a full time job in itself, for you as well as your moderators, b.) going to give you a shitty reputation you likely do not want or need, and c.) going to drive away more traffic and create more drama than you're going to prevent, d.) not worth your time for any reason. If someone reports a post, deal with it. Or don't. Your choice. No complaints, nothing to worry about.
 

ComeBackMudPuddles

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I voted "No", because I'm looking forward to the day when GSS has the most posts on this board!!

Actually, not really, but, I can see how GSS being the #1 AZ poster in about a year is a thought obviously upsets some people (big-time posters who are the main proponents of eliminating the thread counts, I'm looking at you....).

This thread is silly.

Greg - It's your board, and if you think eliminating the post counts will, in your opinion, improve the board, then, go ahead. I don't mind 99.999% of the posts on this board, but, GSS rubs some people the wrong way. Then again, it IS the internet, and maybe those people should get a life and not let things like "bump for stoke!!" annoy them. Petty complaining about post-whoring, to me, is more annoying than the act of post-whoring, because at least some post-whoring can be funny.

But, if the post count thing is eliminated to presumably stop post-whoring, can we also lock threads like "word association thread", "song title thread", "what are you doing right now?", etc.? They're all pretty worthless, when you think about it, and mostly good for post-whoring....

No matter what, though, please let me get to 1,000!! Almost there....
 

Greg

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Actually, not really, but, I can see how GSS being the #1 AZ poster in about a year is a thought obviously upsets some people (big-time posters who are the main proponents of eliminating the thread counts, I'm looking at you....).

Not sure if you're referring to me, Andy, Brian or TTB, but rest assured, I am not threatened by GSS having more posts than me.
 

deadheadskier

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But, if the post count thing is eliminated to presumably stop post-whoring, can we also lock threads like "word association thread", "song title thread", "what are you doing right now?", etc.? They're all pretty worthless, when you think about it, and mostly good for post-whoring....
...

This is a very valid point. I occasionally post in the "what are you doing right now" thread, but the count to one millions, word association, song title etc, I don't even read, never mind post in. Well, I did try and sabotage the count to a million thread in the beginning to be a jerk, but that wasn't going anywhere for me so I stopped :lol:

Now, if someone were to lock the What's for Dinner thread, there would be hell to pay :lol:. Outside of skiing and music, food is my favorite topic of conversation. Shoot, I guess I just revealed my kryptonite should a mod want to off me :lol:
 

kcyanks1

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Good feedback. So what are everyone's thoughts on disallowing post whoring, or at least discouraging it? Not sure there is a way to be truly objective there and it sounds like a lot of work to monitor. And like anything else, some will like it, others won't.

I don't think anything needs to be done. I don't really view it as a problem. I voted for getting rid of the post count, but as I said, it's not a strong preference. While it has some value I don't think it's a lot, and maybe it can discourage some meaningless posts. But really, as I've said, I find GSS amusing and still think the signal-to-noise ratio on this board is very high.
 

Hawkshot99

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The rep points are bad. On another forum I frequent they have them. At first it was ok. Then a group of 20-30 people started repping themselves as much as possible and negative repping everyone else. As you get more rep you become harder hitting with the rep.

I made a post the other day that pissed off one of "them" and they all ganged up on me. In 20 mins my "rep score went from 3K all the way down to a negative 8K......
 
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The rep points are bad. On another forum I frequent they have them. At first it was ok. Then a group of 20-30 people started repping themselves as much as possible and negative repping everyone else. As you get more rep you become harder hitting with the rep.

I made a post the other day that pissed off one of "them" and they all ganged up on me. In 20 mins my "rep score went from 3K all the way down to a negative 8K......

Wow.what board is that on???
 

JimG.

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The rep points are bad. On another forum I frequent they have them. At first it was ok. Then a group of 20-30 people started repping themselves as much as possible and negative repping everyone else. As you get more rep you become harder hitting with the rep.

I made a post the other day that pissed off one of "them" and they all ganged up on me. In 20 mins my "rep score went from 3K all the way down to a negative 8K......

That's just plain scary.

Some folks really do have too much time on their hands.
 

hardline

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a little late the the game on this one.

GSS like stats. so he records everything and likes to see high numbers. fine its one person and its part of his personality. i find it funny. now if we had 30 people doing the same thing it wouldn't be so funny but now it fine. post counts really don't make a difference to me. if did get rid of them i would keep the peaks and keep the stats in the used CP.
 
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