Step into my office for a little discussion about post count

Hey guys,

I recently read in another thread that there are those on here who really care what their post count is.

I understand that I'll almost never post anything of actual value, and I further understand that to be a general consensus of the interent community - so my own personal post count is probably more damning than anything.

That said, being of the open-minded type - I'd be interested in hearing the argument as to why a guy WOULD care about his or someone elses post count.

Is there a presumed value that comes from the member with a higher count? I only ask because I think my count on issf is at some embarrassing number like 8,000+ and I'd hate to think that gave me any more "cred" than someone with way less.

Case in point, I once told a noob who was worried about the cost of shipping a set of wheels and tires that if he let them go flat, then refilled them to 40psi with helium, it'd cost him less than if he shipped only the wheels. I had to fess up to BSing him when he PMd me regarding where he could locate that much helium.

Anyway, I thought this may be an opportunity of the two opposing sides to better understand each other's point of view.

If you care, WHY?

If you don't care, WHY?

Not caring,
John

don't care, cause you get more manure than meat from beef cattle in a year of it's life......

I'm confused - are you suggesting that they rename this section to "beef cattle" or "beef cattle discussion"?

I

guess

it makes

you seem

smarter?? YES!! 1180!!!

lol. Seriously though....I think you unlock special powers once you reach a certain count.

I don't care because others do.

PS: Chris, get your shovel out and get back to work.

Bewber wrote:

I'm confused - are you suggesting that they rename this section to "beef cattle" or "beef cattle discussion"?

I think he's suggesting to rename it to the "Mostly Manure" section.

I look at counts simply as a way of gauging activity or interest, maybe who the "regulars" are, But that also comes from seeing the same names over and over, just as easily.

The membership section shows the following when sorted by post counts, high to low.

385 Members in total
118 with 0 posts (30% - are they really members?)
231 with 5 or less posts (that's 60% of the membership)


48 with over 50 (12% of the membership)
37 with over 100 (10% " ")
7 with over 1000 (2% " ")

I noticed that virtually all Wagonfest participant names (that I recognized) came from the first two pages of the post count list. Not much of a surprise there. If you went to wagon fest, with few exceptions, you'll see most are within the 10% with over 100 posts. So as is typical of most "clubs" ten percent do all the work and are the most active.

And I'm the exception! I just like teh intarnetz.



No but really - I wish I could afford WagonFest. This summer it may be possible.

I could care less about post counts and think it's funny that some guys (mostly on the big board) go nuts about having theirs up so high... :rolleyes:

And Chris, thanks for the laugh.

I like post counts.

They give me some idea about how active a person is. It helps me if someone returns after an absence, or if they don't do anything to make themselves stand out.

I couldn't care less about posts counts.

I only care about post count the way I care about positive feedback on ebay. on the 'other' forum, I let go a whale of a deal on a center shift console after the guy with 4 posts got a little flaky about how much it would be to ship.

A decent post count USUALLY equals a reliable type person (but there are always exceptions) for dealing with parts buying....

other than that I could give a rats rearend about it.

wait, I need

Hmm...how my do I have...

Whoa I need to get a life.....is my wife right? Damn......

On another forum that I am a member of (NOT ISSF) they did away with post counts and some of the membership went nuts!

It was claimed that the post counts let new members know where the experience is within the membership and to whom one can go to for help.

Regardless as to what Bewbs says, verbal diarrhea not withstanding, he is knowledgeable on the various subject discussed here, and his post count shows his willingness to express his opinions.

Mike, on the other hand........ of the 1600+ posts, 22 have substance..... the others are in the Craigslist section LOL (just kidding)

SOOO

to the point.

I am going to make this a Poll thread and I will let it run for 2 weeks. This should allow enough time for those of us who are regulars to vote. Majority rules.

Sound democratic enough?

WOOHOO!!!!! I'm on another "top 2%" list besides that one on the Post office wall......


Wait, nevermind....


(and I now have 1 more post than Chris!!)

Poll added

"Title" refers to "hide post count", but still tracks them. We can assign titles to those with x-x post counts.

bewbers gets to pick the titles names

are you sure that's a good idea?

Krzdimond wrote:

(and I now have 1 more post than Chris!!)

no

Krzdimond wrote:

(and I now have 1 more post than Chris!!)

you

Krzdimond wrote:

(and I now have 1 more post than Chris!!)

DONT!! HA!! Ok, I'm done. Lol. I voted

My real answer is "don't care", but the possibility of funny/ridiculous/self-deprecating/etc titles got me to vote for that one.

We have a count??? Never noticed until I read this post.............

CHRIS, THANK YOU FOR A TRUE LOL MOMENT!!! People in the next room are wondering what I am up to!!

Tim

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

People in the next room are wondering what I am up to!!

Tim

Ah Tim, I really doubt that. In fact I'm sure that most really don't want to know what the weirdo with the woody is doing alone in his motel room

Krzdimond wrote:

are you sure that's a good idea?

Oh most definetly YES!

Titles and Bewber picks..... KEEP IT CLEAN JOHN!!!!

We don't care about democracy. We want free beer with every post.

yeah that's it FREE BEER with every post.

... and a few cute sheep.

Yeah that's good, beer and sheep in that order.

...and maybe a few after dinner mints (for the sheep)

Scary....

81X11 wrote:

Scary....

I know, right? I didn't even know that sheep liked after dinner mints.

Krzdimond wrote:

I didn't even know that sheep liked after dinner mints.

well now you do, go enjoy!

Hey, in the forum where I'm an admin, it's small enough that everyone got to pick their own title.



Just sayin.

What I meant by title is that if you have 0-100 posts, you would be a "1.6L"
101-249 would be 2.4L
250-499 = 3.8L


etc...... Whatever john decides (within reason)

Oh Honestly, this entire discussion began with a declaration of me NOT caring, and now I'm supposed to NAME the levels of that for which I do not care?

I just wanted to wrap my head around who or what or why it'd help - and I can see where that would matter to someone during a sale. I personally don't buy from noobs, teeny/twenny boppers, or people with very low post counts. I've just seen too many other people ignore those red flags and get burned.

I actually dig that this place shows when we joined, since that helps too.

If there are going to be graduated levels of post count participation/identification, that'd be ok - but I'd like to see the ceiling be at something like 1500 or 2000 or something like that. I think at that point, someone will have more than demonstrated a significant level of participation and "wagon brotherhood" - even if they all are in a craigslist section. Or maybe THAT is the line in the sand where someone can make up their own title.

Or leave it all alone.

Good discussion though, thanks guys!

Bewber wrote:

Oh Honestly, this entire discussion began with a declaration of me NOT caring, and now I'm supposed to NAME the levels of that for which I do not care?

John, have you ever heard that "No good deed goes unpunished"?

Once again proof of participation in numbers:

Thus far out of 385 members, 11 have voted.

............out of 385 members, 9 have posted.

lakeffect wrote:

Once again proof of participation in numbers:

Thus far out of 385 members, 11 have voted.

............out of 385 members, 9 have posted.

I voted. And come to think of it, posted now too.

Jon

I agree with John that Newbee's need to be known for buying and other info. But there is a core that contribute and many do not have high post counts.... 94X2 for instance...... Maybe we subjectively give them a "Regular" tag.......

There are others who have a huge post count, but that does not make them a contributor. IE - only 11 out of 385???

Just my 2 cents............

i don't have a high post count.
but then again...most of you here have met me and know that i am a man of few words! (and i have a bridge for sale in new york)

seriously post count means nothing to me. i spend my time where people are friendly and because of this i don't hang out too much at issf. not to mention that post count is everything there.
i hate typing (i can type fast but i just don't care to do it!) and therefore i feel its pointless to unnecessarily post jibber-jabber to drive up post count to reach some mythical goal like a high school football player sleeping with the cheerleaders for street cred!

FYI i have over 2,000 posts at stationwagonforums.com and have been on there since 08

Hey guys, give me a break. I've been away the week and checking out the forum just now. I voted as a " don't care" .
I'd love to visit the wagon fest one time, but it would be with my own wagon. (so i have to ship it back from Europe to his "motherland" and that is something i'm still working on not in the least for the money)
So, i agree with most of you. True wagon lovers visit the wagon fest at least once in their life.
Pete

that said, my post is a low down 46...

Poll closes when the 26th does.

The only use I have for the posts is to give me some way of determine whether someone has some modicum of interest and knowledge about the cars. If they have not posted more than a couple of times, they are probably still trying to find out why the low washer fluid light is on. There are exceptions to that assumption, but then, we all have to start somewhere. I spent the first year working on my wagon without any help. It was a bit frustrating. The noobs seldom post because they have no idea what to say. Once they have some experience, they may feel an desire to help others. They may even catch something others have missed (although most everything has been beaten to death). All in all the people with more than an average number of posts tend to be the most knowledgable and sharing group. There are others who are just very social, and not only do they have a wide array of local friends, the forum allows them to have an even larger network.

Overall, it is nice to know that there are some people who can answer questions correctly, or help you locate hard to find parts, and the post count is probably the best gauge of that. I voted to leave it alone. Why fix something when it is not broke. (I know, mods are fixing things that are not broke, but they are supposed to be "improvements".)

Can we vote for more than one thing - like to say to leave it alone, AND give regulars a title, AND that I don't really care?

Bewber wrote:

Can we vote for more than one thing - like to say to leave it alone, AND give regulars a title, AND that I don't really care?

well, bewbs...i assume you can play with your own poll.........and vote for more than one thing!

...I am in this thread...

In all honesty, I really don't care but I say leave it as it is...obviously doesn't do much for my case since I'm mostly a quiet observer even though I'm here every few days at the least, but it is nice for some to gauge credibility...