Could posts in "Fun and Games" not be counted in user totals?

[George]

On many forums the "games" sections are generally not counted in user totals as they are predominantly full of spam-like posts.
I personally reckon this should be the same on EC because the reason a lot of people have high post counts is because they live in there and nowhere else.

Post counts are meant to give an indicitive sense of user activity in the community, and I feel that having posts from sections like Fun and Games counted doesn't really give an accurate insight into how active a user is.

Of course you all have more important issues on hand, but if you are supportive of my suggestion it only takes about 30 seconds to put into effect.

[Swamp56]

I don't think vBulletin has that as an option, but there is probably a mod out there that offers this.

You could either change the SQL query, or change the SQL select to not count that certain forum's id.

[Tim]

What would be the point of this?

Post Count typically means nothing. And how does it not show how active a member is? You check "View posts by ___" and it says what dates they were posted on, stating when they were active. >_>

Fun & Games is just that, Fun & Games, just as Post Count is. There is no real purpose of Post Count.

I know this prob. means nothing to you coming from me, but *shrug*

[Eccentric]

Plus, we all know join date is what really matters
The thing is, you can't really know what kind of posts someone makes until you start reading their posts yourself instead of making assumptions based on a number.

[Just Adam]

and you can tell alot about some one from thier humour

Originally Posted by Eccentric

Plus, we all know join date is what really matters
The thing is, you can't really know what kind of posts someone makes until you start reading their posts yourself instead of making assumptions based on a number.

I agree with this. A good number of people know me here not because of my post number but by talking to them for lengths of time. Rara, Greg, and a few others have high post rates as well but they aren't posting every 2 seconds. There are also a few on my friends roster that have like 2000 but never post anywhere else but on games section. I only don't know those people because they only get the 2000 from posting there.

[Greggers]

Post Count is something i *really* would not mind if it were to go away Like people said above, it does not affect the quality of the post. The only thing it does is lets people judge you based on a number and encourage "post whoring".

I post alot and have alot of posts, but i dont purposely post in the games or post crap everywhere to get them. If the post count was taken away i think it would give everyone a more equal playing field when it comes to first impressions and things like that

As for taking away posts in the games section, i can see why we would do that, but honestly i dont think its worth any effort it would take to change it. Its trivial at the best.

It used to be a goal for some people before because you needed 500 posts (I think?) to be able to change the status (under your name, mine says "parle français") a long time ago, but now it does not have any real purpose...

Though I agree with you, George.

[George]

Another reason I forgot to mention in my first post is that having posts in the Fun and Games forum kinda does promote post whoring a lot. If it was taken away it'd promote more user activity in the other forums which at times can get pretty dull.

[theworld]

*goes to create stoopidest post to raise post count thread.

kidding!

[davo-man]

I would not be sad or protest if the postcount was taken away. It serves no purpose in my eyes

[Lychee]

I like post count, but that's only because I love all forms of numbers and statistics - y'know?

[Lexington]

Lexington sez, "Remember kids - the higher your post count, the larger your penis is!"

Lex

[Stuie]

Maybe get rid of post count from the user box on the left, but keep the statistics page?

I like the statistics page as well, Pauline. Maybe you could have a breakdown of which forums they post in on the statistics page?

V Bulletin does have the software to have postcount not counted in certain sections. Almost every other forum i'm on has one section or another disabled, due to them being the 'fun', or more accurately, non helpful sections. Keeping in mind this is a support website. People want support from people who know about the issue, not someone who can count to a million 5 times

[Cheria]

Mmm normally I would been in favor of this as most forums do have a problem with "post-whoring". But I don't really see it as that big of a problem here.

Originally Posted by Lexington

Lexington sez, "Remember kids - the higher your post count, the larger your penis is!"

Lex

Marry me.

[Eccentric]

Originally Posted by The Enigma

Marry me.

You're just attracted to him 'cause of his SIZE.

Anyway, I just don't see what the big deal is. Yes, 'no +postcount in a forum game subforum' is a standard in many forums, but I don't see a big problem here that would warrant changing the way things are now.

[Lexington]

>>>Marry me.

I dunno. You only have 1000 posts.

>>>V Bulletin does have the software to have postcount not counted in certain sections. Almost every other forum i'm on has one section or another disabled, due to them being the 'fun', or more accurately, non helpful sections. Keeping in mind this is a support website. People want support from people who know about the issue, not someone who can count to a million 5 times

Understood. But then again, it seems that good advice tends to speak for itself. When someone is given two pieces of advice - one a well-thought-out, clearly stated post, and the other an "OMG totaly kis him n stuff", will they take the latter advice simply because the poster has a higher post count? I trust ECers to choose the advice they want to follow. If they want to do it based on post count, or how cool their sign-in and/or avatar is, that's pretty much their call.

Lex

[joeyconnick]

Originally Posted by evildoctorcow

Maybe get rid of post count from the user box on the left, but keep the statistics page?

That would be a good compromise, for those number-lovers out there.

That being said, I'm all for "Fun & Games" posts not counting or, even better, post counts just going away.