Suggestion: Remove post count.

[Mike_Noren]

In the interest of keeping content quality high and reducing the noise I suggest removing the post-count. It's a meaningless metric which says nothing about the quality of the posters info but which encourages "competing" for highest post-count by shitposting.

[Jools]

True but we've been down this road before and my view is still that removing the count however then gives you no view of how many replies a person has made or any form of recognition of their efforts in replying to people and helping them out.

If people posting inappropriately, report it to a moderator.

Jools

[Jools]

You may also be interested in the "foes" feature in the user control panel. Foes are users which will be ignored by default. Posts by these users will not be fully visible. Personal messages from foes are still permitted. Please note that you cannot ignore moderators or administrators.

Jools

[andywoolloo]

well, I hope all of my posts qualify as not nuisance posts, wow.

[Mike_Noren]

True but we've been down this road before and my view is still that removing the count however then gives you no view of how many replies a person has made or any form of recognition of their efforts in replying to people and helping them out.

But that's just the thing: post count says nothing about effort or helping out. It's a completely meaningless metric. The reason I think it's harmful and would like it removed is because it actually encourages putting as little effort as possible into the posts.

EDIT: I wouldn't report people simply for posting vacuous posts, even if they make a habit of it and obviuously do so just to bump their post count, but I thank you for the Foe suggestion, I'll use that.

[Richard B]

It's a good point Mike. I'm sure i've been lazy on occasion with some posts

However i think there is something else to be considered. I believe there are a few newer members who are not as experienced as some of the "old hands" but they still want to be as active as possible & contribute where they can & learn as much as possible.Their posts clearly will not be as intensive or informative as say, someone like Silurus or Jools etc. I would encourage these people so they maintain their interest in the site & in catfish & their knowledge will then increase to the point where they'll be able to help others. After all, are we not trying to help others where we can, attract people to, & promote catfish as interesting aquarium residents*?

* suitable species - not RTC or TSN etc excepting those individuals who have tropical ponds etc

[Mike_Noren]

It's a good point Mike. I'm sure i've been lazy on occasion with some posts

Well, everyone posts some vacuous posts; it's in the nature of an informal medium that not all posts are on-topic or informative. That's not a problem. It becomes a problem when someone thinks that the post count is a competition to be won.

However i think there is something else to be considered. I believe there are a few newer members who are not as experienced as some of the "old hands" but they still want to be as active as possible & contribute where they can & learn as much as possible.Their posts clearly will not be as intensive or informative as say, someone like Silurus or Jools etc.

Yes, it is possible that what I interprete as dozens of content-free posts are honest attempts at being active and contributing. That's part of the reason why I don't want to report.

I would, however, point out that the presence of inexperienced posters is in no way an argument in favor of keeping the post count.

[Jools]

I would, however, point out that the presence of inexperienced posters is in no way an argument in favor of keeping the post count.

Well made point, however, the subtle removal of the stars wouldn't dramatically reduce trivial posts. Stealth tactics don't work on folks who don't know they're either in the wrong or perhaps just being a touch annoying. To my mind the stars stay but the moderators are they to deal with persistent posts of this type and they are also there to receive requests from forum users who find other posters output continually trivial and to mediate. The forum rules are the same for all users, irrespective of gender, race, views or age.

So, as webmaster, I'd say stars stay but use your friendly neighbourhood moderator if you feel the need. We have a facility to discuss these reports amongst the moderation team and we'll take action if it is required.

Jools

[MatsP]

Actually, I tend to use two things to determine if a person is "experienced" or just "many posts". The "Joined date" is a good indicator that a person have been on the forum for a long time.

As Jools pretty much covered what else I was saying, I've removed the rest of what I wrote while Jools was posting

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Mats