My vote's w/ NYC1's suggestion - registration dates could guide newbies as to who has been around a while and since the number of posts in no way indicates expertise, why bother? It implies a status that doesn't really exist.

I happen to be a newswire junkie, so I don't begrudge Doc his posts - and I find great humor in some of the frivolous posts - even the smilies - but for those who are inspired to add static to get their post count up, well, this could potentially reduce those.

I can't see any downside to this suggestion. Just my nickle's worth