Let me start off by saying I’m undecided on how to vote at this point, so all I can explain is where I’m coming from and hopefully I can be enlightened within the next two weeks. I’ll vote based on the issue, and not because of the timing of the proposal compared to Randy making his decision. After all we’re just an advisory committee, so we just tell Randy how we feel and he chooses what to do.

Last year when there was a motion to remove post counts from OMNI it was a very close vote, which, while having a majority, didn’t have a super majority, so ultimately failed. Now we’re at it again, this time with a twist from the other end, as we all know. I don’t have a problem with posts in OMNI counting, per se, but I do have a problem with the violation of TOS that people get away with in OMNI. I’m not talking about mild violations like a post that’s relatively worthless, but rather those that post dozens of times in a row (often just a five digit number), seemingly just trying to pad posts. I think there’s a problem with the system when the TOS prohibit that, yet nothing is done about it because Randy is the only mod in OMNI, and as we know he’s a busy guy. I’m also not a fan of punishing a whole group (those that enjoy OMNI and don’t abuse it) because of the actions of a few.

While this proposal may temporarily solve the complaints in this forum, ORP, and OMNI, it doesn’t solve the bigger issue, which is that FT seems to be split as to whether or not OMNI posts should count. Personally I’m not particularly passionate about this either way. I do think that if OMNI posts count that Coupon Connection posts should count too, and also that there needs to be consequences for blatant violations of the TOS, which there currently don’t seem to be in OMNI. If posts don’t count, OTOH, I can see that we should also eliminate posts from other non-essential forums, but that would get very complicated.

Tom911 raises a good point, one which has been discussed in the private forum. While I think it’s a good idea in general, we once again run into the issue of enforcement. How do you define a game thread? What if someone posts a game thread in the “other OMNI?” Would there have to be mod for this? (and of course this is totally outside the purview of the TB, which adds complexity to the suggestion).

As of now I’m somewhat inclined to vote against it just because I don’t think it’s a permanent solution. While I’m not sure what long term solution is best, I think it’s something we can work on and hopefully come up with.
Just my two cents.