yes, you will know how everyone votes. When the results are released on the motion who voted which way will also be announced. Secret ballots were dropped a long while back, except for TB president and VP elections.

I guarantee you the answer you get is all TB members are general users so if one of them requests it it counts.

Dov, I do have a question. You have pointed out that you brought this motion up. May I ask why? What exactly prompted you to decide this was something TB should act on? It seems to me that understanding that might help some of us who feel this is being driven by less than altruistic causes.

So Dovster, Cholula, TechGirl, Bhatnasx and Ozstamps in favor makes this a done deal. All the disingenuine arguments besides the point, it was obvious this was going to pass given the composition of TB. Ozstamps vote surprised me a bit, but I expected a 5-4 or 6-3 on this one ... maybe even 7-2.

I look forward to the next TB election. In the interim I won't be surprised to see more "fixes" for things that only are broken in the minds of those who don't trust in the judgment of an individual to measure a post by its content rather than by the post count number besides the name of the poster.

That is 5. Two-thirds majority (if all 9 vote) is 6...

I'm having second thoughts about this proposal.

There is a core group who are, and will long remain, very upset about this change. I don't think it's about the loss of post count; I believe them when many state they don't care about post count. Rather, it's about them feeling disenfranchised. To them, this would be a statement that they are second-class citizens, that their contributions are devalued, that they aren't full, contributing members of a community, a community which is important to them (as it is to all of us).

I don't see the support for this proposal as being in any way motivated by envy, jealousy, secret agendas, or what have you. It comes from an honest belief that things are skewed, and that this change will achieve balance.

The two sides are quite far apart in their perceptions, and are unable to see through each others eyes. It's easier to put conspiratorial intentions on the others than to understand them. Both sides honestly believe their view will make/keep FT a better community, a better place.

The second thoughts I'm having aren't because I've changed my position; rather, it's due to the fact that there is a core of people who will be so upset if this goes through that we'll create a new generation of Mikey1003's (ref: old miles)*. These people will feel belittled, disrespected, and marginalized, and that resentment will continue to eat away at FT for a long time to come. In that way this attempt to fix one real problem will create another real problem.

I think there are two other options which are more acceptable- either a sub-forum for games, where post count doesn't count, or a tech solution where OMNI counts show in OMNI but not outside OMNI. I think the sub-forum solution is probably best.

*note 1 that I feel Mikey1003 had a very valid complaint about old miles, up until DL declared bankruptcy. Companies are permitted to void their promises and commitments at that stage. Still, it was wrong of them to do. The difference here is that I don't believe Randy ever promised that post counts are forever.

note 2- I like Mikey1003 and consider him a friend, so I feel I can get away with tweaking him a bit...

note 3- feel free to correct me if my perceptions or representations of either viewpoint are wrong. (as if anyone would ever hesitate to correct/challenge me!)

note 4- I realy like the titles, and think a few more unique titles, like Legend and Commander Catcop, will make this an even more fun place. In one forum I even have a unique title, one of only three or four out of 800 members there. ^ Some forums I frequent have titles which change at low levels, like 10 posts, 100 posts, 250 posts; that encourages newbies to stick around and contribute.

If we have one abstention, this is over.

Rather than the current motion, I prefer something that shows how many posts someone has made to a given forum when viewing posts in that forum.

Still no.

5/8 = 62.5%

;)

two lines in the profile- one for overall posts, one for forum posts.

just one thing- I think it's better if instead of the second line showing posts in the UA or Hilton or whatever forum, it shows of the higher categories. i.e. posts in "Airline Programs" or "Hotel Programs or "Credit Card Programs/Partners)".
i.e. using the headers which appear at the http://flyertalk.com/forum/ page rather that the more specific ones.

We'll see about that.

You don't get what I'm getting at. ;)

There is nothing to get at. If you believe, as you posted, that 5 in favor and 1 abstention is enough to pass a motion then you don't understand how TalkBoard works.

Actually, the original post in that thread advocated a much different course of action than the motion currently under discussion. The discrepancy between the two is the source of my (and several others) opposition.

How would eliminating post counts in OMNI injure the community or discourage posting in the "miles and points" fora? Again, nobody is suggesting that OMNI be eliminated altogether. Those who derive a communal benefit from OMNI can continue to post there.

What your appear to be suggesting is that your ego and that of others would be bruised if your OMNI dalliances no longer translate into the apparent holy grail of FlyerTalk: "Evangelist" status (and beyond). Well, there's an easy solution to that: allocate at least a fraction of your prolific posting -- say 10,000 of them -- to posts dedicated to "miles and points" and earn your FlyerTalk rank not by bickering about politics or social issues or counting to ten billion, but rather by contributing to our collective understanding of travel.

And for the record, I think that GUWonder has made some significant and important contributions to travel-related threads on FlyerTalk. Which makes it all the more inexplicable that he feels the need to dilute the statistical measure of those contributions to FlyerTalk by corrupting his post count with numerous extraneous posts that do nothing to further that mission.

As an example, look at this thread where FTers just post numbers, and build up massive post counts (there might be some commentary with some posts, but for the most part it's just posting a number):

Newest OMNI waste of time - count UP to 100,000

User Name Posts (over 1,000 posts in the thread)
drbond 4,365
the_traveler 3,435
Gaucho100K 1,635
dcmike 1,301

or this one:

Newest Omni Waste Of Time - Count Down From 100,000
User Name Posts (over 1,000 posts in the thread)

drbond 10,039
hhoope01 7,443
BiziBB 6,589
yashan 6,462
oldpenny16 4,770
im-headed-west 3,379
Amanda 2,536
the_traveler 2,037
dcmike 1,771
Brobbel 1,762
ContinentalFan 1,650
Cornroaster 1,545
tkey75 1,069
Gaucho100K 1,012

The numbers are just going to keep growing, and we'll likely have our first FT Posting Legend just by posting numbers if they continue to count.

Why?

Because that will be the response by posters who are so desperate to cling to or regain FlyerTalk status that was acquired by copious posting wholly unrelated to "miles and points"?

Doesn't this provide a compelling reason for supporting the proposal? That some extremely prolific posters on FlyerTalk see their exalted status derived from excessive non-topical posting as so important that they will continue to focus on driving that post count skyward by retaining their concentration on quantity, rather than quality, albeit this time uncomfortably outside of their usual OMNI abode?