Originally Posted by Dovster (Post 7539588)

Yes, they would -- although for the life of me I can't figure out how the negative post count comes about.

Originally Posted by Dovster (Post 7539651)

I think that people on both sides of the issue have explained very clearly how they feel. I have certainly understood what they posted.

Originally Posted by tom911 (Post 7539038)

I suspect most of us that have reached the 10,000 post plateau have done so without playing the OMNI games (I've never played one of them).

Originally Posted by cblaisd (Post 7539167)

I do think there is some truth to this contention. When I think about the occasional IBB I go to for a technical question about cell phones, gps's, PDAs, etc., etc.) the folks with high post counts are ones I tend to assume have more knowledge, or at least more experience perhaps, with the subject at hand. I would think that the reverse holds true: the occasional visitor to FlyerTalk who is looking for some specific information would perhaps think that the very experienced, high-count posters would a priori be worth listening to.

Such visitors would not realize that in many cases those posts counts were hugely inflated by posts that had nothing to do with knowing anything about miles/points/travel.

Like posting 500 posts in a game thread in 22 hours, etc., etc.

Originally Posted by chexfan (Post 7539833)

So it's unfair for me to ask the members of the TalkBoard what they hope to solve, what problem they'd like to correct, what issue is to be fixed, by passing this motion?

Originally Posted by uncertaintraveler (Post 7442523)

I agree with CameraGuy. When I first joined FT, I (rightly or wrongly) assumed that people with high post counts were more knowledgeable on the subject being discussed than those who had low post counts. Calling a member an "Evangelist" only strengthened my assumption. After all, as a newbie, how are you supposed to know if what is being told is accurate--and how are you supposed to know who really knows what they claim to know?

Of course, in the beginning, I'd still listen to the low-poster, but if there was any conflict between what a low-poster and a high-poster said, I'd probably be more inclined to give more credence to what the high-poster said.

Now, however, some three or four years later, you realize that such an assumption was often incorrect. I've learned that you usually see the same members post in the same general forums, so you have a pretty good idea who is honest and knowledgeable, and who just posts to post. But learning who is who takes time, and I seriously doubt if it is possible for a newbie to be able to figure out who knows what. And, of course, if you don't frequent certain forums, no matter how long you've been a member, you are still essentially a newbie when you enter the "new" forum.

Personally, I'm not entirely sure why members even have post totals next to their name. I guess its nice to know how many posts they've made, but its not exactly entirely useful information. If one of the reasons for listing a post count is to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, perhaps the post count could be supplemented with a ratings number (or star system) next to the member's name, where other members vote on the quality of said member's prior posts, so a newbie could easily determine who has been voted trustworthy by their peers and who hasn't. Just a thought...

Originally Posted by Spiff (Post 7533974)

1. Posts in the OMNI forum will not count toward any member's post tally and this shall be made retroactive to the beginning of Omni.

Originally Posted by Cholula (Post 7540305)

back to the business of maximizing miles and points

Originally Posted by RichMSN (Post 7540458)

Why is it that this phrase has to rear its ugly head every time this discussion comes up? I thought for a second I'd stumbled into ORP by mistake.

If FT is only about "the business of maximizing points and miles" and all the fun places weren't here, I see no reason to keep coming back more than once a month or so.

FT is about community, not just about points and miles.

Originally Posted by hiyo (Post 7540372)

...Many thanks to the mods and TB members for helping make it a such a (mostly) positive place.

Originally Posted by cblaisd (Post 7540623)

a) I don't know if it's technically possible to display a split post count, but it might be worth asking. (E.g. XXX OMNI Posts and YYY Miles&Points Posts)

Originally Posted by Cholula (Post 7049848)

Or there is a third option which I kind of like.

One of the other travel IBB's I lurk on has two posts counts under a members handle:

On-topic posts: XXXX (fill in a number)
Off-topic posts: XXXX

On-topic posts in FT's case can be posts to any of the miles/points forums.

Off-topic posts can be anything to CommunityBuzz, OMNI, Coupon Connection, Newstand, etc, etc, etc.

The advantage of this is that it quickly allows you to see a members signal to noise ratio. And you can quickly see if a member is here to contribute to FT's primary mission of maximizing miles and points or just here for fun, games and the social aspect of FT. (Which is not necessarily always a bad thing IMO)

This is just another option to be considered.

Originally Posted by Dovster (Post 7539204)

I have said repeatedly, both on the private TB Forum and on the other TB Topics thread, that I consider the entire question of post counts to be monumentally unimportant.

Originally Posted by Cholula (Post 7540305)

The following post is similar to ones I’ve seen from time to time and, IMO, it’s indicative of how many new posters react to post counts and Evangelist monikers.

Originally Posted by tom911 (Post 7535950)

Is there a way to tell what percent of your posts are in OMNI? I'm guessing less than 10-15% of mine, so go ahead and take the posts away.

I saw a post this week that someone got 10,000 posts by playing an OMNI game. I'm fine with taking away posts from someone whose primary forum is playing games in OMNI, and not one that deals with points and miles. I don't think we should have FT Evangelists who get the majority of their posts playing games in OMNI (and short of not counting those posts, don't know how else you would deal with that).