Any chance of being able to have the option of hiding my post count?

I've been hearing more and more how post counts are offending people, and while a personally don't care what it is, I'd like to keep using NAM regularly without offending, and most certainly before even saying anything.

 

I understand your concern, Drew. I've thought about having my post-count removed and replaced with "plenty." LOL. Let's see what Mark says.

 

So I have to ask...why would a post count be offensive? Have we come to the point when a number offends people? If so, I need to go crawl in a hole and get away from the Internet.

 

Well I've heard a dozen or so remarks in the past few months that lead me to believe it make make some people apprehensive about posting, or that sometimes it leads to a lack of community; High post counts seem to lead people to think there is a certain attitude or emphasis; I really can't say exactly what it is. And that's not what NAM is about in my opinion, and I enjoy keeping a window with NAM going in the background most of the time and even the foreground for some of the day, cause it is a fun place to hang out.

 

No need to hibernate, Mark. But I really would like to have "Plenty" where my post-count is now.

 

I think that the Post Count by itself isn't such a big deal until you also pay attention to the Join Date. Divide the Post Count by the number of months you've been on the site, and it says something about your online habits.

Motor On - 748 posts per month? Wow! Even makes MINIclo's 473 posts per month pale in comparison.

Seriously though, I would hope that any people intimidated at first will soon realize that it doesn't matter. Once you hit 6th gear, you're a NAM veteran already... whether it be 1,101 posts or 26,000.

MINIclo - Looking at the user options, I suspect it won't be possible to have a word there without custom coding, but Mark's the expert. We can change your post count to be another number though... want to reset it to 1?

 

I've usually got 7 windows or so going at once, 1 sometimes 2 are NAM.

And you think I post alot per month look up R56MCS

 

Nope, I'd like it to say "More than enough..."

 

Holy schmoly! 2,178 posts per month, average! OK... never mind. :impatientWell, it isn't a built-in vBulletin function - custom coding, if Mark deems it worthwhile (and, based upon what he said up there, I suspect he won't...).

 

I think you guys should be proud of your post counts. I saw one of the negative "high post count" comments. I looked at the new posters join date vs post count & they were posting much more often then the high post count person was so it was really silly

 

I agree... I think I was surprised at some of the high counts when I first joined NAM, but it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal any more. I think others will feel the same way once they settle in.

 

Thanks, junior.

 

Hah, OK senior. (hey, you started it)

Clover, the point I was making - I would have changed the Post count title for you, if I could. I looked... it's not an option available. Sorry!

 

Thanks, Haemish.

 

Just thought it was beign more of a divider recently. Edge, should I infer from what you explained to Clo that any level of hiding it would be too much? If so I'll drop the cause. (There was some banter in a non quoted thread about low post count and credibility of the info, that reminded me to check up on this)

So I did a quck search for "High post count" and had this come back

 

No, I was just expressing my opinion that I don't think it's such a big deal, even if a few individuals have decided to make it so.

However, I was also making it clear to all of you that it's easier said than done, because the vBulletin software automatically tracks a number for that field. We can change the number (i.e. reset the post count to any number), but it still tracks a number there every time you post.

To put some permanent text there instead of a number would likely require custom coding of some kind, and that is allllll Mark, not me and dave, if you know what I mean.

Either that or disable post counting altogether, perhaps. In any case, it isn't as simple as you might have at first thought!

 

I think there are multiple things going on here

1. There is a large influx of new people.
2. There have been a lot more comments, as motor mentioned, both ways
3. A lot of the new people dont quite see the ebb and flow of threads ... discussions within discussions because its the nature of the Internet, so they get frustrated if a thread goes OT when they might not expect it to

On the other side ...

I think a LOT of new people do not understand or they may "assume" the posts are in the technical forums when they are not:

Do a pull of all counts over 7K and you will see:

Clover
Dave
Minihune

Lets forget about those because a lot is moderating and greeting ppl

That leaves:

INI
myself
Motor
lotsie
Yucca
sndwave
ken
gokartride
UJ
MDSbrain

If you look at those names, I would bet 90% of the posts are in OT.

Sometimes ppl dont understand that long running threads can easily rack up huge post counts in a short time .... Threads like:

• Once Upon a Time (add 3 words)
• Game threads (e.g., 3 letter game, 4 letter game, Song Titles)
• How Many Posts (the daily thread)
• Show me your pets
• Word Association
• Single motorist support
• Grudge Match
• Politically Incorrect
• Cigar thread

Just look at the biggies in there and there are over 113,000 posts! Thats more than 1st gear, tires, and detailing combined!

With over 293K posts in OT, thats MORE than all of 2002-2006 Coupe talk. Wow.

So, I really believe, the new people tend not to go to OT nor understand where the high post counts are coming from.

 

Just ignore the insecure whining from whoever has a problem with high post counts. I think it's a pretty pathetic thing to complain about, and it irks me to see longstanding members who are great people feel as if a high post count is somehow a badge of shame.

Go outside and interact with some live humans once in a while, if this place makes you feel so small. Live humans don't have their lifelong spoken word count and sexual partner count tallied in LED displays on their foreheads, though, so you'll have to rely on whatever other lame prejudices you have.

 

So in summary....is there a need to display something other than the number of posts over a certain number? If so, what should it say (ie - Plenty)? What number should be the cutover point where it would display "Plenty"?

Not sure how easy this is to change yet because it involves a code change but if I have an idea what is acceptable I'll look into it when I have a few minutes.

Mark

 

If individual members want to feel cuddlier by masking their high post counts, that's one thing, but to automatically hide the number for everyone over a certain threshold is absurd. Why not just change the name of the site to "Everyone Is Special In MINI-Land", and have random windows with compliments pop up every few minutes as people navigate? Or maybe you could ban members from posting photos of modded cars, so that people with stock cars don't feel inferior. Bending over backwards to appease people who are offended is a slippery slope.

 

IMO, the old First gear, second gear thing is antiquated. It might have been fine in 2005 but not 2007 and certainly not in 2008 and later.

If you want to leave the post counts, how about chaning the thresholds for the gears ... Bump the post count for each gear to something more in line with the age of the board.

For example, make 6th gear 10K or something like that and work backwards from there.

I see no real reason to eliminate the post counts at all.

This is simply an issue of threshold numbers no long in tune with the age of the board (IMHO).

 

For the record...I'm easy. Yes, on this topic, too. Whatever is decided is fine w/ me.

 

Alternate suggestion, if technically possible (another "only Mark really knows" thing): Have the system automatically ignore all posts in the two OT forums. They aren't MINI-related anyway...

Just an idea, anyhow. At least then, the post count would reflect "on-topic" posts only.

 

Note to self: removed LED screen from forehead....

 

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

Hey why not.... that seems to be what public school is about these days... everyone is special, nobody can be better than anyone else....
Makes for a narcissitic society.