Rank, Schmank

[Vito]

Please do not abuse the board by posting unnecessarily just to increase your rank -- you will probably find the moderator or administrator will simply lower your post count.

So, have youse guys ever actually lowered a post count to discourage that sort of abuse?

Abuse is a good name for it.

:joker:

 

[Puff Daddy]

If you look closely my post count is in negative numbers :lol:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

...there's ranks on this forum? Oh no.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

...there's ranks on this forum?

There are no post-count-driven ranks on BoB, and there haven't been as long as I've been here. We only have "special" ranks, given out at the whim of the inscrutable (and handsome) Moderation team. The number of posts you make has no bearing on anything after the first 30.

Behind the scenes: There's no all-at-once way to reduce post counts, even with Admin access. (I tried it on my own account, just in case it worked and I mucked it up.) Mods can delete posts and topics individually, and roll back someone's odometer that way. So it's doable, but not easily. I can change you from male to female and give you a new birthday, but just changing the post count with a keystroke is not possible. Probably has to do with some other features tied to post count (like finding all your old posts.) So it goes.

 

[Ol'Dawg]

...there's ranks on this forum?

I can .....................give you a new birthday,

If I thought it would work....I'd ask for a roll back of about 30 years. :lol:

Jim

 

[Vito]

If you look closely my post count is in negative numbers. :lol:

Good one, PD. The implications are amusing to ponder.

My eldest daughter belongs to a BB for writers. They have a points system that's linked to post count, and they knock down your post count for illiteracy—spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. I was thinking of joining just for the pleasure of being around literate people. I prolly would have a zero post count onna counta my penchant for using words like "prolly" and "onna counta".

And of course, "weedular". :mrgreen:

:joker:

 

[Harlock999]

If you look closely my post count is in negative numbers. :lol:

Good one, PD. The implications are amusing to ponder.

My eldest daughter belongs to a BB for writers. They have a points system that's linked to post count, and they knock down your post count for illiteracy—spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. I was thinking of joining just for the pleasure of being around literate people. I prolly would have a zero post count onna counta my penchant for using words like "prolly" and "onna counta".

And of course, "weedular". :mrgreen:

:joker:

:lol!:
Personally, I would'nt mind having the absolutely meaningless rank of colonel...

 

[Vito]

There's no all-at-once way to reduce post counts, even with Admin access.

Thanks for your reply, Doc. Actually, you confirmed what I already suspected.

The whole idea of post counts is absurd anyway on a forum like BoB. There's no points system here, and in any case the points system for the underlying Forumotion software works separately from post counts. I don't use the points system on the forum I admin...and I'd turn off the bloody post counts as well if the Forumotion software would let me do it.

As a matter of fact, the question in my original post wasn't rhetorical, and I appreciate your taking it seriously. I wanted to know HOW BoB admin guys were able to lower a specific user's post count. I can't find that feature anywhere in the Forumotion admin panel, and I've been asking for it for over four years. I didn’t see how you guys could do it without a hack.

As it turns out, that feature has been built into the phpBB3 software since May 2008, but Forumotion won't implement it, and (so far) they won't explain why. Even if Forumotion did implement that feature in its software, you're still running phpBB2 here at BoB now. You wouldn't be able to use it here unless you upgraded the forum to phpBB3.

Anyhow, it's a moot point until Forumotion implements it. In fact, the debate about disabling (or altering) post counts is still raging at Forumotion's support site. Forumotion users have been clamoring for the OPTION to disable post counts on a per-forum basis, and the users (all of whom are admins for their own forums, presumably) have overwhelmingly supported the proposal since it was first floated in a poll in 2007, July.

The poll results are a hoot, really: 328 "yes" votes from admins who want the option, and 45 "no" votes from admins who don't understand what the word "option" means. :shock:

But then, there are trolls everywhere.

:joker:

 

[Vito]

I can .....................give you a new birthday,

If I thought it would work....I'd ask for a roll back of about 30 years. :lol:

Jim

Ain't it the truth, my friend! Hell...I'd take 20, or even 10. I doubt that anyone who ever made noise about "aging gracefully" actually had to live through the inexorable deterioration of abilities and faculties once taken for granted.

Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.

Alas, t'ain't so. But I'm grateful for my blessings, which include a good pipe and the company of kindred souls of good cheer. :mrgreen:

:joker:

 

[Doc Manhattan]

The whole idea of post counts is absurd anyway on a forum like BoB. There's no points system here, and in any case the points system for the underlying Forumotion software works separately from post counts. I don't use the points system on the forum I admin...and I'd turn off the bloody post counts as well if the Forumotion software would let me do it.

As a matter of fact, the question in my original post wasn't rhetorical, and I appreciate your taking it seriously. I wanted to know HOW BoB admin guys were able to lower a specific user's post count. I can't find that feature anywhere in the Forumotion admin panel, and I've been asking for it for over four years. I didn’t see how you guys could do it without a hack.

As it turns out, that feature has been built into the phpBB3 software since May 2008, but Forumotion won't implement it, and (so far) they won't explain why. Even if Forumotion did implement that feature in its software, you're still running phpBB2 here at BoB now. You wouldn't be able to use it here unless you upgraded the forum to phpBB3.

I wonder why FM doesn't want it implemented. Even if it's a statistically important thing, there ought to be a way to keep the figure somewhere out of sight while never showing it.

(The only non-Forumotion phpBB site I frequented had a goofy post-rank system that everyone loved, so I never entertained the possibility that it could be turned off.)

I have a high tolerance for the "At these prices, whaddaya expect?" argument--heck, I use it all the time--but some of the ways of Forumotion are mysterious to me, for the tiny amount of work and bitflipping it would take to give us options.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Harlock, you can play "Totalitaran dress-up" if you like...heck, it may turn into a lucrative career, provided you have acess to a severely troubled nation...check Craigslist for openings... =P Only if I can be some opulent general in your service.... 8)

 

[Vito]

I wonder why FM doesn't want it implemented. Even if it's a statistically important thing, there ought to be a way to keep the figure somewhere out of sight while never showing it...

Doc:
Actually, that would be OK with me. It's not the FACT that the posts are counted that bugs me. Rather it's the fact that the count is displayed, which motivates a flood of substance-free posts that jack up the post counts at the expense of actual quality in the content. It's a quantity over quality driver, with the result that you have nuisance posts showing up in every thread, irrespective of whether the posters have anything positive or substantive to contribute.

It would be fairly easy to just hide the post count everywhere. It wouldn't be different from the various fields that show up under the user's avatar now, like Age, Location, Tobacco, Pipe, etc....except that it would be accessible only by admins...

• ...although it would be great if users could turn it off for themselves. Then only the disillusioned souls who think post counts actually mean anything would use it...immediately identifying themselves as such to others.

Anyhow, in the way the feature has been implemented in phpBB3, it's my understanding that the post count feature actually would be disabled on any forums the admin selects. Posts made there simply wouldn't add to the user's total.

I've seen arguments that assert, "Oh...you want to make the admins some kind of brain police who limit what people post." Of course, that's just silly. There's nothing in the proposal about limiting the number or frequency of posts. Those who are inclined to post drivel or trivia will be just as free to do so with the post counts disabled as they were before they were disabled. The only difference is that there would be less motivation for them to do so.

To whatever extent a displayed post count provides that motivation, there'll be fewer substance-free posts on the board. And to whatever extent those who post such stuff are inclined to do it anyway, nothing will change. They just won't be rewarded for it with a numerical indicator that has nothing to do with the quality of their contributions, but merely shows how many times they can hit the "Send" button.

I still can't understand why Forumotion doesn't implement it. Obviously the vast majority of their users want it. In fact, some of the comments in the poll thread explicitly say that they DON'T want those trivial spam posts in their stats. In at least one case, the amount of trivial posts has been high enough to overflow the post counter. That pretty well kills any statistical value the post count has.

I dunno...it's a real head-scratcher.

:joker:

 

[tiltjlp]

...there's ranks on this forum?

There are no post-count-driven ranks on BoB, and there haven't been as long as I've been here. We only have "special" ranks, given out at the whim of the inscrutable (and handsome) Moderation team. The number of posts you make has no bearing on anything after the first 30.

Behind the scenes: There's no all-at-once way to reduce post counts, even with Admin access. (I tried it on my own account, just in case it worked and I mucked it up.) Mods can delete posts and topics individually, and roll back someone's odometer that way. So it's doable, but not easily. I can change you from male to female and give you a new birthday, but just changing the post count with a keystroke is not possible. Probably has to do with some other features tied to post count (like finding all your old posts.) So it goes.

I want to stay who and what I am, but if you could knock off about 35 years and 75 pounds, that would be great Doc.

 

[Puff Daddy]

I would'nt mind having the absolutely meaningless rank of colonel

I think we've already applied the useable military ranks to certain individuals. You know them, General Nuisance, Major F**k-up, Private Parts..... Oh wait, that last one is a different forum.....

 

[Vito]

I would'nt mind having the absolutely meaningless rank of colonel

I think we've already applied the useable military ranks to certain individuals. You know them, General Nuisance, Major F**k-up, Private Parts..... Oh wait, that last one is a different forum.....

:lol!: :lol!: :lol!:

The ranks on the old Knox board were kinda cool...like "Board Yoda". Of course, those ranks were assigned strictly on post counts...but on that board, most of the posts actually contained useful information. So it turned out that the ranks actually meant something.

Radical concept. :shock:

Well, except for when they were amusing...and there were plenty of those. :mrgreen:

:joker:

 

[puros_bran]

Post Counts.

Is that above or below a Post Duke? I always confuse the two.

Re: Knox. Sergeant was misspelled and you went from General to Yoda. Other than that they were kinda boring. Although it was fun to make a big fuss and speak Yoda-ese every now and then. Lol

 

[Vito]

Post Counts.

Is that above or below a Post Duke? I always confuse the two.

Beats the hell outa me. All I know is they're both under the :king: !!

...it was fun to make a big fuss and speak Yoda-ese every now and then. Lol

"A shitload of fun we had. When a BoBular Yoda you are, have that much fun you will not..."

...or something.

Ah, dammit...where the hell is TJ when we need him...

:joker:

 

[mark]

You Knox guys need to set up some sort of reunion for cryin out loud.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Go ahead and knock off about 500 posts on account of me, and we should be about even. :lol: I have this uncanny ability to be a nonsense generator. It's what I do. 8) Otherwise, I'm a general in Harlock's regime.

 

[puros_bran]

You Knox guys need to set up some sort of reunion for cryin out loud.

We did, it's called BoB. LOL