Quality vs quantity

[droomph]

Right now, we have a linear system of post count.

My problem with this is that there are some people with relatively low post counts (100 or so) but in every post they either contribute a lot or are very helpful.

Maybe there should be a way for there to reflect positive, helpful, and contributing posters rather than people who go like "lol me too!" and barely count as a post.

Just a thought, so I'm not suggesting anything specifically.

 

[Spherical Ice]

Well giving attention to post count would imply that post count is important. I also think that the "lol me too!" posts have decreased since the introduction of the like system, anyway. I personally dont see this as an issue.

 

[Nick]

"Maybe there should be a way for there to reflect positive, helpful, and contributing posters rather than people who go like "lol me too!" and barely count as a post."

You mean like emblems?

 

[Echidna]

I guess perhaps the variable used on UCP for the number of likes a person has recieved for his posts could be added to the postbit template? Although likes don't generally reflect helpful and constructive posts, they are the closest thing we have. Other than that I don't think much can be done save for the rep system which is disabled u_u

 

[Pave Low]

I agree with Spherical. The introduction of 'liking' posts is enough to motivate you to post more knowledgeably. It would be a decent touch to the forum, but, as Spherical said, that would be implying that post count is important. I think there wouldn't be much point to it because not a great deal of people care about it that much to add these kind of features. If you posted helpful or positive posts, I think the fact that being that sort of person is enough of a recognition in itself as well as the person you helped or were being friendly to seeing you as that kind of person.

 

[Squirrel]

I think one thing that's worth remembering is that post count doesn't really say that much about how 'good' of a member you are. It's a nice thing to be able to see if you're curious about your activity or something, but in the grand scale of things it's really not that important compared to many other factors. People can tell if your posts are good quality just by reading them and if they are consistently of a very high standard you'll most likely be rewarded with emblems, but why would it matter to other people what your post count is? It's not really something that you should compare with other members to see how 'well' you're doing or to see if you're being active, it's more just something for yourself as a little measure of how active you're being in relation to how active you usually are. Adding in a parameter to attempt to factor in the quality of posts would probably just make it seem like a big competition and I really don't think that's the feeling that the post count feature is aiming to promote; as long as someone is posting good quality posts at their own pace and is generally following the rules and helping people out when they can, I'd certainly class them as a good member regardless of how many times they're posting a day. It might just be that I'm not understanding your point entirely, but I can't really see a reason for changing how post counts work unless the forum was meant to be one big contest of "who's the best member"; I just don't really see it having a beneficial place in the community. Also as for the "lol me too!" posts you're talking about, those are usually accompanied by issues of spam etc so they're usually taken care of accordingly, but I agree that's certainly not in every case.

Although that is just my point of view so it'd be interesting to see if people really do value post count that much as a way of determining how 'good' a member is.

 

[Oryx]

What would you do with this knowledge of who's a quality poster and who's not?

 

[Tsutarja]

I agree with Alex above. One's post count should not even indicate the activity one has here at PC. Recently I haven't been posting very frequently but I check PC everyday.. doesnt mean that I'm not too active on PC, but just don't have the time to post.

Also, if it's value of posts, then I agree with the OP. Some have rather low post counts (myself included) but each post by that user can have good thoughts or value to them. Although I might think that they shouldn't be seen by recognition, I will say that I have noticed around here from time to time that certain users have gotten more attention through higher post counts, with a fraction of those posts having little-to-no value.

 

[Mononoke Hime]

Right now, we have a linear system of post count.

My problem with this is that there are some people with relatively low post counts (100 or so) but in every post they either contribute a lot or are very helpful.

Maybe there should be a way for there to reflect positive, helpful, and contributing posters rather than people who go like "lol me too!" and barely count as a post.

Just a thought, so I'm not suggesting anything specifically.

Well, I think you're absolutely right. But I'm not the kind of person who tends to extend so much a post: the majority of my posts are all small, but I really think I give my true opinion in every one of them and I only post in threads that I think to be, like... "worthy".

I strongly prefer quality in posts rather than quantity, but I don't think that the fact of someone not talking too much is considered as lack of quality.

 

[curiousnathan]

Hmmm yeeeah, but naaah.

I feel post counts are just that, post counts. They're there to keep a record of the number of posts one's made, not to keep a record of how 'good' one's posts are. I like it how it is really. We have emblems and we have a Likes system to accommodate and acknowledge great posts.

 

[Palkia]

I was thinking of something like a post count which would count how many likes the user's post gets altogether. This would reward people for better posts rather than the "i agree lol" or the "good job bro" posts which, thankfully, seem to be receding recently.

 

[bobandbill]

If one had that then might as well have reputation back then, and that hasn't gone well previous times so I don't see that happening.

 

[Rainbow Arcanine]

A high post count doesn't necessarily mean you're a great member of PC. Like said, post count is exactly that, post count. It just helps keep track of all your daily posts and that's all to it really :/. "Lol me too!" and those sort of messages, get deleted so those sort of posts don't count, so you shouldn't worry about those sort of posters.

And even if we did have something, where your post count is by how many likes you've gotten for your posts, friends might be clicking 'like' just because your their friend. Or people could be bribing each other, secretly so I don't think that would work out well D:.
But I see your point, I get annoyed by it too, but really just remember post count doesn't show how awesome of a member you are.

 

[Nihilego]

Echoing all these "postcount doesn't matter" sentiments. The only thing that should say anything about the quality of a users' posts is your perception of them. Postcount, join date, supporter (or hell, even staff - some of my favourite posters here aren't staff) statuses don't really say all that much about your post quality. Honestly, if you're going to look at the postcount of the member before you even read the post's content, then you're going about deciding who's good and who isn't the entirely wrong way.

Regarding these ideas of public Like counts: no, imo, for two reasons. 1: this isn't a problem that needs a fix. I honestly don't think people judge who is a good or a bad poster by their postcounts and people who do do that soon realise that they're doing it wrong anyway. Maybe newbies sometimes do that when they're not sure of who to talk to for help or whatever, but that's not really a problem. and 2: public likes = reputation without the positive reputation. Last time we had rep here it absolutely crashed and burned and for good reason - reputation in an online community is a horrible idea. It's like people walking around irl with a list of things that make them good floating above their heads. In real life you talk to people and you judge for yourself who someone who you can get on with is and who someone you can't get on with is. Why should it be any different in an online community? There's absolutely no need for any sort of public popularity contest here.

Toujours also makes an excellent point:

What would you do with this knowledge of who's a quality poster and who's not?

The only thing I can see someone doing with that knowledge is knowing who to ask for help in the community - something which should be directed at moderators anyway. Aside from that all I can see arising from a public system of showing who is a 'quality' poster and who isn't is automatic prejudice against people with a lesser reputation. Which sucks hard.

But basically yeah I think this is a non-issue. People are well capable of judging for themselves who the quality posters are.

 

[Yoshikkko]

It would be nice if post counts would be eliminated all together. They don't matter either way, and people might actually look at the content of the posts and judge people based on that, rather than on the count. Of course people value their count way too much as they think it gives them credibility (which it doesn't evidently) so this won't happen and in that case you might as well just keep them the way they are now and hope that people will be less judgemental about it eventually.

 

[curiousnathan]

It would be nice if post counts would be eliminated all together. They don't matter either way, and people might actually look at the content of the posts and judge people based on that, rather than on the count. Of course people value their count way too much as they think it gives them credibility (which it doesn't evidently) so this won't happen and in that case you might as well just keep them the way they are now and hope that people will be less judgemental about it eventually.

I'd have to disagree with part of you there. I don't really think it'd be beneficial to remove post counts. While they're not the most important aspect of posting, some do take pride in their postcount - and that's perfectly fine - while others like to look back on their activity here. So while they don't server much use they still server some sort of use. Plus, even without postcounts, people will still judge others on their post quality through other means. (If they're staff, supporters etc). It's really just inevitable.

 

[Yoshikkko]

I'd have to disagree with part of you there. I don't really think it'd be beneficial to remove post counts. While they're not the most important aspect of posting, some do take pride in their postcount - and that's perfectly fine - while others like to look back on their activity here. So while they don't server much use they still server some sort of use. Plus, even without postcounts, people will still judge others on their post quality through other means. (If they're staff, supporters etc). It's really just inevitable.

Yeah that was the point I was making. Also, I was trying to say that it is a good thing that people would be judged based on their post content, because as of now most people judge on the count. People ought to be judged on their post quality (instead of their quantity), that was exactly what I was trying to say lol.

I don't think it's a good thing that people take pride in their postcount because it's something that's expected not to matter and not to define a member's quality, but it's hard not to judge based on count when so many people take pride in it. But anyhow I know they're not gonna be taken away so.

 

[droomph]

Guys I want to clarify that I'm not suggesting to give altered post count to anybody or something. I'm just saying that maybe we could have something where the people are rewarded for being awesome here, where I guess the staff would give them perks anyways I guess.

Yeah I know it's not important but it would be cool if we...ugh whatever

 

[Overlord Drakow]

I'm sure generalized recognition from the community would be enough of a reward for good posters. A good poster will naturally be recognized as such by other community members but if you really feel it's necessary I guess an emblem could be made for generally being a good 'PC contributor' or something, if such an emblem does not already exist.

 

[Nihilego]

Looking through the full emblem list in the ModCP now, I personally think we have more than enough emblems to be awarded to members who are showing themselves to be exceptional. We have a number of general ones and absolutely miles of section-specific ones given for particular achievements or just general contributions. Just looking at general ones right now, we've got Wise One, Pokémon Connoisseur, Level Up!, Helping Hand, A Gem Amongst Granite and On the right track baby (assuming this one isn't an ego emblem, which it doesn't look like it is), which is quite a few to start with. And then you've got the section-specific ones and yeah. I don't think we need more emblems for recognising good members. True, no specific "This member is good." emblem exists, but eh. Don't think we need one. not that i'd support it anyway lol

Also, as Drakow said,

I'm sure generalized recognition from the community would be enough of a reward for good posters. A good poster will naturally be recognized as such by other community members

this. Also bear in mind that any reward we were to give you would be pretty trivial; I can't see us ever rewarding supportership status for good posters and aside from that or emblems or whatever, I don't really see what we could give you. The only real 'reward' for being a good poster is modship and that's obviously not something that can just be handed out whenever a good poster shows up.