Poll: Should Tailgate Posts Count??

[WVUforREDSKINS]

Are we caring about post counts?

Why?

Are their hidden prizes?:laugh:

Its all one big race to catch Bubba

[chipwhich]

This an interesting idea. One of the concerns about post count in the Tailgate originally was that a lot of newer members were using threads like the Word Association and posting in them heavily and almost exclusively, and since avatars are tied to post count, some older members weren't all that happy about the trend. At this point I don't get the sense that concern's really all that valid anymore. Some kind of filter on simple "me too" posts and the like based on character's might be a possible way of having the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately, the current board software isn't robust enough to accommodate that kind of hack. If and when the team upgrades the version of vBulletin we're using though, it might be an interesting option to look at.

It's avatar elitism plain and simple.

Were it not for the avatar, nobody would care.

As I said earlier, as long as you have the avatar chase, there is no perfect system.

You make a noobie be a cheerleader or a hoggette, many want to post their way out of it.

[Om]

It's avatar elitism plain and simple.

Were it not for the avatar, nobody would care.

As I said earlier, as long as you have the avatar chase, there is no perfect system.

You make a noobie be a cheerleader or a hoggette, many want to post their way out of it.

I'd like to think that somewhere between not doing anything and doing something that may not be perfect, there's a workable compromise.

But I'm naive that way.

[chipwhich]

I'd like to think that somewhere between not doing anything and doing something that may not be perfect, there's a workable compromise.

But I'm naive that way.

Agreed. There is no perfect solution.

But a sentence or too requirement may make the mods life easier

Or you get a lot of these

........................................................................

QFT

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[DGreenistheBest]

I'd like to think that somewhere between not doing anything and doing something that may not be perfect, there's a workable compromise.

But I'm naive that way.

Well, maybe the answer is that when it's all said and done, this is just a mesage board on the internet, so as long as the ridiculous posting isn't getting worse, you guys are doing a damn fine job. I think giving tailgate posts credit wouldn't make it worse either, so in the end whatever you guys decide to do, I don't think it'll be hurting the community and you are going to have the full support of ES.

[Zguy28]

Agreed. There is no perfect solution.

But a sentence or too requirement may make the mods life easier

Or you get a lot of these

........................................................................

QFT

----------------------------------------------------

There is already a character minimum.

One forum I'm a member on somehow automatically gives you spam/non-spam ratings that are displayed with your avatar.

[Enter Apotheosis]

This an interesting idea. One of the concerns about post count in the Tailgate originally was that a lot of newer members were using threads like the Word Association and posting in them heavily and almost exclusively, and since avatars are tied to post count, some older members weren't all that happy about the trend.

At this point I don't get the sense that concern's really all that valid anymore. Some kind of filter on simple "me too" posts and the like based on number of characters might be a possible way of having the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately, the current board software isn't robust enough to accommodate that kind of hack. If and when the team upgrades the version of vBulletin we're using though, it might be an interesting option to look at.

If post quality is the primary issue, why not just implement a system where you earn rewards (e.g., avatars) based on other users rating your posts? That kind of thing has been implemented before on plenty of boards that I've seen... but most were phpBB2-based.

[pjfootballer]

How about you hide post counts from other members. Let the member and the staff only know how many posts you have and let all posts count in all areas. Keep the avetar system the same. Most of us know the senior members in here anyway. Just look at your member number.

[chomerics]

Well, I voted yes, but I personally fall into the do not care category. Maybe that is because I am over 10K, who knows. I just know that the amount of posts is irrelevant to the response by me except in some extreme situations. . .say a person comes in here and starts posting that 9-11 was a conspiracy and has like 5 posts. . .then they are taken to task, but otherwise it is ignored for the most part. . .

[Skins24]

Yes.......

[pjfootballer]

It looks like it's almost 3-1 in favor of returning post counts in the Tailgate. If anything, sometimes I think the more important stuff is posted in the tailgate. There are some real intelligent members in there.

[FedExFielder]

I voted yes, I'd like to see em count.

[DGreenistheBest]

I am quoting a reply to the LaRon Landry thread currently on the front page of the stadium as evidence. Here is the reply in question:

haaaaaaaaaa

Nothing against you adamyesme1111. I wanted to post this reply here because it shows that some people are getting post count credit for posts that, to be fair, add absolutely nothing to the thread, (again, no offense to adamyesme, just saying). Meanwhile, some high quality posting goes on in the tailgate that doesn't get counted.

To reiterate, I don't actually care either way. I would still post here if there was no count and everyone had a Deion Sanders avatar. But I think it's worth noting that if the goal of the current system is to promote more quality posts, it's not working. I would agree it promotes more posting in the stadium period, so if that is the goal then you should leave it the way it is. But like I was saying earlier, if you are interested in raising the quality all around, perhaps allowing tailgate posts to count means you get less stuff like the above in the stadium, and potentially more comments from quality posters in the tailgate (people who do have interesting things to say but otherwise like to hang out where the posts count because of avatar envy).

Now, it could go the other way and the tailgate could explode with lots of nonsense, but a large part of the tailgate is already nonsense really. That's kind of the point. I mean, if it gets really bad, you can always turn of post counts for the tailgate again. It's not a permanent decision. But it might be interesting to see if trends change and how they do with a reintegrated tailgate post count.

Again, I personally don't care, but I'm just trying to think from the point of view of the board as a whole and how the people who do care about their post count may be affecting certain areas.

[PokerPacker]

It's kind of like communism. GREAT in theory, but it just doesn't work in practice. People will rate a thread poorly if they don't agree with OP's stance on the issue. While I think the people in the Tailgate are much more mature than the Stadium, I also think there would be too many disagreements and people would get petty for it to work here.

i'm not talking about rating threads, i'm talking about rating individual posts. another forum that i frequent has it implemented and its very uncommon to be left with a negative rating. its a little extra something if a post was particularly insightful or stupid.

[DGreenistheBest]

i'm not talking about rating threads, i'm talking about rating individual posts. another forum that i frequent has it implemented and its very uncommon to be left with a negative rating. its a little extra something if a post was particularly insightful or stupid.

I agree with that idea in theory but (*)there would have to be a way to report people who are abusing the system, which means there would have to be a way to keep track of who was rating you, which means that people would develop animosity towards people rating them poorly, which breeds system abuse which means(return to *)

See where I'm going with this? I'm not saying its a bad idea or impossible, but this is a rather large board and the mods would see a significant increase in workload with that kind of system. There's already a thread rating system in place though and I think that works pretty well.

[PokerPacker]

I agree with that idea in theory but (*)there would have to be a way to report people who are abusing the system, which means there would have to be a way to keep track of who was rating you, which means that people would develop animosity towards people rating them poorly, which breeds system abuse which means(return to *)

See where I'm going with this? I'm not saying its a bad idea or impossible, but this is a rather large board and the mods would see a significant increase in workload with that kind of system. There's already a thread rating system in place though and I think that works pretty well.

in the forum that i see implementing this, when you give agreement or disagreement, it says "[username] agrees: [user comment]" under the post in question. there is also a rule that you cannot leave the same person feedback twice in a row.

[skinsfan07]

NO

Who cares how many posts one has? It is irrelevant imo

agreed. However I still think they should count.

[DGreenistheBest]

in the forum that i see implementing this, when you give agreement or disagreement, it says "[username] agrees: [user comment]" under the post in question. there is also a rule that you cannot leave the same person feedback twice in a row.

Yeah, I've seen it work great on smaller boards myself. It's just that this one is so big...

[PokerPacker]

Yeah, I've seen it work great on smaller boards myself. It's just that this one is so big...

so when you said "its great on paper but not in practice", you meant "Well it sounds good and i've seen it work, but i don't think it would work here without having seen it fail". damn it, where's my thumbs down button? :mad:

oh, and: That's was she said!

[DjTj]

I voted yes, but I guess I really don't care that much.

I think post count seems to matter a lot in the beginning, maybe in the first 1000 posts or so, because you need to kind of introduce yourself to the community and getting new avatars seems cool. But after that, the avatars change pretty slowly, and each poster has shown enough of a personality to distinguish himself regardless of avatar.

In any case, this poll, placed in the Tailgate, is guaranteed to go significantly in the "yes' column. We may be a very biased sample.

[DGreenistheBest]

so when you said "its great on paper but not in practice", you meant "Well it sounds good and i've seen it work, but i don't think it would work here without having seen it fail". damn it, where's my thumbs down button? :mad:

oh, and: That's was she said!

Well, I never said "its great on paper but not in practice" so I don't know where you are getting that from. What I said was I've never seen it implemented on a board of this size. I question whether it would work here with so many members, especially ones who have knee jerk reactions to innocent posts like you just did.

[PokerPacker]

In any case, this poll, placed in the Tailgate, is guaranteed to go significantly in the "yes' column. We may be a very biased sample.

yeah, i noticed that, but where else are they gonna put it? the stadium? they'd be breaking their own rules of posting something off-topic in the football forum. besides, i don't mind the skewed results.

[PokerPacker]

Well, I never said "its great on paper but not in practice" so I don't know where you are getting that from. What I said was I've never seen it implemented on a board of this size. I question whether it would work here with so many members, especially ones who have knee jerk reactions to innocent posts like you just did.

you're right, it was Brad89. i assumed it was you since you responded to the posts after that. oh, and the thumbs-down comment was in jest, not something i'd actually give back feedback for.

[jrockster21]

would we get a retro-active post count for all the posts since?

That's kind of a scary thought...I think I'd jump up into the 20K's. :laugh:

[DGreenistheBest]

you're right, it was Brad89. i assumed it was you since you responded to the posts after that. oh, and the thumbs-down comment was in jest, not something i'd actually give back feedback for.