Yet Another Postcount question....

Ateo

Why are OTW posts not counted but posts in the Gentoo Forums Feedback forum category are? This forum category certainly is not technical and posts here do not reflect a persons participation in the tech forums.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually supportive of negating OTW post counts but really, where is the consistancy here? My point here is that post count should only be applied in the tech forums since that's the purpose of the Gentoo Forums...

Thanks

ebrostig · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:46 pm Post subject:

I would guess that it's counting because a lot of good rep[orting happens here. Users report misplace threads, giving the forum useful feedback on features or problems etc.

Erik
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Ateo · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:52 pm Post subject:

But how does this provide trust that a users post count actually reflects his/her technical abilities? This thread is a perfect example. How does me starting/participating on this thread validate any sort of trust of knowledge of my linux abilities as it does increase my post count?

These forums are not technically useful (the feedback forum category) to gentoo users seeking help, IMHO. It's only useful to mods/admins.

Also, if the gentoo webmaster/mods/admins are truly concerned with helping users, they would consider excluding the non-tech forums from searches as this clutters some searches with completely useless threads... usually from OTW.

Again, just my opinion.

[edit]
I suppose the "Documentation, Tips and Tricks" forum should continue to increase post since it most definately is a tech forum.

amne · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:33 pm Post subject:

Ateo: It's not exactly constistent. You even get postcount for posts in Dustbin.
However OTW is/was the forum where most people gained the most postcount for "nothing", removing postcount here has already set everyone's postcount to much more "accurate" values.

ebrostig: Good point about GFF, but afaik posts in the Feedback Thread don't count as they are usually deleted afterwards. That's pretty unfair.

Ateo · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:39 pm Post subject:

amne · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:09 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20486

Ateo · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:41 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20486

Ateo · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:01 am Post subject:

Slyde · Guru Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 314

I somewhat agree with Ateo here. Removing graduated (ie. non special ranks) and post count's would eliminate all 'competition' (for lack of a better term) between members.

A perfect way to gauge how useful a forum member is to look at their past post history. (Please don't look at mine :wink:

)

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20486

I still want to come up with a ranking system that does not imply experience or knowledge. I had a couple, but forget what they are now. There's an entire thread about ranks though.
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Ateo · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 7:34 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20486

We've discussed migrating from phpbb before, but really haven't found an alternative that was "better." Though in the past, it was performance related, not features. The option isn't closed, so it could happen, if it were necessary. The preference is for an OSS solution, which I'm almost certain would be a requirement for optional features (not so for performance, or other similar needs.)

Regarding a ranking system related to post quality, I would be concerned about users ranking someone poorly or overly well based on a bias.
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klieber · Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:37 pm Post subject:

A person's post count isn't purely indicative of their technical ability. It's more indicative of their helpfulness as a member of the Gentoo forums. Technical ability is one aspect of that but certainly not the only one.

And yes, post count is of questionable usefullness. Some folks use it to gauge others when interacting with them, some folks ignore it. We simply provide it as a data point for you to use how you wish.

We removed OTW from counting against ones post count for two reasons. 1) people were posting crap threads for no other reason than to boost their post count. We could have dealt with this a number of ways, but because of 2) OTW has nothing to do with Gentoo, we chose the most expedient way and simply stopped counting them.

--kurt
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klieber · Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:40 pm Post subject:

Ateo · Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:40 pm Post subject:

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20486

masseya · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:49 pm Post subject:

People get posts for not having a clue and asking questions about what to do. This is yet another issue with postcounts as a metric for measuring someone's techincal ability and/or helpfulness.

However, I think most people who are technically able and most people who are genuinely helpful can easily show that with the content of their posts. As such, I don't see the need for a change.
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