"The Post Count causes ELITISM and should be done away with! " Do you agree?

[M920CAIN]

Having a big post count just means you have no life! I went there! Sorry, sorry, I kid, I kid, *covers head*.

On a more serious note, I like "the achievement" system on this site, post counts included. It really feels like a "gamer site", besides you fine gentlemen and gentlegirls posting here of course.

 

[SEXTON HALE]

Just jumping in on this but I really dont think post count should be anywhere near as relevant as people are making it out to be.
I was lurking on here for a year or two checking out the forums,watching videos and reading articles before I ever got in the action.
Before I even introduced myself properly I had a fair idea of what a few people were like,I can see how some people jumping in head first might look at things a bit sideways from time to time,they just need to get a feel for what going on and enjoy the ride!

 

[The_Echo]

The post count really just says how much any given user posts here. It doesn't matter. If it has anything to say about us, it's how much we've spoken our minds on the site.

In related news, the join date doesn't matter either. I've been here since '09, and there are members much younger than I with post counts so big they could use mine as a Q-tip. In the case of this stark elitism we apparently have... which one of us is top dog in that situation?

How people can say "I signed up for Site X before you did, so I am hobviously the better man." (or such variants) is beyond me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Sure, there's the heavy posting popular gang (you know who you are), but they're usually the most non-elitist of all. The reason they're popular is mainly because they're mellow and easy to be around with (in threads). And people are always going to gang together no matter what. Me thinks this is all just jealousy speaking on the critics' part.

I actually wish there were a couple more elitists on this forum - It's nice to have a few people around to light a fire under everyone's ass every once in a while. Like that one guy whose name starts with a 'Ze' and ends with an 'el'.

And don't get rid of post counts. It's shallow as hell, but it's like my own little score board.

 

[surg3n]

Jeez, it's not like this site is important enough to worry about post counts. What does 20,000 posts on the escapist tell us?, it tells us that the person likes the escapist and has posted a lot. It doesn't afford anyone a more valuable opinion, except in the eyes of the auto-retort douchebags that assume they know better because of some digits at the side of their screen.
I'm a moderator on a game dev forum, and we removed the post count display because it just made people spam the hell out of the forum, like some post-pubescent pissing contest. Really nobody minds that their post count isn't displayed, they can check it themselves.

Post count here is pointless, as pointless as having a badge to signify that once a week you spend 2 minutes answering a quiz. But there's not much else you can do really, everything they could add would be abused somehow. It might be interesting to see what would happen if it was hidden for a week or so - then people would have to do things like come up with interesting topics, or help people out more, to get themeselves better known.

 

[Wardonno94]

Having a larger post count does not cause people to become elitist, rather it appears to give them more confidence in there posting. Since looking at those that do have high post they joke around and are making fun of there high post count. Therefore I think that it is the post count that causes a person to become a elitist, instead it probably more on personality of the person himself.

 

[Nopodop]

The post count and join date, when used together, can be used to estimate a user's post frequency and possibly experience, so it's not all bad.
That said, it can be seen as a representation of how 'cool' someone is, although only by stupid, judgemental people.

 

[Gamer_152]

Post counters don't cause elitism, people do. There are probably a small group of people on any site that consider the post count a reflection of how good a person is or the validity of their posts, but most don't, and even if you took the post counts away on any site I think it would do very little to actually get rid of the elitist and "inner circle" cultures that exist.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Damn, double post.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

I had an argument with Uber-posters Fappy and Daystar Clarion the other day. In fact that post the OP mentioned about "small complaints" was made as an insult towards me.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.390540-The-roast-of-Daystar-Clarion?page=3#15699975
snip

snip

snip

This subject came up in R&P. The Thread was: A thread to complain about the small issues of the escapist forums.

Hurray for me, both these threads sprung from my genius.
Apparently they were so good as to inspire others.
[sub]I am awesome[sub]
Hurray, congratulatory wankery![/sub][/sub]
They were Off-Topic threads though, not R&P, just to correct Copper Zen.

Also, I have nothing against post-counters, I tend to ignore them, since they only tell you if someone is active on these forums. Nothing more.

 

[vun]

I like having post count showing simply because it's a neat thing to have. I like seeing how many posts I have. Or rather how few I have.
Judging people by their post count is a silly thing to do.

 

[Nazulu]

I've been here for awhile and I've never seen this type of elitism before.

Besides, getting rid of something because of a tiny tiny asshole minority is ridiculous. It would be like the stupid council where I live, and how they spent tens of thousands remaking the foot path because one person trippied over a lose brick.

 

[Blunderboy]

Really? This bothers people?
Jesus Christ.

 

[Coffeejack]

People who wish to engage in crass and elitist behaviour will simply find another way to do so.

 

[Thistlehart]

Life must be really shitty when you can get genuinely upset about something as insignificant as a post counter, and this is on a site where people lose their shit when Dante's hair colour changes.

Mind if I contradict that?

Life must be pretty good if something as small and petty as post count can be construed as upsetting. The people whinging about this apparently have little in the way of difficulties in their lives, so they must invent some.

Those who've had a hard life are most likely to smile at rainbows. Those who've had an easy life are more likely to sneer at them.

 

[Emmenia]

People with a small post count only have deep and profound things to say.

 

[RJ 17]

While most people liked having the Post Count or seemed to be indifferent to the matter a few people were--prepare to be shocked, this was in R&P--vehemently opposed continuing the use of the Post Count. Their argument was that it led to long time Escapists building "cliques" and contributed to a sense of exclusivity for members who weren't part of the "In Crowd".

And they said it also lead to "Elitism". The basic argument for this being that long time posters sometimes made derogatory remarks to those who hadn't been around for three to five years like they themselves.

Seems to me that if people are really upset about this, they're upset about the wrong thing. The post count doesn't mean someone's been around for a while. A particularly active/passionate newb can rack up a good number of posts in a matter of weeks. As such, wouldn't it make more sense for these people to be upset with the "Joined On" date? THAT'S what lables someone as a veteran vs a newcomer.

Like the OT, I've never seen such veteran elitism. As for them forming "cliques", well, they HAVE been around for 5 years (as an example), is it so outlandish to think that they've gotten to know their fellow vets and have established friendships with them moreso than with new people?

It's stuff like this that make me prone to avoid the R&P. Seems like everyone who spends the majority of their time there are nit-picking whiners. Most of the time when I dare to make a post there, I can expect go get 7 quoted messages, all ignoring the content and context of what I said to focus on one or two sentences that they feel are personally offensive or something.

I mean really? People getting pissed off at post counts? Granted every time someone hits the 10K mark with posts they feel the need to make a topic about it, but I'd hardly call that elitism, I call it attention-whoring.

People with a small post count only have deep and profound things to say.

That was a very shallow and trivial thing to say.

 

[MorganL4]

If you were to just look at my post count, it's modest, but when you look at my join date it seems ridiculously low. The reason for this is: Despite the fact that I am on this site practically every day, And I read a lot of the forum topics.

I only really post if I feel I have something to contribute, and let's be honest....... No one has something to say about everything..... I am much more proud of my "quote count" than my post count. Because I find that when someone quotes me, it means they recognized my contribution. If they disagreed with my point of view, or felt I said something in error fine, I will read the response and if I find it coherent I will more often than not reply, if not I will more than likely ignore it.

So, overall I don't much care about post count ( although I would like to get all the matrix badges, its really the only thing that makes me want a higher post count)