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

[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)

 

[Fappy]

I cant hear you over how above average my penis post count is.

Go back to IRCs and go play on your console you peasant

You have 14k penises?! Damn, that's 3,000 more penises than me! What's your secret?

As Oprah was quoting, they have over 9,000 penises, and they are all raping children.

Just in case you don't know what the fuck I'm referencing:

To think I almost forgot about this classic. Stay classy Oprah.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

snip

For someone who claims to do nothing but 'contribute to threads', you do like to reiterate the same points more than once... [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.390540-The-roast-of-Daystar-Clarion?page=3#15700045]

self serving ego stroking.

I don't need to stroke my ego. Other people do it for me.

Because I'm popular.

Therefore elitist.

You're welcome.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

Does anyone really take post count seriously? I'm sure there are people like myself that visit almost daily, but tend to lurk. I'll occasionally start typing a reply to something only to self correct myself and reflect 'does anyone really care if I post this?' If the answer is 'probably not', then I'll navigate away from the forum without replying.

This has actually worked against me, on a different forum. I once applied to be a moderator on another site I frequent. I was told I wasn't suitable, as my post count wasn't high enough. It was expected that a post count average of 1 per day was reasonable.

I do look at people's join dates. It's interesting to see someone's join date, versus their post counts.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

No one gives a fuck about post count any more since the advent of user groups contributing to it and rightly so. Not that is ever was something to care about. Also some of the Old Escapists have cliques because they are old not because of this that should be obvious. These are people that have posted on the forum for years and know each other and talk in user groups. So it is not surprising they are close with in jokes.

 

[JoJo]

No, removing the post count is stupid

...I suppose I should say more

This argument was just done in the PubClub forum and one member (who I hope doesn't mind me stealing his argument Source: User JoJo ) made a fantastic argument:

Take some of the people who are best known around the forum: Daystar Clarion, Caramel Frappe, Fappy, Aylaine... yes they all have high post counts but crucially not the highest. There are people who have equally high post counts like TheDoctor445, Irridium, Herzog, Soviet Heavy, Avouleance2nd, Sporky111, SeanTheSheep who are certainly known but not on the same level as these guys.

Why?

Because those who are super-well known have reached that level because as CounterAttack said, they are known for what one does, whether that be funny, having a cute avatar, insightful or just plain friendly. When it comes down to it, in most cases people aren't well-known because of their high post counts, they are well known because they post a lot which in turn leads to a high post count.

Now maybe I'm mis-reading his argument (feel free to correct me JoJo if I am) but as stated: Cliques will build no matter what. People don't remember the high count posters because they have a high count; they remember them and follow them because they made a difference (for good like Caramel or for evil like Zeel).

Also: Anyone with a high post count/earlier start date that is degrading others for having low amounts doesn't belong here. I would love to see an actual example of this because I'm guessing people making that argument don't last long enough to have a high post count.

Awesome, when I saw this thread this afternoon I thought "Damn, just my luck for such a thread to be posted while I was asleep, now I'll have to be on page 3...", only to find through your quote I'm at post #5! You interpreted my argument perfectly, to break it down into equation form some people seem to think that "high post count -> popularity" when in fact "posting a lot + being memorable for whatever reason -> popularity (or notoriety) + high post count". Let's not mix up correlation and causation.

Nothing much more to add than I am JoJo and I endorse this post

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Meh, the only thing that really bothers me about post count is that user group posts go towards that. I remember way back when it was just forum posts and it was interesting to see people in the 10k posts because that actually took some effort.
I honestly don't care about anyone's post count number anymore, and anyone who thinks they're elite because they have a huge post count is honestly a moron. Just look around at various user groups, most are just used as glorified chat messengers that pad out the post count.

I remember before even that. When having 1000 posts was alot. Yeah that's right. I out hipstered you. Deal with it, yo.

I made this [http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3recs8/] for you.

 

[Woodsey]

Uh, must the peasants always moan?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Uh, must the peasants always moan?

When was the last time we had a good razing?

About due for another one I think...