[Mr. Vega]

...that General Discussion posts shall/might contribute to the post count again?

[Snail]

Yeah, it doesn't seem like having no post count adding is stopping spamming there.

[Hades]

Agreed.

[jr2]

Yeah, it doesn't seem like having no post count adding is stopping spamming there.

Almost as if General Discussion was being used for exactly that.    Meh.  If it doesn't matter, then why are you asking?  It does have the effect of preventing ppl from trying to use their postcount to throw their (non-existent) influence around in matters pertaining to HLP modding because they gab in Gen Disc... not sure if that's ever been a problem; but it won't be as long as this policy is in place.  OFC, an admin could always just tell any such n00b to STFU or be banned...

[vyper]

not sure if that's ever been a problem; but it won't be as long as this policy is in place

Not so much. Therefore the policy is redundant. But I posted about once a week these days, so meh. Do as you wish.

[akenbosch]

...that General Discussion posts shall/might contribute to the post count again?

who cares about postcount?

[Flipside]

I'm in two minds personally, part of me thinks that General Discussion should be a place where people can discuss other topics and even get in somewhat heated debates (as long as the debate is about the subject, and NOT about the person who's opinion you disagree with). If that's the case, then post-count doesn't really matter, since some people are natural debaters, others simply ignore posts that get too heated because they don't really want to get into a row-esque situation.

Another part of me thinks that giving people back their E-Peens will stop some of the spamming that takes place in the Freespace General Discussion boards.

Of course, the other option is to completely hide post-counts in posts and only display them in profiles, so people can check their post-counts if they like, but it's not like a badge.

[CP5670]

Another part of me thinks that giving people back their E-Peens will stop some of the spamming that takes place in the Freespace General Discussion boards.

I am in favor of enabling them mainly for this reason. The spam hasn't really fallen in quantity but has just moved to GFS. It doesn't make much sense to have those posts count (obviously, it's impossible to catch all or even most spam posts) while more interesting and/or useful ones in GD don't. The debates aren't very common there anymore in any case, as the people who used to completely flood the place with P&N threads a year ago seem to have left.

[jr2]

P&N?  Whatsa dat?

[karajorma]

Another part of me thinks that giving people back their E-Peens will stop some of the spamming that takes place in the Freespace General Discussion boards.

Of course, the other option is to completely hide post-counts in posts and only display them in profiles, so people can check their post-counts if they like, but it's not like a badge.

Or I could start getting harsher with people who spam on Gen FS.

To be honest I doubt that giving people the ability to add to post count will stop the kind of behaviour that you describe. Once it's taken root in a forum all that will happen is that they will continue to spam there and now gain post count for further spamming in Gen Disc.

I also noticed that it's been an age since anyone got their post count zeroed for spamming. I suppose I should point out that this particular punishment might be coming back.

[CP5670]

P&N?  Whatsa dat?

Politics and news. GD was practically a (one sided) news wire at one point, with certain individuals digging up obscure articles just about every day and creating loads of threads on them. That was one of the main reasons that prompted the forum change back in January, but the situation is different now.

[Shade]

Hmm, perhaps you could add "postcount permanently set to 0" to the list of possible punishments for misbehaviour. That might actually hurt some spammers more than a temporary ban. Sort of an e-neutering for their e-peen Of course, I have no idea if the SMF software actually supports doing that.

[achtung]

Make postcounts hidden by default.

[Fineus]

Personally I don't find a pressing need to have post counts at all. They're a vague indicator of how long someone has been a part of the community (the higher the count - the greater the contribution, although there's no garuntee that it was a useful contribution..).

Do people really care enough about this that they want it changed, either way?

[karajorma]

I find it a useful indication of how I'm wasting my life.

[Roanoke]

it is interesting to see. shame the join date doesn't show on the forum too (it's not interesting enough to look up) 

[Flipside]

Personally I don't find a pressing need to have post counts at all. They're a vague indicator of how long someone has been a part of the community (the higher the count - the greater the contribution, although there's no garuntee that it was a useful contribution..).

Do people really care enough about this that they want it changed, either way?

It ceased to be an indicator of how much people were getting involved when the Gen FS started filling up with spam. Personally, I'd say hide post-count, make join date visible, that's probably a better indicator of 'service' to the board than how many times you can hit 'post reply'. Keep post count visible in profiles so that people can check if they want to, but remove it from the forum, to my mind, it's being abused and causing problems.

That way, people can have their post++ back for general discussion as well.

[akenbosch]

join date doesent help for telling how much you've contributed either...you can join, post once, wait a year, and post again. maybe an admin-controlled "contribution counter" that goes up every time you make something/contribute.

[Flipside]

That's going to be putting a lot of work onto the Admins though. At least with join date you have some idea, personally, I'd prefer it if people judged the post by it's content than by the 'rep' value of th person posting it, no matter what form it takes.

To be honest, it's probably best to leave things as they are, or we'll probably just get a repeat performance of what happened last time the Forums changed.

[akenbosch]

That's going to be putting a lot of work onto the Admins though. At least with join date you have some idea, personally, I'd prefer it if people judged the post by it's content than by the 'rep' value of th person posting it, no matter what form it takes.

To be honest, it's probably best to leave things as they are, or we'll probably just get a repeat performance of what happened last time the Forums changed.

"if it aint broke dont fix it"