[MR_T3D]

I think they should, as many of them are raather intelligent, and the forum does not have "spam threads" boosting post count.

PLUS nearly a third of my posts nowadays are there

[Mobius]

They shouldn't count because they have nothing to do with FreeSpace and/or Hard Light.

This has been discussed before and the consequent solution turned out to be a very reasonable one.

[Jeff Vader]

Nay, because I can't be arsed with the post count anyway. Well, apart from upping my level on the HLP cards.

(Psst. The first option should actually be "Yea", if you wanted to have a "Yea or Nay" poll.)

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Where's the required third option?

[Nuclear1]

Not voting until I see Snuffleupagus.

[Goober5000]

Poll removed.  HLP is not a democracy.  If you want a change in policy, you're going to have to put together a well-reasoned argument to support your position.

Anyway, Mobius summed it up.  Posts do not count in General Discussion because postcount is supposed to be a (admittedly imprecise) measure of your contributions to the community.  Posts in General Discussion, although they can be interesting and often lead to lively discussions, do not contribute mods, expertise, or other FreeSpace content.

That gives me an idea.  It might be interesting to institute a policy whereby posts in the internal forums count double...

[Colonol Dekker]

Don't you think that would encourage non-FreeSpace contribution where it wouldn't be needed? I'm pretty happy with the current system but i'm just a 1st LT you're the Brigadier. (HLP rank equivalent )

[ShadowGorrath]

What is HLP then? Military Dictatorship?

Anyway, I'd have to disagree with the double-post-count from internal forums, because not all HLPers have their mods hosted here, and not everyone can get them hosted here. That way not every FS modder/contributor can "advance" as fast as others.

[Mobius]

I think Goober's "HLP is not a democracy" shouldn't be considered an arrogant claim or something like that, Shadow. It's the truth - Admins decide and community members are strongly encouraged to accept their decisions. Had HLP been a democracy there would have been a wide usage of pictures in signatures, avatars and crap like that...

Also, I wouldn't like any kind of double post count for private forums(despite being one of the top posters in private forums, I guess). It doesn't make sense to me...what I would find acceptable instead are badges for community members working on projects hosted on GW and SG(Earth Defense, Shadows of Lylat, Beyond the Red Line, Transcend, etc. etc.), they would be fair.

IMO the current post count system is working fine and people don't spam in General Discussion as they did before. I think the same policy should be extended to all off-topic boards.

[Polpolion]

Come to think of it, why do we have visible post counts period?

[Colonol Dekker]

It's a visual gauge of experience in the FreeSpace field. Although it's not totally accurate. 

[ShadowGorrath]

It's a visual gauge of experience in the FreeSpace field. Although it's not totally accurate. 

Why isn't it accurate?

Goober explained about the entire posts thing.

And yea, Mobius, I agree with that. Just that HLP still seems like a dictatorship. And, you forgot to mention ASW

[Colonol Dekker]

Accuracy wise, in the old days someone who spent their entre e-life in GD with a high post count could give out inaccurate advise. I'm guilty of telling a particular newbie when asked the classic "how do i add a ship in fred?" question. . . .that pressing alt+f4 would do it. Thankfully i'm less of a git now.

[Mobius]

And yea, Mobius, I agree with that. Just that HLP still seems like a dictatorship. And, you forgot to mention ASW

I find "dictatorship" a very bad word if used to describe the Administration of HLP. There are many Administrators who are mature enough to handle the forums and run the site. They've all accomplished a lot so no, they should be pointed out as "dictators".

Also, ASW is a newly born project...you need time and achievements to turn it into a "badass" mod.

[captain-custard]

on the subject of avators i think it would be good if we could all have them (not just admin,mods etc) maybe they could be controlled by admin etc or maybe im just confused and i cant put up the avator i want .......it would be good to see these then maybe within multiplayer we could recreate the squad wars possibility , and i think this post should count because it is free space related ......

[Mobius]

No, only Administrators should have avatars. I can only imagine how crappy HLP would be if virtually anyone could use avatars...

[ShadowGorrath]

Dictatorship doesn't necessarily mean a bad leadership

And ASW is almost a year old. Oh, you just wait!

No avatars though. At first I was against the no-avatars thing, but now I think it's a good idea only for admins to have avatars.

[Herra Tohtori]

Postcount matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my postcount, do you? Hmm? Hmm.

And well you should not. For my ally is the content of the posts, and a powerful ally it is.



As far as what comes to democracy/dictatorship thing. You can't describe internet message boards by that kind of classification. First and foremost you have to remember that the admins pay for all this - they are occasionally supported by donations, but in the baseline they pay for our fun. Therefore they cannot be expected to yield the control of their board to the masses. That would be totally unfair and silly and it would likely end up in a chaos. Anarchy wouldn't work for very long and democracy wouldn't work well in this kind of setting anyway due to practical reasons. Who would be there to count votes? Who would eliminate alt-nicks distorting voting results?

The way I see it, HLP is a gift that keeps on giving. A gift, not a civic right or something that should be taken for granted. Sure, adminst should listen to the community members and in my opinion they are doing admirable job at that. But at the same time I don't think admins have any obligation to let the community dictate the modus operandi of the service they pay for and let us use for free.

Just accept that Hard Light Productions' social contract gives the admins all "legislatory" power and some exclusive "judicial" powers, while mods share some executive power with admins. Moving legislatory powers to the community would not work because of the aforementioned practical issues and some more (like the fact that the admins are responsible of the legality of the stuff going on in their forums, so demanding they relinquish control over to the masses is rather impossible in that sense as well).

[Snail]

Judging from post count, I'd look like a super-veteran next to most (if not all) of the non-admin/moderator members around here. Which I'm not...

[TrashMan]

No, only Administrators should have avatars. I can only imagine how crappy HLP would be if virtually anyone could use avatars...

Why? How do avatars make a forum crappier? One can always limit their size and such, but avatars are a nice touch... a little thing to personalize and help ID a poster by a glance. I know when sometimes I'm going over topics on another forums, that avatars help me ID people almost instantly. Takes a bit longer wihout em.

anyway, what was the reason for no avatars again? I'm closed off in my own little world so I forgot.