23 replies to this topic

[Kite]

As you may or may not have noticed, PureZC has gone through a few minor changes. Don't panic. As weird as some of these changes are, they are intentional. They are part of a trial we are going to run for the next month or so. Depending on how things go, the changes will either stick around or things will be reverted to how they have been for years.

First, let's go over the changes that have actually happened. After that, I will try to explain the reasoning for this trial.

• Post counts have been removed from the post view. This means that little box to the side when you are looking at a post. Post count is still viewable within actual profiles and the member list.
• Regular Member Pips have been temporarily removed until we can figure out how to handle them with this system (whether that involves getting a plugin to do them by registration time or what).
• The "Overall Top 10 Posters" link has been removed from Board Statistics and My Assistant. You can still sort posters by their number of posts in the member list, but it's an extra click.
• The number of posts necessary to make comments on the site has been reduced to 5 (compared to the 10 from before).
• Custom titles are now available to everyone.

I know that this is going to seem extremely silly to some people, but post count is a somewhat dated concept on the Internet. While it is an indicator of activity, there are many ways to determine how active someone is that are far more accurate such as checking the list of today's top 10 posters to see who has posted at all for the day, checking someone's post history, checking when they last logged in, or simply noticing that you have stumbled on more than one recent post by them. Post count isn't even an entirely accurate system of activity on PureZC since it was decided over 9 years ago for it to not count in forums like Message Board Games.

We believe that people should be posting on PureZC because they want to post rather than posting because the random number deity demands 1,000 numbers for a custom title, 5,000 numbers for 5 heart containers, or that their numbers should be better than the numbers for someone else. The numbers should be an interesting statistic, not the deciding factor of whether you should post or not.

So we've decided to try deemphasizing post count a bit. You can still see it as a statistic inside of profiles and you can still sort by it in the member list, but that's about it. A high post count is no longer a requirement for when you can add some fancy text under your avatar and post count no longer gives the reward of seeing some fancy pips (granted we may have the fancy pips implemented for a different system that isn't based solely on post count in the future). If it were not for the potential of spam, we'd disable the post count requirement for making comments on the site entirely.

But before some people potentially go into a tizzy about this, keep in mind that this is going to be a trial. That means if this system doesn't work out, we will revert it. All that we are asking is that you let us try it out for a bit and see how it works.

If you have any questions or complaints, feel free to bring them up in this topic.

[Koh]

Actually, this isn't bad. I just happened to notice that stuff was missing and thought it was a browser error, so I didn't think anything of it...I mean who actually worries about post count anymore, right? It's all about racking up the years here now >:3.

[Jared]

I actually don't mind the post count being gone. But, I still like the hearts there. It kind of looks plain without them.

[Russ]

Yeah, it is a bit plain right now, but don't worry. We are going to bring them back in some capacity, they just won't be based on post count. We're still working out exactly how we're gonna handle it though, so you'll have to live without for a little bit. Sorry for that inconvenience.

[Nate]

Wow, how many years has it been and custom profile titles are finally available to the masses? Neat. I mean it is 2012, so I guess a little bit of forward motion makes some sense.

[Ventus]

Well I didn't even notice till now that they were gone. But oh well I didn't even care about my post count or my hearts.
And I do like that anyone can have a custom title with out having 1000 Post now though. wish it was like that when I joined <.<.

[King Harkinian]

I do not like this trial. I've been wanting a custom pip since the day I learned you can get one, and I was ~300 posts away from that goal. I like the idea of earning that by helping people and posting in threads. I think making it available all the time makes me feel like all those posts I made aren't worth as much. My problem with removing the heart containers is that they looked nice, and now the sidebar looks ugly . I will be happy when the trial is over and everything goes back to the way it was before, the way it is on almost every forum I have joined.

Edited by King Harkinian, 08 September 2012 - 10:25 PM.

[Hergiswi]

I think this is really interesting because I never actually considered the outdatedness of post count until I read this. These seem like pretty logical changes. I have to say, I'm glad that you'll be re-adding the pips because the sidebar looks rather awkward without them. =P

[Moonbread]

There's the stereotypical saying of "If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you do it too?" PureZC isn't other forums.

Part of this is really to get rid of the stigma that a higher post count means you're better than everyone else (or at least "less of a n00b") or that the whole point of posting on a forum is to increase it. Sure, not everyone thinks this way, but I'm sure a lot of people have, or still do. You shouldn't be posting on a forum to increase a statistic, but to participate in discussions for genuine interest in them. Taking away an easier access to people's post counts is nowhere near as bad as if we just replaced every username with that user's Member Number. It's a statistic. It doesn't track who you are.

Also, I don't really understand the whole incentive of "I'll get a custom title by helping people," because while it's a nice gesture, shouldn't you just enjoy that you can talk to people about things that interest/concern you; shouldn't that be the real incentive? A milestone doesn't make your posts worth anything. Someone could have 70 posts, and someone else could have 7,000 posts, but these days, I'll look at the quality of the posts before I see who really puts thought into what they say.

You're gonna find that the custom title isn't really all that it's cracked up to be, either. It's like having a second avatar but ~words~ and the only person who will care about your custom title will most likely be you. :x And I see you didn't hesitate to make yours, either. x;

[Dawnlight]

This will sure help combat against post-frenzies. I think the #1 incentive for one to post frenzy is to get the ability to have a custom title. The other is for forum attention.

[Daniel]

I like the changes however it don't look right without the heart containers. It would be nice if there was a way to implement them without post count like join date or something.

[Dawnlight]

Why can't the Members/Staff share the same types of hearts? Maybe restructure them so it doesn't relate to post counts?

For example:

# of Hearts
1 - Normal Member
2 - Contributer
3 - Local Moderator
4 - Global Moderator
5 - Site Staff

But for this idea above, it adds too much of a merit system in a bad way. It could possibly lead to superiority/inferiority issues for a few members. I'm sure someone can come up with a better idea.

[strike]

I miss the hearts and I only had a fourth of one!

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Like the changes. Don't change em.

The post counts never did anyone any good, and it only made people like Russ spam 10,000 times (BADUMTISH MOTHERFUCKA!). Hopefully that won't be a problem anymore.

Wow, how many years has it been and custom profile titles are finally available to the masses? Neat. I mean it is 2012, so I guess a little bit of forward motion makes some sense.

So let me get this straight. You're 'complaining' that a change that should have happened a long time ago, finally happened? Isn't that kind of... you know, silly?

[Radien]

Why can't the Members/Staff share the same types of hearts? Maybe restructure them so it doesn't relate to post counts?

For example:

# of Hearts
1 - Normal Member
2 - Contributer
3 - Local Moderator
4 - Global Moderator
5 - Site Staff

But for this idea above, it adds too much of a merit system in a bad way. It could possibly lead to superiority/inferiority issues for a few members. I'm sure someone can come up with a better idea.

Y'know, I have to say something about the pips:

When I was site staff, I was actually disappointed that I automatically got the gold hearts and the pips based on my post count went away. It meant that no matter what my post count was, it'd always show as gold hearts. That's not to say that staff who have low post counts are inferior in any way, but it's nice to have a visual representation of how long you've been a part of the community.

In that respect, I'd actually prefer it if we used this system:

• The number of hearts as a representation of how long you've been a member on the forum.
• The COLOR of the hearts as a representation of what role you play: member/contributor/local or global moderator/staff.

I feel this would actually be a lot more intuitive, since the multicolored strings of heart pips always felt a little weird to me. It would look better if the whole line of hearts is the same color for a given user.