An interesting proposition

Petrie. · **Reply #20 on:** June 10, 2009, 06:47:45 AM

^ Never turned this feature on, so I'd have to say yes, that's how it would work.

Petrie. · **Reply #21 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:04:59 AM

Ok here's the scoop:

I just tested this feature and turned individual post count off for the party room. It did not remove any posts members had already made in the party room, meaning you keep what posts you have made. It would only prevent new ones from counting.

Littlefoot1616 · **Reply #22 on:** June 10, 2009, 07:05:06 AM

Well that's pretty cool. At least everyone gets to keep what they've accumulated so far. I can't see any major consequence to having this put into effect.

Littlefoot Fan · **Reply #23 on:** June 10, 2009, 10:14:07 AM

While I do agree with this idea, I think that if you did go through with it, the Party Room would see a lot less activity. I admit that the only thing that motivates me to post in the Party Room is the increase in my post count

Sure there are a couple of games in there that actually require thought and are fun to play, but even those I would find just pointless to participate in if I knew there wasn't any kind of permanent increment on my part. It sounds kind of childish and stupid, but it's just the way I feel about forums. Your post count is the only way of saying to people how active you are, and if people know that a particular post is not going to increase their activity, most likely they're not going to bother with that section of the board.

Compy-Rex · **Reply #24 on:** June 11, 2009, 08:47:18 AM

Yeah, as much as the Party Room got me posts, it makes sense.

Paradise Bird · **Reply #25 on:** June 11, 2009, 09:00:00 AM

Usually would be a post pool in most forums.

action9000 · **Reply #26 on:** June 11, 2009, 02:13:45 PM

Sorry for the late response; I wasn't on my computer much yesterday.

I am actually against this proposition for a few reasons.

As active GoF members, many of us are aware of who tends to post more in the Party Room and who tends to post more elsewhere. This can be made obvious by simply clicking around the party room for a few minutes.

To me this sounds like a way to track the number of 'useful' posts, which I think is a little bit disrespectful, considering this is a casual forum for people to come to for relaxation, to unwind, etc. Calling one's person's way to relax "not worthy of counting as a real post" because they're playing a game rather than posting in a topic that tends to encourage discussion, especially when it's just as easy to have a meaningless post elsewhere than in the party room, seems to be rather biased against the members who participate in party games.

It also takes 'credit' away from those members who honestly come up with good posts in the Party Room, such as a new popular game or someone who helps to explain the rules of a game.

Since we have no way of measuring the 'quality' of a post until it's read (and even then, as long as it follows the rules of the game, it can be justified as an acceptable post), I just don't think it's reasonable to assume that all posts in the party room aren't even worth counting.

Malte279 · **Reply #27 on:** June 11, 2009, 04:46:36 PM

There are threads though which are really without any intend (and possibility) whatsoever to turn into anything other than a post count booster. No way to make anything more out of games like the word association, the alphabet game, the word connection, or the guess the next poster games (for example).
Maybe there could be an own section for such games and the no post count be imposed on that section. A decrease in activity of such threads would be likely but if there is indeed such a decrease it would go to show that these games are really post count boosters than an actual relaxation.

Paradise Bird · **Reply #28 on:** June 11, 2009, 07:55:33 PM

I support anyone's decision.

Petrie. · **Reply #29 on:** June 11, 2009, 07:57:59 PM

So what are we left with here....yays, nays, don't give a rat's patooie about the whole thing...? From what I gather some want to try it, some don't. Pretty typical of democracy when given that chance.

Tyrannosaur · **Reply #30 on:** June 12, 2009, 12:19:12 AM

to be honest i dont see why people all over forums, regardless of the subjects they cover, are so focused on post count. its just a number under your avatar

.

i wouldnt mind either way. im not too concerned with my post count and i think people who only have one or two words per post shouldnt be credited for it. but either way works for me

Serris · **Reply #31 on:** June 12, 2009, 12:24:09 AM

Personally, I do see a slight problem with making Party Room posts count.

I'm not sure if AM is immediately visible to new members but AM required someone to have a certain post number before it was visible (I do remember this being implemented at some point), someone could just quickly churn out posts in the Party Room and have access to AM...and I do see a slight potential for abuse. Maybe I'm being paranoid but it is a real possibility.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #32 on:** June 12, 2009, 12:38:22 AM

Quote from: Tyrannosaur,Jun 12 2009 on 12:19 AM

to be honest i dont see why people all over forums, regardless of the subjects they cover, are so focused on post count. its just a number under your avatar .

I like to know how many times I post on a forum.

Kor · **Reply #33 on:** June 12, 2009, 12:55:36 AM

I personally do not care what my post count is and don't see why folks care what theirs is. But I am insane so that may be why I don't care.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #34 on:** June 12, 2009, 01:10:53 AM

It's a personal thing. Seeing how many posts I made makes me feel good about myself in regards to the forum, about my participation, about how active I have been, etc. I'm not arrogant; I'm not looking to outpost anyone. I just like to know how many post counts I make.

Malte279 · **Reply #35 on:** June 12, 2009, 04:37:55 AM

Quote

So what are we left with here....yays, nays, don't give a rat's patooie about the whole thing...? From what I gather some want to try it, some don't. Pretty typical of democracy when given that chance.

But democracy is giving us a very clear vote here. Reading through the above posts I find 10 members in favor of a change of the post count rules for the party room. 6 members who are undecided. And 2 who spoke out against a change of the post count rules.

I do agree with what Tim said about not every party room post being without any substance. Therefore my suggestion is to create a subforum in the party room for those games which are really only post count boosters (This could include all those games which require one or two word responses that don't require any more thinking than perhaps the first letter or syllable of the word or which are entirely random). It seems likely that the activity in these threads may decrease as a consequence, but if that is indeed to be the case, it would be pretty much of a proof that these games are really just post count boosters rather than real games played for the fun of them.
I also think Serris raised a valid point. Not everyone capable of associating 20 words with other words delivers sufficient information that way to show that he or she is to be trusted with the somewhat more sensitive information of the AM section.

Petrie. · **Reply #36 on:** June 12, 2009, 07:07:50 AM

Quote

I do agree with what Tim said about not every party room post being without any substance. Therefore my suggestion is to create a subforum in the party room for those games which are really only post count boosters (This could include all those games which require one or two word responses that don't require any more thinking than perhaps the first letter or syllable of the word or which are entirely random). It seems likely that the activity in these threads may decrease as a consequence, but if that is indeed to be the case, it would be pretty much of a proof that these games are really just post count boosters rather than real games played for the fun of them.

That could be arranged. It would look a little more like our arts section of the board is now where you enter the main section and find five sub-sections to choose from. Post boosters like "word association" could go in a section that wouldn't raise your post count, but sections like Caption This or Brain Food would continue to count since they require a little more thought and substance.

Nothing's finalized of course. What I think though is a lot of people come for the party room and reply to a lot of things...you take away the benefit of "number boosters" there will be less activity on this board and some people may look around less. I haven't been in the party room in a long time, so are the members who post the heck out of the party room replying in other places too or are they just playing the games? (I've seen this happen before where people are more gamers than repliers in other sections.)

Kor · **Reply #37 on:** June 12, 2009, 08:19:13 AM

Malte's idea can work. It would show who's there in those threads that you only do 1-3 or so words in a post and that is all you are allowed to do. There are others like Malte said where most of the posts are a sentence or a paragraph. Malte's idea may be the best of both. Though I would agree with Malte that those threads where one only does 1-3 posts may see activity, some folks like myself would still go there since I find those fun.

action9000 · **Reply #38 on:** June 17, 2009, 02:00:41 AM

the tricky part with that, Malte, would be organizing the games in such a way that would make sense to everyone who is creating a new game. We would need to define a 'threshold' of what games don't add post count and which games do.

I still dont' like the thought of not creditting posts that could appear in these games to explain things and whatnot. I still think making some topics not count towards post count is rather murky water.

Malte279 · **Reply #39 on:** June 17, 2009, 02:58:57 AM

Quote

the tricky part with that, Malte, would be organizing the games in such a way that would make sense to everyone who is creating a new game. We would need to define a 'threshold' of what games don't add post count and which games do.

Games could be moved to that section once it is obvious they don't produce anything but one word posts (if our members do not post such games in the new section in the first place). That way the introductory post of two or three complete sentence would still be counted. But seriously, how many of the almost 7200 posts in the word connection game are more than one word? How many of the about 3800 guess the next poster (counting member names as one word and neglecting phrases such as "no", "yes I am" etc.), how many of the almost 11600 word association? Really, it makes up for far more than 10% of the boards total posts (and I just mentioned three of the extremest threads in that respect).