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Post Count?

#181
If Talk Bass is a business with the intent of generating revenue, Paul will make decisions about the content of his web site that will grow his business. Maybe he feels that OT is having a negative effect on the site and he is taking steps to change the direction of Talk Bass. Most business owners look at their business from a empirical standpoint and I suspect he has data supporting any changes he makes.
 
#182
MakiSupaStar said:
As much as everyone likes to refer to OT as the red headed cousin of the other more bass and music oriented subforums, TB would not be TB (a tight knit community) without OT. It would be a sleepy, drive by and post joint where not very many people would stick around long enough to cough up dues.
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Having been here when TB was a much smaller place and the vast majority of OT stuff was made by "off topic kids", I can say that this just isn't true. There are tons and tons of regular supporting contributors who avidly post on TB who never even come into Off Topic. I like Off Topic- I remember sticking up for it back when Bruce was trying to get it deleted altogether :D But really, if OT disappeared tomorrow, TB would go on being a huge, thriving community.
 
#183
MakiSupaStar said:
I'm with Mike and his blimp on this one. I've been trying to remain quiet, simply because my worthless posts here in this worthless forum have somehow put me on a very short leash for the next year. Still, I must say this. The bottom line is that I contribute my gold membership dues on this site because I "support" the community that has developed here. As much as everyone likes to refer to OT as the red headed cousin of the other more bass and music oriented subforums, TB would not be TB (a tight knit community) without OT. It would be a sleepy, drive by and post joint where not very many people would stick around long enough to cough up dues. To me OT is the glue that holds us all together as we plod along at various stages of our musical adventures. I could just as easily lurk on this site with a free membership and get all the technical information I have needed, will need, and will ever contribute.

Membership affords me access to the what? The lobby, classifieds, infraction points, and an avatar? The Lobby, no offense, is not only the place threads go to die, but it's a slow agonizing death akin to being gummed by a bunch of old toothless goats and sheep bleating back and forth about religion versus science. To each his own, but I just don't have time for that. So I guess that leaves me the classifieds. Well, I'm much more of a buyer than I am a seller when it comes to bass gear, because I've been playing for around 20 years now, making my purchases in this market concise and focused, with little chance for turnover. I generally buy lower end basses (less than 2k) and hold onto them. Same goes for pedals, preamps, poweramps, cabs and everything else. So the classifieds are something I only go to when I have some money in my pocket (which lately is never).

So now I'm left to wonder, why did I cough up the cash for membership? Quite frankly, it's because of the bassists I mingle with here in OT. We've laughed at each other, supported each other when were hit with the harder sides of life, and we've sent beers to each other when we make stupid bets with each other. (Actually, you send them to me when you make stupid bets, and I just drink them). So now this worthless post thing is levied, and it's levied against not only the heartbeat of TB, but I would venture to say that it's levied against the very thing that keeps people supporting this site - it's sense of community. It's also a revenue stream, because I can't imagine that I'm so much of an original thinker that I'm the only one who coughed up support because of OT. So to me this is all very mean, and comes across as a kind of knee jerk reaction. I can't help but wonder if someone got miffed on some backroom secret mod thread and this is what came out of it. I'll probably get banned again soon, or I'll probably just let my membership fade, whichever comes first. Since this is where I post 90% of the time, then that means this site has just been devalued down to 2 dollars to me. I might as well put that towards a 40 oz. and be done with it. I'm not running this party, I'm just drinking the beer, but if you don't want my contribution to the keg, then I can take a hint. It wouldn't be the first time I wasn't welcome.
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any post that's perceived as worthless, regardless of subforum, is removed. if its not removed, its obviously not considered worthless.

think of ot posts more like zero-calorie indulgences.

face it, man. you're the dessert chef of talkbass. :)
 
#184
RWP said:
If Talk Bass is a business with the intent of generating revenue, Paul will make decisions about the content of his web site that will grow his business. Maybe he feels that OT is having a negative effect on the site and he is taking steps to change the direction of Talk Bass. Most business owners look at their business from a empirical standpoint and I suspect he has data supporting any changes he makes.
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by not counting OT posts in post counts? :eyebrow:
 
#185
geeza said:
While I realize TB isn't a democracy, it would be nice to know if this discussion is being taken under advisement by the powers-that-be, or if it's one of those "it's my bat and ball" kind of issues.
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as a forum adminstrator i am one of the PTB. i'm an employed agent of talkbass.com acting on paul's behalf, as is david wilson and chris fitzgerald.

we suggested the change, and he agreed and executed it.
 
#187
john turner said:
any post that's perceived as worthless, regardless of subforum, is removed. if its not removed, its obviously not considered worthless.
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Unless it's posted in OT. Then it's not worthless, but it's just not worth as much as the posts in other forums. I get it. All posts are equal, just some are more equal than others based upon where they were born. :hmm:

Ah, I see, so now the postcount has to first pass through the doublethink calculator.

Yeah, silly me. I don't know where I got this perception of different levels of worth and value.
 
#189
MakiSupaStar said:
Unless it's posted in OT. Then it's not worthless, but it's just not worth as much as the posts in other forums. I get it. All posts are equal, just some are more equal than others based upon where they were born. :hmm:

Ah, I see, so now the postcount has to first pass through the doublethink calculator.

Yeah, silly me. I don't know where I got this perception of different levels of worth and value.
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2 + 2 = 5?
 
#193
john turner said:
as a forum adminstrator i am one of the PTB. i'm an employed agent of talkbass.com acting on paul's behalf, as is david wilson and chris fitzgerald.

we suggested the change, and he agreed and executed it.
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Hard to believe some of the drama here about post counts. In the spirit of transparency, I'll disclose my reasoning for going along with the suggestion to exclude OT and Lobby posts from post counts:

Post counts have no real function other than to show how active a member is. They don't tell you anything about how reliable a member's information is, how good a player they are, what their teaching/building/luthier credentials are, etc. Some vbulletin sites have activated a feature called "Rep Points", which was designed to allow members to give feedback on the information given by other members; the idea was that if somebody made a useful or helpful post, they could get positive feedback on that post, and over time, this would be reflected in their "Rep Points". In actual use, features like this usually become a popularity contest dominated by those who spend the most time hanging out and shooting the breeze online and have nothing to do with the content/value of posts whatsoever (to see how the concept of "Rep Points" can turn into a total wankfest parody of itself, visit a certain forum dedicated to home recording that shall remain technically nameless here).

So what is a newbie to do if they want to check into who is giving them advice? Looking at the post count of any member can at least tell them who has been active in the topical music forums, and to what degree they've been active. This isn't much, but it's at least something. If someone with 10,000 posts on a music forum gives you what seems to be good advice, you might be inclined to take their steady activity on the forum to possibly be a sign that they're at least well-read on the subject. Would you think any differently if you discovered that 9,900 of those posts weren't about music related issues at all, but were instead about things ranging from "Asian chicks rule" to "The return of the son of man laws, part 17", to "who thinks farting on an elevator is funny?"? I know that I'd rather, if i were going to be looking at post counts at all, be looking at a count of music related posts.

I honestly can't think of another reason why a post count should matter at all. If a poster is posting for the fun of it or the community - both perfectly valid reasons - why should it matter what the counter reads? If the poster is posting for the counter, IMO the poster might want to take a look at their motivations. YMMV, as always. :)
 
#197
MakiSupaStar said:
Unless it's posted in OT. Then it's not worthless, but it's just not worth as much as the posts in other forums. I get it. All posts are equal, just some are more equal than others based upon where they were born. :hmm:

Ah, I see, so now the postcount has to first pass through the doublethink calculator.

Yeah, silly me. I don't know where I got this perception of different levels of worth and value.
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I'm kind of puzzled why you're putting so much effort into this, Maki. Do you really care about your post count that much? Personally, I could care less if my post count is 1 or 1,000,000. The Admins could do away with it completely and it wouldn't change what or where I post. The things I value are the content of what people say. Things like longevity and supporting membership status are good to see, but still have almost zero influence on how I post. However, I do agree with you that OT is the community center - the heatbeat - of TB.
 
#199
Bryan R. Tyler said:
They reserve their riots for when the store runs out of Metamucil.
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Best Post Ever!


Anyways, I'd like to make a motion to remove post counts entirely from this site. I don't think having 10,000 '+1' quotes in the 'J Bass is better' or 'picks vs. fingers' debates are corollary to a persons value on this site. Why don't we just not keep track of such things?
 
#200
Another forum I frequent has a counter associated with the number of times the poster has been thanked by another member for giving good advice or posting something of worth. Maybe that would be good here? If the intent is to have the post count reflect the value of the members contributions this would be a far better method.
 

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