Posting in the Playground does not contribute to your personal post count!

[Keith009]

Without wading too much into the debate, I would like to add my support to this change in light of some recent trends. So I guess I've been kicked out of the 4k club. Not sure if the retrospective-ness can be avoided due to software limitatons?

 

[admin]

After re-reading my initial post and reading some of the comments on this thread, I think its important for me to do a bit of clarification. (I was probably too brief in my initial post, and for that I apologise)

Firstly, NO posts have been deleted. Some seem to be under the impression that they "lost" posts. This is not true. All that happended is that posts made in this forum are now not counted in your personal post tally. The posts still exist and are visible.

Secondly, because of the way vBulletin works, the change does impact the counter for "retrospective" posts: To maintain the integrity of the various counters (number of members, threads, posts etc) it is necessary from time-to-time to run a vBulletin administrative maintenance program to rebuild the indexes. vBulletin does this "from gound up" by recounting the items in the database. (You may have periodically noticed the occassional change in the counters - this is always after we perform such maintenance).

So, running a maintenance job after I made the posting rule changes would impact the counters "retrospectively". (I put that word in inverted commas because it implies deliberate intent, which is not the case.) At some point in time, the mainteance job would have to be run, so I figured it would be better to do it now and cop the flak (which I was expecting!) rather than later.

Please be assured that we never have, and never will, do anything deliberately "retrospectively".

I think the decision to make the change once the correct one, for a whole bunch of reasons. I'm sorry if members are upset that there personal post counts have been reduced. Without modifying the vBulletin system, that was unavoidable. Remember that you never lost any posts!

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[Reggie]

At some point in time, the mainteance job would have to be run, so I figured it would be better to do it now and cop the flak (which I was expecting!) rather than later.

No flak flying from here. My personal opinion is it is/was a good idea.

 

[anat0l]

I don't really mind. It's a new set of rules, we play by them.

It is not as if I lost dignity, money, reputation, property or a limb. The posts aren't lost, it's just the count that went down. I'd be more concerned about the content being lost than my post count (too bad on FT they didn't do this for OMNI when they stopped counting posts in that forum, since a lot of people are Evangelists etc. by virtue of posting with robots). Of course, I don't think any of us had to be concerned about the content being lost (that is as silly a fallacy to believe in as the "QF direct sweep = I lose all my FFP points" stupidity).

Disappointment might be the worst I'm experiencing, although I can see reasons behind the decision, and people should now just learn to accept and move on. This issue isn't as big as the forum software upgrade and shouldn't get to an argument of that scale either.

 

[drron]

I wish it was as easy to lose weight.

 

[drewbles]

I wish it was as easy to lose weight.

+1

Only lost 55. That said, I had no idea I posted in this part of the forums that much (was around 7% of my total posts).

It's only a number I really couldn't care less. It's just interesting

 

[simongr]

Good decision but a couple of questions:

1 - Does this impact the 250,000th post thread competition?
2 - Do we have a further celebratory thread for those posters who now hit milestones for a second time?

This wont change my posting at all - I don't care how many posts I have (in fact a lower total might look better if people wonder what I do all day...)

S

 

[straitman]

Good decision but a couple of questions:

1 - Does this impact the 250,000th post thread competition?

NO. The total post count remains the same. The total now shows as 251,187 posts.

2 - Do we have a further celebratory thread for those posters who now hit milestones for a second time?

Of course.

Any excuse to party :!:

This wont change my posting at all - I don't care how many posts I have (in fact a lower total might look better if people wonder what I do all day...)

S

Some will care and some won't care.

It does not matter as the reality of the situation is that the change has been made by management and that is all there is to it. :mrgreen:

 

[oz_mark]

NO. The total post count remains the same. The total now shows as 251,187 posts.
Of course.

..or does it?

Two pages, two results:

Number of Members: 19,883
Total Threads: 16,958
Total Posts: 253,292
Currently Online: 158
Newest Member: TSC

Threads:16,430 Posts:251,189 Members:19,883
Welcome to our newest member, TSC

 

[samh004]

NO. The total post count remains the same. The total now shows as 251,187 posts.

Actually it depends where you look, the front page lists the total as 253,294, which is odd

 

[JohnK]

Some will care and some won't care.

If posts in the Playground are important enough to be included in the site total then they are important enough to be included in a member's post count.

I am withdrawing, effective immediately, from any further participation in any threads in the Playground and that includes any contests I used to organise in the past....

 

[anat0l]

I am withdrawing, effective immedtiately, from any further participation in any threads in the Playground and that includes any contests I used to organise in the past....

Some will care and some won't care.

Indeed. (filler for the ten character limit)

 

[samh004]

I suppose it goes both ways, there are some very informative posts and threads in the playground, and then there are others that are just to let off steam or to have a bit of fun.

Still not bothered

 

[ejb]

I suppose it goes both ways, there are some very informative posts and threads in the playground, and then there are others that are just to let off steam or to have a bit of fun.

Still not bothered

Congrats Sam on reaching 2000 posts, again

ejb

 

[samh004]

Congrats Sam on reaching 2000 posts, again

ejb

Thanks, and to think only last week I was nearing 3000. Still pretty happy to see the majority of my posts were out of the playground.

 

[oz_mark]

I am withdrawing, effective immediately, from any further participation in any threads in the Playground and that includes any contests I used to organise in the past....

Does that mean you were only in the playground to get your post count up?

 

[anat0l]

Does that mean you were only in the playground to get your post count up?

Of course not. I think you're getting the wrong idea.

From how I read JohnK's posts, his view is that it's not all about the post count per se but rather that by not counting posts in the Playground, it's an underappreciation of the contribution of a member to this forum, i.e. the Playground, albeit not the dead serious (to whatever degree it may be in practice) talk about FF or travel related stuff (of which the site earns its namesake), is still a living and valuable section of the community.

 

[oz_mark]

Of course not. I think you're getting the wrong idea.

From how I read JohnK's posts, his view is that it's not all about the post count per se but rather that by not counting posts in the Playground, it's an underappreciation of the contribution of a member to this forum, i.e. the Playground, albeit not the dead serious (to whatever degree it may be in practice) talk about FF or travel related stuff (of which the site earns its namesake), is still a living and valuable section of the community.

As an academic, you would appreciate that the simplest explanation is often the right one. Nevertheless, Johnk has separately explained his decision to me.

 

[anat0l]

As an academic, you would appreciate that the simplest explanation is often the right one. Nevertheless, Johnk has separately explained his decision to me.

As an academic, I know that the simplest explanation is merely only the elevator speech.

 

[oz_mark]

As an academic, I know that the simplest explanation is merely only the elevator speech.

pfft. May Occam cut you with his razor.:mrgreen: