hmm...this thread has been quite relevant...However, here's what I feel about it

1. The Number of posts a member makes do provide some light on the time a member has spent on LQ, It dosent matter whether he has been spamming the general forum or any other.

The number of posts a person makes in a way bears similarity with the sun-sign of a person who we meet the first time. Just like we dont know anything about this person, but by knowing his sun-sign, we get a little idea of how is he like, without us having the need to talk to this person.

Similarly, when a member helps us by his/her reply, by keeping an eye on their number of posts, we get a small indication of whether this person knows a bit about linux or not.

2. Not every one is a genius, so even if one crosses 1000 posts, still there is no guarantee that he/she is a master of linux...But that dosent mean one's post count shouldnt be incremented at all..

3. In a way, I take the post count as an indicator of my progress and growth in linux...the more people I help, the higher will be my post count..and of course, to help people with their problems, I need to upgrade my knowledge level...{of course, one may keep on making posts to general forums and get the count increased...}

but this post count motivates me to work hard to achieve the title of an 'LQ Addict' or A 'Guru'...and therefore, removing post counts may slow down my growth although not stop it....

4. I do not agree with removing the post count altogether...I, however, support removing posts to the 'general' and 'website questions and suggestions' forum from being counted.

5. [ AS A SUGGESTION, why dont u guys also display a member's sun-sign in the left-hand profile box! ?? ]

Regards,

amit

Drew is right, I was just shy of 10k, somewhere in the ballpark of 8 or 9k. I was the exception to the rule we all keep referring to... I was certainly no "Guru" in the sense of Linux Guru when I hit 1k (which was very quickly in comparison to most members) and yet I didn't have the majority of my posts in General which everyone in this thread seems to think would curb this massive increase in post count without gaining knowledge of linux.

Here's where I stand on the post count thing...

I think LinuxQuestions.org is a community. In this community we have both Linux Newbies and Linux Experts. Yes, others fall somewhere in between, and even others fall outside this altogether (those who have no ties to Linux other than the site). The point being, this site is a community. If one participates at any point within the community, they are indeed contributing to the community that is LQ. Should they get credit for this contribution, hell yes. They are just as much a member as I am. They are very much a part of the community. General is part of this community. It has it's place, regardless of it's impact on the number of posts gained. I strongly believe that removing the posts count awarded to members who choose to post in General is going to be a very very bad idea. It will take away a portion of the sense of community that LQ has. LQ is indeed a Linux help site. LQ is indeed dedicated to helping newbies. However, it has (maybe not literally, but..) been established that LQ is more than just that. LQ is a place where people from all over the world come to converse. It's a place where people build friendships with people they would have otherwise never even have known existed. General is the avenue through which this is done. That does not mean posts in General are any less important to the community as a whole as say, posts in Linux - Distributions are.

As some of you read this, your side thought might be, "Yeah, but Chad probably got quite a bit of his 11k posts in General, so now he's worried his massive post count will degrade", however that isn't so. It seems like I have somewhere between 600-1500 posts in General, not exactly a dent in my count. I don't have a desire to have a large post count, and this might translate to you as "I don't need to continue to build my count because it's already so massive" but truly, I could care less if I had 300 posts. It's not a matter of building my ego, or maintaining it, but rather, to me, the post counts show your amount of participation within the community. They show how true of an LQ participator you are. It may not reveal your raw linux knowledge, but it does reveal your dedication to the site as a whole. You will always have a few members (percentage) that will participate in things for the sole reason of desecration, but that doesn't mean you change the system to fix them.

LQ is the some of it's parts (just as any community/organization is), and that does not disclude General. General posts and the counts associated with them are no less a part of LQ than any other post.

My vote is to keep the post counts counting in General

Thank You.

Cool

First, I want to thank everyone for their feedback. I really do take it into consideration when making a decision. The site is here for you, the member. Based on the feedback from this thread I am going to setup General to not increment your post count (in fact this is the last post that will). How will this change General? It won't (although the mods may feel free to leave some threads open that they may have closed before). A few things to note:

- This should in no way be seen as making General less important. I'd like to reiterate that I think General is a crucial part of our community. In reality I think this change will help increase that, not detract from it. After all, it is the info in the posts that help us get to know each other and make us laugh - not the fact that your post count goes up by 1.
- The change will not be retroactive. If the rule was not in effect when the post was made it should stay as-is.

If you have any questions let me know. I have added this to the FAQ and will make a sticky.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ge=3#postcount

--jeremy

Sounds good, I'm looking forward to see how (if at all) this will affect things...

Cool

I would like to express to those who do enjoy posting in General to keep doing so. I wouldn't have gotten to know some of the members here and especially the other mods if it wasn't for perhaps this forum for random off topics, etc.

But I would like to mention that I hope this does not prompt more to post general off topic threads in Linux - General so your posts and threads add to your post counts. At times even when its regarding Linux, it still belongs in just General as its mainly a forum that is used when you have an actual technical question regarding Linux and you feel it doesn't belong in any other forum we have already.

A nice thread I have as a sticky in Linux - General explains what should go in there or not, etc. You can view it here:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=103564

Thanks and have fun!

-trickykid

great decision. i believe it will make LQ, great as it is, even better.

Agreed. This is cool.

Thanks Jeremy.

Whitehat

Cool beans. I think this constant evolution of the site is a great factor in keeping it relevant and popular.

Billions of blue blistering barnacles Great to see this implemented Jeremy.

i dont really care, only about 1/3 of my posts are in general.



b.t.w what does the # of posts supposed to do?
if its show how hwlpful a LQ user is, then get rid of posts in general.
but if it just shows how much time they spend here, keep them counted in total count.



my 2 reubles (russian cent worth approx. 1/8000 of a penny. but that was a few years ago)

As promised:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=140360

--jeremy

i was actually myself sorting through this thread, and as i was reading i was pondering ideas, and this was something that was coming to mind, and then i read the post above ...
i have no idea if this would be hard to implement, but it sounds like a decent idea ...
as stated, there is only about 65 people with 1000+ plus posts (exactly this amount, i just checked ) and maybe if this seems like a reasonable idea it could be thought through ...


personally regarding the other ideas, i do think that post counts and title should stay, and although action is already taken i agree with the removing of the general post counts ...
sometimes i dont' realize its there, i just checked and i only have 42 posts there, and i think they only come when i see a 0 reply thread and i respond to it