Hey Smogon, I was just browsing stuff when it hit me-why don't we have an option to hide postcount? Just like some people don't like to display their age on their Smogon accounts, I think we should have the option to keep your amount of posts hidden. I common situation when this might come in handy is if someone just registers their account. I'm sure most of us will respect someone with 8,000 posts more than someone with 1 post, even if they have to same exact idea/post and presented it the same way. We probably would consider them "randoms" and automatically frown upon their idea, but if we don't see how many posts we have, we will almost all consider it more fairly (kind of quality over quantity).
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Hide Postcount?
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If you're going to hide postcount then what about join dates? Or badges? Or even names for that matter? They are all things that people may use to discriminate one user from another. Where do you draw the line.
Also before you say hide join dates as well the URL to your user profile actually gives away when you joined so there is no point.
Just let the content of your post speak for itself, most sensible people are aware that postcount isn't associated with post quality.
Also before you say hide join dates as well the URL to your user profile actually gives away when you joined so there is no point.
Just let the content of your post speak for itself, most sensible people are aware that postcount isn't associated with post quality.
not that i think there is a problem here, but your solution wouldn't solve anything
ask yourself what reason you'd have to hide a high postcount
if the answer is none, you should have already figured out the prejudice would simply apply to those with hidden postpounts
personally i see no reason for people to need to hide them; there's nothing to be ashamed of -- if you make a good post, most people will see it for what it is
ask yourself what reason you'd have to hide a high postcount
if the answer is none, you should have already figured out the prejudice would simply apply to those with hidden postpounts
personally i see no reason for people to need to hide them; there's nothing to be ashamed of -- if you make a good post, most people will see it for what it is
chaos did say that he was planning on changing this with metachu. (ie you're user url would be http://www.smogon.com/forums/member.php?u=Fatecrashers)
Regardless, although newer users might discriminate by post count, nobody else really does. Except for Aeroblacktyl.
@Fatecrashers: That is a stupid argument. "You can't hide post count because what if you could hide everything else and we need that" is quite literally the definition of a slippery slope fallacy.
Are there reasons that everyone needs to be able to see your post count?
In full support of this option if someone wants to implement it.
Are there reasons that everyone needs to be able to see your post count?
We shouldn't be discriminating based on post count, ever.
In full support of this option if someone wants to implement it.
care to present an argument as to why it is worth spending the time necessary?
That wasn't my point. My point was people will always find things to discriminate on.
1500 posts vs 2 posts
Joined 2005 vs Joined 2011
Badged user vs Unbadged user
known user eg reachzero vs random new user eg xXxCharizard123xXx
Hiding everyone's postcounts won't make a lick of difference.
Doesn't matter at all. Either a programmer will implement it or they won't. They'll do the former if they want to.
We shouldn't decide that they "can't" if they want to, and if they don't we can't make or direct them to.
Except taking away something they can discriminate on that they shouldn't, at the request of the user.
Yes they will always discriminate, but it's like saying a Religion field should be required because if it were optional people would just discriminate on other things.
This isn't worth the time.
The only major time anyone discriminates against a user because of low postcount is because the content of their post is already questionable. A good post gets the same reception regardless of whether or not a user has 10 posts or 1000 posts, but a bad post will draw attention to the low postcount in a flash.
Besides, as Fatecrashers pointed out, there are a number of other easily visible "data points" that people can use against someone, such as badges (or lack thereof), names, avatars, contents of signatures, etc. Postcount is just a drop in the bucket here.
The only major time anyone discriminates against a user because of low postcount is because the content of their post is already questionable. A good post gets the same reception regardless of whether or not a user has 10 posts or 1000 posts, but a bad post will draw attention to the low postcount in a flash.
Besides, as Fatecrashers pointed out, there are a number of other easily visible "data points" that people can use against someone, such as badges (or lack thereof), names, avatars, contents of signatures, etc. Postcount is just a drop in the bucket here.
just wanted to point out that while i am usually quick to defend you this is one of the stupidest things i have ever seen someone post in a long time
Sorry, didn't mean to start an argument.
I guess Fate is right about other ways to "discriminate" against people, but that's not really what I'm talking about. If someone joins in 2004 but only has 50 posts (lurkers), from what I've seen, people will always judge them.
Not trying to advertise at all, but take this post for example. Someone wrote a war story without a log, but an actual story about a battle this user had. Seeing it is their first post, many people said "log please, this sucks." If that person had 10,000 posts, I'm almost positive 60% of those negative posts would be positive since that is actually well written.
Pretty much a short example, but there are so many posts on this forum that would be judged more negatively if the poster had a higher post count. I know it's not much of an argument but post count =/= experience, and to stop people from judging on postcount, I think this option will be beneficial for some of the newer users.
I guess Fate is right about other ways to "discriminate" against people, but that's not really what I'm talking about. If someone joins in 2004 but only has 50 posts (lurkers), from what I've seen, people will always judge them.
Not trying to advertise at all, but take this post for example. Someone wrote a war story without a log, but an actual story about a battle this user had. Seeing it is their first post, many people said "log please, this sucks." If that person had 10,000 posts, I'm almost positive 60% of those negative posts would be positive since that is actually well written.
Pretty much a short example, but there are so many posts on this forum that would be judged more negatively if the poster had a higher post count. I know it's not much of an argument but post count =/= experience, and to stop people from judging on postcount, I think this option will be beneficial for some of the newer users.
I'm not sure what you're talking about, my join date is 2011 and i have less than 50 posts. Yet i feel that people take my posts just as seriously as those of any other regular non-badged member.
It's quite unfortunate that many people seem to think that it matters here though. I have a feeling many people make shit posts around here just to increase their postcount, dropping the quality of the forums overall.
Seeing as there is no advantage whatsoever to actually displaying postcounts, i do think that removing postcounts from everyone would be benefitting to the community. As it would discourage the postcount++ behaviour of many people on this forum.
It's quite unfortunate that many people seem to think that it matters here though. I have a feeling many people make shit posts around here just to increase their postcount, dropping the quality of the forums overall.
Seeing as there is no advantage whatsoever to actually displaying postcounts, i do think that removing postcounts from everyone would be benefitting to the community. As it would discourage the postcount++ behaviour of many people on this forum.
lol is your head on backwards?
this thread wasn't started to propose programmers can't, this thread was started that programmers should
how ridiculous would this forum be if we filled it full of suggestions for "things programmers need not do but hey, they have the right to!"?
The reason that happened with a user who only has one post is because most users with a low post count usually don't know all the rules. a person with 1000+ posts simply wouldn't do that.
Also, along with badges, posts are a symbol of how involved someone is with the site. Also I totally agree with the statement that the stupid posts catch attention, not the post count.
Also, who lurks for 7 years? =/
That's not true at all. Post count seriously has no relation whatsoever to whether a user reads the rules or not. Tangerine and Hazerider both had thousands of posts and were banned, which shows they weren't following the rules (I'm sure there are others, just using two examples I know off the top of my head). Again, posts don't really have too much to do with how much someone is involved. Someone with 10,000 posts who has only been posting in a forum obviously hasn't contributed to the most important part of this site, you can't really make that generalization. By lurking, I'm pretty much saying someone who has made an account but doesn't really post. Having a Smogon account for seven years doesn't mean you have to have a really high post count, it seriously just means you've had an account for seven years.
Anyway, we're getting off topic here.
Actually, Tangerine knew the rules very well. The reason he was banned was for excessive...well, everything, pretty much. Didn't have much involvement with him though.
Pretty much this. Why are certain people in this thread treating post count like virginity or something? Its a know fact that wifi people have higher post counts because of battle me + trade threads. But does that make a 1500 post wifier better than a team rater that has 500 quality 4 paragraph post? Nope. Post count doesn't mean anything unless its less than 2. Then judgement can be spread.
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