New members ... [are] looking for answers
Which is why I'm at least still in favor of post/thread ratings, so folks can see what the questioner found to be the most helpful and/or solution to the problem. Poster ratings are similarly useful, so people can see who has been found to be the most helpful by the rest of the community. And it encourages people to help others by offering them some self-gratifying tribute.
As for post counts, they encourage people to post more and to be more involved. It's human nature to be competitive or to want to feel part of an elite niche group. While high post counts may or may not be relevant in the real world, they're a badge of honor for veterans and allow others to recognize them and to respect their posts. And I'm not specifically referring to my experience at MFI/FTM, I'm referring to how forums work in general. Why do you think almost every other forum has such things? Why do you think people rush to add "friends" on social networks or to build giant buddy lists? There is an online social cache to being a "VIP" or "Power" user and to take that away is only detrimental to online community building. This is not being petty, it's being a realist.
Is showing the count resource intensive? If not, why change the status quo? Change for the sake of change goes against systems management 101.
