....... 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.
I couldn't disagree more. For clarity, I completely disagree.
On ProBoards forums (Number of boards hosted: 3,079,999) there is an Admin option to enable Karma. This is a system of saluting or dissing your fellow members. It
always leads to grief, if not outright wars between members. Karma, which is more or less what you're advocating, turns into a way of exalting perceived friends and spiting perceived enemies. I've seen it over and over again and by GODS is it tedious.
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.
Either you have never been on the same forums as me down the years, or you live on a different planet. I have no intention whatsoever of joining social networking sites and creating so-called buddy lists. Elite niche group? Social caché? VIP or Power user? Oh for heavens sakes. Don't people have a LIFE in the REAL WORLD? Like, earning money, running a business, having a social life with real live human friends whom they've actually
MET, having a sex life, looking after the house, going on holiday? <rolls eyes>
