Membership status

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Joined
Dec 22, 2017
Messages
3,032
Location
Wolf Creek Montana
I've been noticing that after the new site upgrade, which I like but still learning, there's a ranking system that I'm wondering about. Not one to be at the end (Member) or the middle ( Active Member). How does one get to the top and become a "Well Known Member"? Just curious about how it works.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
12,720
Location
Medina, Ohio
I'll vote to turn them off. Number of posts really is not an accurate indication of "helpful/meaningful" content, which is hard to quantify. Unfortunately there will be a small few with a "race" for a higher ranking, if 20 folks do this, we may have 20,000 rather meaningless posts to sift through. This would be very small, but as you can see it does add up quickly.

I'm honored simply to be a "Member" of IAP.
 

jttheclockman

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
19,082
Location
NJ, USA.
Makes no difference to me either. I told you jeff on a scrollsawing forum they have trophies they give out or place under names for things you have done such a responded to a post or asked questions or other little things. That would pee many off here so do not go to that system. They too have pet names depending on post count. Never even pay attention to them.
 

jeff

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
8,970
Location
Westlake, OH, USA.
Makes no difference to me either. I told you jeff on a scrollsawing forum they have trophies they give out or place under names for things you have done such a responded to a post or asked questions or other little things. That would pee many off here so do not go to that system. They too have pet names depending on post count. Never even pay attention to them.

I turned that off on day one!
 

jeff

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
8,970
Location
Westlake, OH, USA.
Isn't 'member envy' something completely different to what we are discussing?:oops::cool:
I tried to hide my post count but still see it. Quality beats quantity...;)
I'd switch off that ranking too.
Sorry to say, the profile switch to turn off your post count is an artifact for the old forum. It doesn't do anything here, and will probably be removed as I get around to cleaning up some loose ends. There isn't currently any built-in or add-on function to hide the post count on a per user basis. If there's enough desire, I'll look into providing it.
 

John Eldeen

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2019
Messages
419
Location
Sacramento, CA
As a fairly new member I could not agree with Mark James any more I joined for the quality not the quantity. In my humble opinion I would vote to turn it off.
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
I may be the only one who does this but . . . when on a new forum, I DO look at two things when I get replies to my questions: - date joined and number of posts. I do that to make a judgement call on the possible veracity of the answer. Someone who answers occasionally but has been a member for a long time, I give a heavier weight to their answer (and experience) than someone who is new. Same for the number of posts. That indicates that they may have more long term experiences too. I realize that not everyone is as smart as their post count may indicate, :rolleyes: but I give them the benefit of the doubt, until proven wrong.
 

jeff

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
8,970
Location
Westlake, OH, USA.
I may be the only one who does this but . . . when on a new forum, I DO look at two things when I get replies to my questions: - date joined and number of posts. I do that to make a judgement call on the possible veracity of the answer. Someone who answers occasionally but has been a member for a long time, I give a heavier weight to their answer (and experience) than someone who is new. Same for the number of posts. That indicates that they may have more long term experiences too. I realize that not everyone is as smart as their post count may indicate, :rolleyes: but I give them the benefit of the doubt, until proven wrong.
There are "reputation" systems available for most forums software, including this one. They aggregate various data (posts, likes, etc.) to generate a "reputation score" that can be positive or negative. Those work well for very large, less "community-minded" forums. I don't think it would be very useful to us. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a new member to put a little thought into evaluating someone's response to a question rather than providing them with a dubious reputation score. So I'm with Hank, I like to see both the join date and the # of posts.
 

CREID

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
3,009
Location
Vancouver, wa
There are "reputation" systems available for most forums software, including this one. They aggregate various data (posts, likes, etc.) to generate a "reputation score" that can be positive or negative. Those work well for very large, less "community-minded" forums. I don't think it would be very useful to us. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a new member to put a little thought into evaluating someone's response to a question rather than providing them with a dubious reputation score. So I'm with Hank, I like to see both the join date and the # of posts.
I like to see reply date, I don't put too much stock in number of posts. I turned it off when someone commented somewhere about people that were running up their posts number. I have an inks and coatings background so when it comes to adhesives and finishes I pretty much know who is full of hooey and for anything else you can usually tell by someones response whether they know what they are talking about or not.
 

PenPal

Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2006
Messages
2,708
Location
Canberra, A.C.T., Australia.
I belong to another forum that uses a ranking system and I am a frequent contributer there to the tune of 20.000 plus postings. I take exception to being judged without cause by anyone who has not walked in my shoes. Yes I know the answers to that. I feell i am a pioneer in many respects,never leaning on age or health,expressing these feelings. I make my own way and share a lot. Still a proud maker of Slimlines,still excited everytime I switch to a forum,still an active penmaker since the 80,s.Discrimination abounds even in ones own country anything that does away with that gets my vote. I enjoy being a member.Kind regards..............Peter. I think I am one of the few MEMBERS who posts his age because also I am not ageist.
 

sbwertz

Member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
3,649
Location
Phoenix, AZ
I belong to another forum that uses a ranking system and I am a frequent contributer there to the tune of 20.000 plus postings. I take exception to being judged without cause by anyone who has not walked in my shoes. Yes I know the answers to that. I feell i am a pioneer in many respects,never leaning on age or health,expressing these feelings. I make my own way and share a lot. Still a proud maker of Slimlines,still excited everytime I switch to a forum,still an active penmaker since the 80,s.Discrimination abounds even in ones own country anything that does away with that gets my vote. I enjoy being a member.Kind regards..............Peter. I think I am one of the few MEMBERS who posts his age because also I am not ageist.
Shoot, at 76 I think I have reached the point that I am proud of my age!
 

Lucky2

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,502
Location
New Brunswick/ Canada
Personally, I like to see the number of postings a person has made, the more they've made, the easier it is to accept what they post. I'm more apt to take the advice of a multi-poster, then I am to if the poster has only a few postings.

Len
 

mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
12,720
Location
Medina, Ohio
Personally, I like to see the number of postings a person has made, the more they've made, the easier it is to accept what they post. I'm more apt to take the advice of a multi-poster, then I am to if the poster has only a few postings.

Len

I do also take note of the number of posts, but this is a bit trickier. I like to then look at the areas that member has expressed opinions in previously (their thread/post history). 3,000 posts of ...BS is not meaningful. And 150 posts of quality is exactly that - quality begets quality.

I have read suggestions/comments from members with reasonably few posts that after a bit of exploration was highly accurate - they just don't engage in the day-to-day banter as often as others. A high post count may indicate an interest in the topic (not a bad thing), but a low post count shouldn't be a black mark - especially if the member has an older join date.

AND - some of the "best of IAP" do not post very often anymore, but still peek in and make comments; these are real gems for getting excellent suggestions from the "Mentors/Masters."

And I say this as one with a higher post/thread count (guilty as charged), when following advice, be mindful of the publicly available expertise of the responder. I have 30-40 IAP Members that when they post, I will read anything they have to offer.
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
AND - some of the "best of IAP" do not post very often anymore, but still peek in and make comments; these are real gems for getting excellent suggestions from the "Mentors/Masters."
I agree. I still keep quotes around from some of the old ones that taught me much even though they didn't post often.

And I say this as one with a higher post/thread count (guilty as charged), when following advice, be mindful of the publicly available expertise of the responder. I have 30-40 IAP Members that when they post, I will read anything they have to offer.

About a year and a half ago there was a young fellow (teenager) that posted a couple of pictures of segmented chevrons, (You might remember that post) and it was precision. With natural abilities like he had at his young age, I most certainly would listen to him. I remembered him because the town that he lives in was only about 5 miles from where my middle daughter lives. Unfortunately I don't see him posting here.
 

mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
12,720
Location
Medina, Ohio
Ha!!! A few years ago YOU were on my list of those from "days gone by" that I had not seen in my membership time but had read previous posts from and I waited in the shadows for you to reappear. I may be wrong, but I believe I re-posted your "Pieces of Silver" pen and coincidently you checked in. (That is a singularly beautiful, unique pen from design, elements, techniques needed to final finishing. The theme and design I suspect has not been replicated).

My comments are in no disrespect for frequent posters - they are valuable; but there are a few "Jedi Masters" that do drop in occasionally to smack us mere mortals in how "it can be done."
 

Lucky2

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,502
Location
New Brunswick/ Canada
Well, I generally can tell if a person knows what they're talking about, after reading a few of their postings. And I do usually check out the member's postings, before taking what they post to heart. No matter what the subject is, there's always someone who is more of an expert on certain subjects. Some people are better to get info from then other's, if I was looking for info on segmenting, I would contact you Mark. But on another subject outside of segmenting, I may trust someone else's insight more. Now that's not to say that you wouldn't have an appropriate answer, but you may not have the most informative answer. Seeing the amount of postings from a person, lets me or shows me who might be the best to ask a question. And all it takes to find out who might be the best to ask, is to check out what they've posted the most about. Everyone who uses this site any amount, generally knows who to ask about whatever subject they need info on. This is how or who I figure out to get the best reply from, and a lot of time just checking their previous postings, I can find the answer that I'm looking for.

Len
 

TonyL

Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
8,904
Location
Georgia
I like posting count and last post, just for some directional context from an activity perspective. Like Maxwell stated, all have equal weight to me. As far as what I am called or reputation, what others think or say about me is none of my business. They way I am treated here, speaks volumes (positively).
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
Ha!!! A few years ago YOU were on my list of those from "days gone by" that I had not seen in my membership time but had read previous posts from and I waited in the shadows for you to reappear. . .
. . . and since then you have learned it wasn't worth the wait! :D

Mark, You are a true teacher! There are others here too, young and old here! Thanks for taking the time you do with everyone, young and old and the way you encourage everyone!
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Top Bottom