Is it possible that the OffTopic Forum can be taken out of the Points and Likes Counter? I love posting , but I dont see the point why those posts should count. Is it only me who thinks this way?
Probably makes sense- the various lounge and off-topic topics could generate an inordinate number of likes, and if I understand the concept, likes should be an indicator of valued contributions.
I'd wait and see. The entire 'likes' concept is quite dangerous, as there could be a lot of likes inflation by buddies amongst each other. This is what happened on other forums...
It seems that they've factored in the number of "likers" and not just the number of "likes." The like inflation will likely (hmmm... ) be among a small group for any poster. So, the number of likers should carry more weight as the scored get higher. That will be a better indicator of contribution value, IMO. Cheers.
I agree with Lipton that the Off Topic forum should not be included in the totals. That forum is there as a convenience for members, and to keep off topic discussions off the other forums, but it really doesn't have anything to do with why we're here.
When you start excluding some parts, it becomes a slippery slope. I think we should just see how it goes for now.
Off topic forum posting in some way contributed to the society too. You can possibly bond with other members this way.
Exactly. I love the Off Topic forum - imagine if real world relationships were limited to only discussing "valued topics"! OT forum definitely contributes to this community.
Exactly. It was called "Reputation" on FT and caused a riot. Heavily abused by a group of folks some of whom I see are members here, and Randy canned the idea forever, as jackasses will be jackasses. I'm surprised it has even been considered here.
In VFT, the German Forum I have round about 2000 seriouse posts (still I have no clue how I got them) and round about 6000 OffTopic posts. If they would count, I would be amongst the top twenty I guess. That would be very contra productive due to the fact that I dont have a clue about flying, miles and all that stuff.
While I consider counting games etc. off-topic, I'd certainly not say that political discussions etc. are – hence OT is not the same as OT. At VFT, we do not count posts in the games and fun forum, but we most certainly count everything in the other lifestyle and "misc." forums. Not everything is about miles and points.
It caused a lot of problems on FT because: 1. Posters could make negative "dislikes". 2. It was anonymous. The silly (and, yes, sometimes vicious) games ended the moment that the feature stopped being anonymous. The members acting in that way were not prepared to have their identities revealed.
I agree the chat type threads do build community, on the other hand they don't add to the discussion of Miles and Points which is the point of the forum. I would definitely support excluding those threads/forums from the counting processes for the "status"
Of course, there are chat threads, and then there are chat threads. Apart from actual chatting, there are games like three-word stories and rolleyes. Conceivably those different kinds could be counted differently.
