Is the race for status affecting the quality of MP ?

A very good post that I also liked Seriously...your first sentence sums up one aspect of the issue well

Thanks Gargoyle - I will work on that over the week-end. A bit knackered right now.

I agree. I like to think that 'most' of my discourse is useful discourse..... well, maybe every now and again I might post something that someone else considers drivel.... but hey, I love meeting new like-minded people! And I'm always learning something new!

I think there's getting to be alot of extra posts on here from people just trying to gain status. I'm noticing an increasing amount of this, and people trading likes.

Or just like every single post in the master/giant thread. It is making next tier status even harder to get for themselves IMHO.

Quite often, in a typical SDLC, at the end of a beta phase, features such as 'likes' are reset to zero.

Whether that happens or not, the status earned are us to keep.

But how many people are you talking about? How many deviations from the norm?

People are having a good time. It appears to come and go in waves. Like everything else it will wane.

The point is people are being a community and there is a back and forth between those participating. But they are participating, isn't that what this is striving for? Comments can be inane and random, but so what. Does everything need to be constructive? No. What needs to be assessed is one thing: are these people also partaking in other forums or just playing the post count. Are they branching out and conversing with members they otherwise wouldn't have met?

That's my $0.02.

That isn't a very nice thing to say about MPM (mile point members) even if it is accurate that many of us are deviants.

Well put. I am sure there will always be some post paddlers in any forum and as mentioned before by many, I am sure when this forum goes live things will change and go back to its usual state.

It will probably mean achieving Gold/Platinum will take months instead of two weeks though.

Or there could be even more post paddlers or likeaholics and make it even easier to achieve high status points

What's 'usual state' for a forum which hasn't existed before?

I haven't done any 'please like me' type things, just posted and joined in when I can. And that reflects in my status points... does the fact it's relatively low show I'm not one of the cool kids, or the fact I don't particularly care if I'm one of the cool kids?

Sorry to drift from the topic, I immediately think of Norm in the TV show "Cheers". I don't think he had the energy to chase points, but he definitely never hesitated to add his comments. So, if he got "likes" each time he spoke up he would have ended up adding content and getting a high score without exerting effort.

Which is precisely why everyone knew his name

good discussion....which was the intent of initiating this thread....

And he never chased meeting people. But everyone knew him. Didn't matter if what he said had content or otherwise..... everyone knew him.

But he hated drinking that apple juice (In the US, comedy shows back then did not actually serve beer)

The point is, he was just there talking. People liked him for that and nothing else. He added nothing to the bottom line and yet he was popular and liked. So tell me, what's the difference between Norm and likeaholics?

As long as no one calls you "Cliffy"....

That would definitely be a sign. A very bad sign.

yes, yes! (happy clapping of hands)

Okay, so like (see what I did there), you can't really dictate behavior of other members, right? It just won't work. Believe me, I know this after many experiences in real life, people just keep doing what they want and not what I want. It's very perplexing, since I clearly know better but there you go.

So the board is new, and with a new board comes the opportunity to build a visible and clear "culture." And I'm of the opinion (the lowly n00b opinion) that board cultures thrive when people read the thread first and post when they know they have something interesting or cool to add. I'm personally one of those types who writes something all the time and then decides most of the time not to post it (but please, you know, don't be like "probably should have obeyed your rule on this one, smack" because then I will have a sad). The only way to convey the goal of good content without a bunch of filler is be a standard bearer for that.

Likes are an awesome way to do that (reminds me a lot of Metafilter - they've got Favorites and it does a lot of good to avoid the "me too" thread-kluging phenomenon), so my vote is they stay. My personal standard is that I see something I agree with, something I think is cool, phenomenal pictures (what up kwai, holy smokes are you guys seeing his pictures, they're incredible), etc. I'm not nor will I be "trading" likes or liking things for no reason, because what's the point? I want people who post things I liked to have the shiny feeling of knowing for a fact that their post, at least to me, was great.

I know, wordy wordy, but to wrap up: be the change you want to see on the board.

You are not a noob....you are an Original Member! Welcome!

Um, thanks.

We do all realize that the dreaded like me thread is not the biggest one on MP right?

Some very insightful comments in this thread and I read every one of them. Even Gargoyle's.

But I digress.

As others have said, I think it's a given that when Randy dangles Status Points in the nose of so many miles and points junkies that there is going to be a feeding frenzy. It's worse than throwing a bucket of blood into shark-infested waters.

But as Kaanapali said upthread, what exactly is the value/meaning of these Status Points? I took a screen shot of my Milepoint Status Points to the gas station the other day to use in buying gas and I was outta luck.

So the Status Points and the virtual Status Levels they bring us are just an intangible, fun way to keep score. Most of us are having fun with this feature and isn't fun one of the main reasons to spend time at a website? Yeah we want to learn something too. But without a liberal dose of fun and enjoyment thrown in, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time here.

It'd seem too much like work.