No more status points?

I don't see status points anymore. Are they dead? Or is it just user error and I somehow managed to turn them off?

Still there. Click my avatar, my handle, or the little "like" notice below your post and you'll see them.
They were removed as a nose tweaking experiment earlier today, with delightful results.

They were visible when I logged in just now, but have since disappeared. Makes sense to me - remove a distraction, reduce the white space for short posts, and info isn't deleted (just an extra step to find it).

I like it.

Thanks for the clarification!

It's a cleaner interface, but if we hide all this stuff then why have it in the first place? (Just asking. )

It's not really hidden; it's always just one click away. It's just not part of the primary in-your-face data set.
That simple distinction both gives a cleaner interface and significantly changes human behavior.

I need to clarify. It does change human behavior

always something to learn

(a test of the workaround for the 5 image limit)

I kind of liked having the SP visible. It helped me quickly assess whether someone had some authority or not. Of course, appearances are deceiving, but any reference is helpful. Clicking through to see SP is less convenient.

But SP is deceiving too. Maybe a member since <Date> would be another useful indication

I recall lots of posts in FT where someone would start out saying they'd been a lurker for four years or some other long period of time, and this was their first post. SPs, even when they're earned through "useless" posts, at least show that the person has been actively participating in the community. Dates are useful, too, but I think they are less important.

It's just another indication not necessarily means the best but an extra piece of information for people to judge the poster's creditability. Right now you have to go to the user's full profile page to view it, that is if the user hasn't restricted access of that page.

Well to be fair, the status points have already gotten a little out of hand. There are many people (like me) with less than 300 status points but there's at least one person with more than 10,000! It really seems that status points scale exponentially. I suppose that come March 1 we'll see what the ultimate utility of SP will be.

There are at least five with over 10k. Yes, they do scale geometrically- as you get higher the thresholds are further and further apart, but the bonuses get larger and larger. And, once you have a few thousand posts, especially if those posts contain interesting content, the likes keep coming in at a faster rate. (there's just more out there to catch eyeballs and get liked).

From here on up the hills don't get any higher

But the valleys

Get deeper

and deeper...

Who are the five, since you've been watching carefully? I think I can name most of them, but I'm wondering if I'm missing anyone.

There are only five? Not so easy for you to spot them now isn't it

Well, they all look alike.

or their avatars do, anyway....

Boy are you fooling yourself! Perhaps in a couple of years it will have settled down to a level where you could trust the SP number, but not today.

(I would point to my own pathetic status point total as a good example )

I know who they are, but I have to respect their privacy. They've put JALPak out there running point; he draws the papparazzi so that the rest of them can anonymously go about their postathons in silence.

Anyway, they're paying me off to keep my mouth shut. I'm the bag man...

thanks for not respecting mine and only mention my name

Respect comes in many colours!

Like I said, they've set you up as the point man, you take all the flack, you go out ahead and step on the land mines, taking one for the team.

Yay Team!

Reminds me of the old saying "We're right behind you.... Wayyyyy behind you"

There's a team now too?

It s a very small and special secretive group - the rest of us only hear about it in the wind ...