Forum User Ranks - You Decide!

[markjay]

On the Kia forum they have this very simple ranking system:

 

[GLK]

^^^ I like that, although I would suggest limit it to three stars and give admin and mods different colours

 

[sosen13]

I'm with Doc on this one.

And me as well

 

[Tiim533]

This is turning into the Tory Party. Maybe the boss of the board should just do whatever they want to do and be done with it?

 

[bob6600]

I must have missed it...Druk got promoted to admin?

Well done

 

[Druk]

I must have missed it...Druk got promoted to admin?

Well done

And I went up two pay grades



.

 

[markjay]

And I went up two pay grades .

Congrats! Have you decided how to spend the tenner?

 

[LTD]

Admin
Moderators
Members
Traders
Sponsors

 

[markjay]

Admin
Moderators
Members
Traders
Sponsors

That's very sensible, though it does not actually take into account the postcount - is this what you had in mind?

 

[bob6600]

Admin
Moderators
Members
Traders
Sponsors

Yes very sensible although I don't think traders are allowed unless they are sponsors?

 

[LTD]

That's very sensible, though it does not actually take into account the postcount - is this what you had in mind?

Yep.

Quantity of posts is not a reflection of the member’s knowledge.

After all, a member with few posts could offer great advice that is overlooked because anotherwith more posts gives poor advice.

 

[roadhog]

∆ This. In a nutshell. Remove post count and rank, let the content of the post be the deciding factor of the poster's worth.

Edit: I'm neither hardcore nor an MB enthusiast, I just happen to have a few 124s which I'm quite fond of.

 

[MissyD]

Quality not quantity

 

[markjay]

I don't think that displaying the post-count suggests that the user is more knowledgeable than others.

As said, displaying the post-count (with or without a 'title') is aimed at encouraging people to participate more in the technical forums. This is also the reason why posting in the OT section does not count towards the user's post-count.


There's a reason for this feature on forum systems... and it is that the worst possible faith a forum can have is no or low posting... the second worst is when there are ample new posts but the majority are not about the forum subject.

Now whether this actually works... I do not know. But given the above, I can see the logic behind 'spicing it up' a bit by adding 'titles'.


And while I agree that quality matters over quantity... unfortunately both are required for a successful forum. A forum with absolutely fantastic but very few posts becomes more like a blog.

For the forum to be successful, there is an expectation of a buzzing online community.

A bit like a market... many will prefer a street market with isles of different stalls, some no doubt selling rubbish, to a small shop with few high-quality items.

It's not only about achieving a target... sometimes the experience counts as well.

 

[LTD]

I hear what you are saying but look at the number of wide and varied posts made since the forum was updated.

I can’t see anybody’s post count on my iPhone unless I look at their profile so it doesn’t seem to have held the thread traffic back.

 

[IanGarland]

My post count........L plates

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Ive added another one for 5000+ posts and will do a full set in the next few days

 

[400ixl]

Having run some very large car forums, having levels doesn't act in a positive way if just being used as a post count target. For the few it does, it encourages posting rubbish to get the post count up, but for the majority it is a put off more than a turn on.

Using a description to identify peoples roles / level does really help people understand who they are communicating with.

The only post count description I can think of being useful is the newbie level that hasn't reached enough posts to be able to PM. Other than that it should be Admin, Moderator, Trader, Member etc and maybe something allocated in an adhoc manner to people considered SME's.

I can see who has been around for a long time or posted a lot from the current information next to their post, a tag to the post count tells me nothing new. Now say someone had W212 Expert as a title because they had proven to be such and the admin team recognised this, then that may be of use in putting some credence behind any advice they give on that model.

I wouldn't do user ranks for post counts, but you could use them for other useful things.

 

[daveenty]

Looking at my current post rate it could take some time to get to the heady ranks of "Veteran"

Ah well, I still shan't be posting for the sake of it, not enough time in my day for that unfortunately.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Having run some very large car forums, having levels doesn't act in a positive way if just being used as a post count target. For the few it does, it encourages posting rubbish to get the post count up, but for the majority it is a put off more than a turn on.

Using a description to identify peoples roles / level does really help people understand who they are communicating with.

The only post count description I can think of being useful is the newbie level that hasn't reached enough posts to be able to PM. Other than that it should be Admin, Moderator, Trader, Member etc and maybe something allocated in an adhoc manner to people considered SME's.

I can see who has been around for a long time or posted a lot from the current information next to their post, a tag to the post count tells me nothing new. Now say someone had W212 Expert as a title because they had proven to be such and the admin team recognised this, then that may be of use in putting some credence behind any advice they give on that model.

I wouldn't do user ranks for post counts, but you could use them for other useful things.

I get what your saying, but its only a bit of fun and shouldnt be taken seriously.