RECENT TOPICS » View all
- Anyone Studying the Other Languages of Japan?
- Doing Anki Reps while listening to music?
- Learning Chinese by watching TV - A blogger's experience
- Benny Lewis Fluent in Japanese in 3 months?
- Second Book Club Nomination Thread
- August 2014 Book Club - Intermediate: 「Go」 by 金城 一紀
- Resource for common phrases?
Speaking of high post counts, where has Tobberoth been 
I think there's been only two or three posts that directly insulted post counts, and that was a low post count talking about a high post count. Usually it took pointing out a post per day average to show the silliness of their insult.
There's definitely has not been elitism. Many have popped onto this board giving advice and never got shot down as "newb" (Magama, Aijin, Yudantadeki come to mind). The quality shows right off the bat.
Now, as for starters of Japanese, I think it's just human nature not wanting to ask what'll be perceived as a stupid question that prevents most from posting and not the post count of guys/gals on the forums. There's sometimes a blunt reply or two but I don't think that's been the norm.
The only time a low post count has been brought up has been in the googlewave invite. The inviter didn't want to invite a guy with just 10 posts and no RTK reviews (ie they popped in via a google search about invites). Sounds like a legitimate reason.
So long as Frabice doesn't implement a silly "Post Count Title" I think we'll be safe. God knows I still remember that "moron" with a 10,000+ post count in less than a year on that ithinkimlost forum somebody here linked to. If we can avoid encouraging such acts here, then we'll be ok.
Last edited by Nukemarine (2009 November 21, 1:59 am)
As a long time lurker (I pretty much visit every day but rarely comment 
) I would have to say I often look at registered dates and post counts as mainly a curiosity thing. Mainly when I don't recognise someones name, so I check to see if they are new or if I have somehow missed them. So I vote for not getting rid of them, because I am a curious person! It's also interesting to see easily how much time has gone by since users havejoined this site. Boy does time go by quickly!
What, someone who's been registered since 2008 with over 240 posts aught to know that we don't judge people on when they registered or how many posts they have. Drums please. 
.
Last edited by vosmiura (2009 November 21, 5:14 am)
Same here, I really don't care how long someone has been around. Sound advice is sound advice, once in a while I throw my 2 cents in, but doubt anyone recognizes me. I can't recall being shunned by anyone yet either.
It's probably a good idea to hide a box of matches if there are kids around but it's hardly necessary in the house full of adults. Someone may find them useful, so why bother removing something that doesn't really get in anyone's way?
The font used for displaying this data is quite small and relatively low-contrast, so I personally don't even notice it most of the time.
Although it's my 3rd post on this forum and 99% of the readers have never seen me before, numbers on the left show that I've been using this forum long enough to form an opinion on this matter, making it slightly more relevant than if I had registered just few hours ago. At the same time those numbers would mean nothing had we been discussing Japanese literature for example.
I also don't feel any intimidated by anyone's posts count here, despite mine being so low. Lack of fluency in English and experience in learning Japanese are way bigger barriers
iAurora wrote:
Lack of fluency in English and experience in learning Japanese are way bigger barriers
So you're saying you're not a native English speaker? I would never have known.
Last edited by captal (2009 November 21, 9:27 am)
captal wrote:
iAurora wrote:
Lack of fluency in English and experience in learning Japanese are way bigger barriers
So you're saying you're not a native English speaker? I would never have known.
I may have sounded like I was cruising for compliments (may be I even was to some extent 
) but I actually meant what I said.
You see, I always felt confident about my English-speaking ability because I could understand most of what I was hearing or reading and I had no problems expressing pretty much every idea I had, even if using somewhat poor vocabulary and limited grammar. Every time I'd talk to a native English speaker I'd have this little comforting knowledge that no matter how many mistakes I made, my English was still miles ahead of their Russian.
But this forum is full of well-educated native speakers and, what is even worse, non-natives who sound just like natives if not better. I have no excuses when I compare myself to them. And then there's Mr. Heisig with his creatively chosen keywords that make me wanna cry and throw slippers at the wall (and I don't even wear slippers). All this together awakens in me a way deeper inferiority complex than all your post counts combined! 
So the most intimidating thing about this forum for a newb is actually you guys being too good. I know you can't help it though
Jarvik7 wrote:
I recognize you, but only because you are in Calgary and I was (up until May) in Edmonton.
I, on the other hand, will not recognize either of you, being from San Jose
Go Sharks!!
Last edited by mafried (2009 November 21, 12:24 pm)
Interesting topic.
Nukemarine raised a good point: there are no titles linked to post count, and thus no encouragements for artificially growing one's post count.
The forum is very bare as you may have noticed. There are no signatures (which are often used for displaying huge "avatar" images), the avatars add a personality touch without taking too much space. The design makes the post content the focus.
captal wrote:
I couldn't tell you the post count of anyone, let alone my own (300 something?)- but everyone knows who the frequent posters are.
Exactly.
iAurora wrote:
Although it's my 3rd post on this forum and 99% of the readers have never seen me before, numbers on the left show that I've been using this forum long enough to form an opinion on this matter, making it slightly more relevant than if I had registered just few hours ago.
I agree. I like to check out member's registration date some times. It doesn't affect my judgment about someone's posts, it's just nice to see people who have been here for a while, regardless of how often they post. Some go away for awhile and come back. It's nice to see people come back 
shihoro wrote:
Perhaps as an experiment we could do without the information; maybe it would encourage newbs and indeed others to post more often.
I can see your point and that of the OP. I agree that we could do without the post count, I wouldn't take off the registration date however.
The post count is indeed not all that important, but as others have said, some people like it. I guess it comes down to me seeing not much incentive to hide the post count and wondering what real benefits, if any, there would be. To make a true experiment you would have to track a lot of things, take "samples", measure.. I'm not going to do this, I don't even know where I would start. I haven't read a very convincing argument so far to the benefits of hiding post counts.
shihoro wrote:
Perhaps as an experiment we could do without the information; maybe it would encourage newbs and indeed others to post more often.
From my experience, post count doesn't really seem to matter. Most people who lurk choose to do so of their own volition. Removing an aspect of the forum won't change that much. If anything, I believe further removing the identities of the members would encourage less civil behavior. Anon = insanity.
If someone's gonna take a blow at you or make a power play, they're gonna do it, and often times, look foolish themselves in the process. The fact of the matter is verbosity != knowledge != value != importance.
When I first came to this forum I got clowned quite a few times for my enthusiasm. 1500 posts later and I still get clowned on from time to time (despite the fact that I can modify posts to say just about anything ). I just laugh with them.
No one's so important that you should feel as though you shouldn't speak. If someone were to seriously take a stab at you for asking a "silly" question, that person is probably not one you want to be taking advice from.
