Request: Report LB for abuse

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I also do not have a strong enough opinion for or against this. So I would not mind either way.

I am neither for, nor against your suggestion, LB, however I would like to give my own: how about if the lounge post count was subtracted instead of being added to the final post count?

Mwhuahaha. *looks at devon*
Mwhuahaha. *looks at BHX resurrected*

*tries to high-five cire, but cire just stares with a frown*

I am still laughing hard at this even after reading through the second page.

+1 to catfish for making my day :)
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closed account (N36fSL3A)
Well why don't we just give a separate post count for each forum, then have a post count that is added up. That way people who need answers can properly gauge how good one is in a certain area.

There should also be another forum added where users can answer questions that aren't related to C++.
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There are higher priority things that twicker is trying to attend to, he doesn't need to reprogram the forums and redesign the database to be able to support per-forum post counts. It would be nice, but it's an excessive thing to ask for.
closed account (G30GNwbp)
If I was twicker is would sell post counts to people. For example $10.00 would buy you 1000 post. Imagine how upset people who take pride in their post counts would get.

It would put to an end all this whining about people and spamming the lounge to increase their post count.
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closed account (N36fSL3A)
Lol are you joking?
@rtd2645: the site already has a donation link.
cire wrote:
The only way that is "implied" is if you make the assumption that post count means something to me.

I disagree. Just like when users get offended at someone putting their names in the same line as spoonlicker because it implied they were trolling so to does it imply I'm a spammer by bringing me up with devon. I don't mind being a Lounge bunny though because can't be mad at what I am on this site.

LB wrote:
There are higher priority things that twicker is trying to attend to, he doesn't need to reprogram the forums and redesign the database to be able to support per-forum post counts.

Wouldn't he have to redo part of the code for the lounge in order to remove post counts being incremented?

As many complaints go to him over the Lounge, I'd be more concerned that he would just remove the Lounge altogether. If you think about it, complaint threads about how beginners should be expected to act, complaint threads about when a programming non-C++ topic appears in the lounge every time they appear, now a complaint thread about post counts. When you have a troublesome user you remove them and now a thread about the Lounge and post counts so remove them.

Or ...

Forget all this and implement a point system similar to GameDev.net so rather than post counts the users get plus or minus points assigned by users who find their posts helpful or not in the programming boards. Then the reputation points would let users know who is really helpful and who isn't. But again all these methods would require some or a lot of coding to implement so I am guessing twicker won't touch this issue any time soon.
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BHX Specter wrote:
Wouldn't he have to redo part of the code for the lounge in order to remove post counts being incremented?
Inserting if(forum.name != "lounge") or similar should be trivial. Redoing the code that access the database to make post counts per-forum is non-trivial.
BHX Specter wrote:
I disagree. Just like when users get offended at someone putting their names in the same line as spoonlicker because it implied they were trolling so to does it imply I'm a spammer by bringing me up with devon. I don't mind being a Lounge bunny though because can't be mad at what I am on this site.

Disagree all you like. You're misrepresenting my position and conflating orthogonal issues. Go misrepresent your own.
closed account (EwCjE3v7)
I don`t think people should take be happy about the counts, its just to show how long youve been here and a kind of a way to make you post :D
It doesn't show how long you've been here, it shows how much you partecipate.
maeriden wrote:
It doesn't show how long you've been here, it shows how much you partecipate participate.


It really has nothing to do with either one of those. The post count speaks nothing toward the user's participation, contribution, experience, or anything else in that regard. A spammer will be falsely viewed as particpating, contributing, and having experience.

Everyone is giving mixed signals because of the fact that they are saying there needs to be a change to how the post counts are incremented, but in the same argument is saying the counts don't matter. Remove the post counts because it doesn't matter and is no longer there to give those false views.

The replies are all that matter. If someone replies wrong, those who know will fix it by supplying the right information.
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I'm not sure a user reputation system would solve the issue (real or not) of people spamming for reputation or post count.

Maybe some sort of rating system where people can upvote specific posts kind of like how stack overflow has it set up.

I'm not sure if being able to downvote posts is a good idea or not.
At that rate we might as well fire twicker, shut down the site, and move to Stack Overflow.
@Garion
No, you are thinking of a reputation system that is equivalent to posting (i.e. you post you get reputation). That isn't the system I'm talking about.

The method I'm thinking of would require some coding, but it is a system where the users give the reputation points according to if they find the post helpful or not. Once a person votes up or down it is final and they can't change it. So if you have a spammer with -111 points you know they are not helpful. You can also turn off the feature in Jobs and Lounge and keep it solely focused to the C++ boards. If they have no points you know they don't post to the C++ boards and are a Lounge bunny. You can keep a post count, but keep it on the user's profile page and put the reputation points in place of the post count by our usernames.
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I wasn't suggesting users have reputations at all, just that individual posts could have reputation.

Reputation systems are easy to manipulate by creating multiple accounts which is their inherent flaw. Somebody interested in playing the forum "points" game would just spam accounts instead of posts.

Not linking a forum post "score" to an account reputation system would eliminate much of the reason to spam multiple accounts to increase a posts score. What would be the purpose of having multiple accounts for post score inflating because you wouldn't be able to "brag" about your scores in a scoreboard type fashion.
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Your method has the same problem though. Making multiple accounts to do negative reputation points on serious posts and positive reputation points for spam posts. This is why we either need to leave it as is or completely do away with post counts or any kind of acknowledgement toward one person's experience.

Every offered alternative doesn't have a solid solution as each has work arounds to negate them. In the end the site is about programmers asking questions and other programmers giving answers so the post count and having or not having one should mean nothing since it shows nothing. The only solution I'm truly seeing is to just do away with post counts and make the site focus on Q&A in the C++ Boards and Other Non-C++ (which encompasses other programming languages and spam) in the Lounge.

We have spent 3 pages now discussing this with no other solution seeming to be a good solid idea other than doing away with them.
That's why I would suggest not letting people neg posts, only positive or report.

No matter the system the situation always boils down to people having to use their own brains to figure out what is a good post and what is a bad post.

There isn't a perfect system so I'd say the less complicated it is the better.

I don't see post "Likes" as a bad thing as long as they aren't tied to a user account reputation system.

In all honesty though, I doubt the forum admins are even reading this thread ;p

It's a tempest in a bottle here.
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closed account (N36fSL3A)
Yea that can be abused by people who don't particularly like someone. >_>
BHX wrote:
Your method has the same problem though.


BHX.... all the problems you are suggesting are purely hypothetical and are things this forum has no history of.

This forum does not have an issue with people creating phoney accounts to boost/lower other people's reputation.

This forum does not have an issue with people spamming pointless posts to boost their post count... with the exception of maybe the lounge (which is LB's point). But even in that case, they're posting to post... they're not posting solely to boost their post count.

LB is not trying to suggest some bulletproof system that is impossible to abuse. He's trying to suggest a realistic solution to what he perceives as a real problem. And the change would be minimal and unintrusive to the current workings of the forum.


Yes... it's very easy to point out all the theoretical ways it could be abused... but that's pointless because the people here aren't likely to abuse it.
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