A thought about post counts. Options

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In my short experience as a CreateBlog community member, I have realized post statistics do play a significant role in the user's experience since they grant access to extra features and are a requisite (that can be bypassed in exceptional occasions) to apply for staff membership. This is the not the first place where I have seen this system being used, and thusly it is not the first time I pass this thought to the community to consider. Without further ado, I'll proceed to explain my position about this subject.

In my opinion, post quotas only manage to make users work enough to meet them in order to enjoy the benefits they get for reaching the 50, 100, etc.., post mark. Such acting is not necessarily linked to making users involved in improving the community, but rather in seeking personal goals that may or may not transcend (positive or negatively) onto the rest of users.

That is mainly because apart from the site's general rules, there's not a standard establishing how a person should fill the demanded rate. Since it's pretty easy to maintain a high PPD ratio without adding anything that contributes to the site in general while avoiding the violation of any general rule, the point of having a posts limit becomes kind of moot, in the end.

Lastly, keeping a post count policy seems to have stemmed an underlying rivalry between users based upon the number of posts when it comes to, for example, hiring sessions. Despite knowing it's not a must-meet requirement, people seem to focus first on their PPD then on evaluating whether their skills can be of any help to Createblog or not. And that is pretty counterproductive to the purpose of selecting people willing to sacrifice time and efforts for an online community.

[*mona lisa*]

Ahh, yes. I believe this has been mentioned before here. You may want to read it if you're looking for some of the community members' opinions.

Getting rid of the post count altogether would be great in the long run (and I mean very long run) for createBlog. The problem then becomes: how do we go about doing business where post count is important? E.g. Post count and PPD are two requirements needed to become an Official Member. How would contributing members be given benefits? (Not trying to argue with you here, just voicing concerns.) The whole idea behind the cB would have to be thought over, not that that is a bad thing, just... complicated.

Personally, I think gaining a higher post count was a goal for some people before. Now, not so much. At least, I don't think that mentality is as common as it used to be.

To be honest, the post count and PPD are no longer heavily assessed during hiring sessions. It just lets us know that a member has been actively posting. The more important factors are consistent activity, attitude, strong personality and such.