I think that posts from non *nix fourms should not be counted in a users total posts

Why is that?

Our post counts (that don't mean much in the first place) are supposed to represent our participation on this website. They aren't meant to show how good we are at answering linux questions.

I think the current system is just fine. Though I think I understand why you want to change it, I haven't had any problems with anyone posting only in the non-*nix forums. However, if we get trolls like that, then in my opinion it would be a great way of fixing the problem. However, I think that right now the current post count system works just fine. Effort would be better spent improving the site and helping people with questions out, rather than tinkering with little numbers that really aren't that important on this site anyway.

That's just my opinion, and other users/mods may disagree with me. I just don't see the need for it.

its a part of the website so its a part of your post count, deal with it..

you can't distinguish between posts like that.... a post in general might be about the current SCO lawsuit issues or similar... is that less relevant than asking in newbie forum why they can't find internet explorer?.... 20 times?

The content of this site coems in different forums, and will always be a total number of posts from everywhere... quite why the number of posts someone has should be an issue is another question though....

Well, I am geared to think posts in General should not count towards your post count. Here are my reasons:

Some view your post count as a measure of your knowledge. With some members posting more in the General forum on off topic discussions, this can increase their post count. I have seen some members that have well over 90% of their posts talking about non-Linux or Unix discussions which in turn when they do give an answer in the other forums, could give other members that aren't familiar with their posting techniques a false sense of their knowledge.

Which in turn shouldn't count on the number of posts you have, but the quality, but you have to understand, some don't think like this.

My reasons to not take away posts are this:

It is setup to keep track of your posts on this site. And members should not take the number of posts and apply them to any members knowledge. Remember you can have 1,000 posts in General and only 50 in the other forums but still have the knowledge of the greatest admin ever.

My personal opinion is if you really want to judge someone on their quality, take a look at ther affero account and responses they have recieved from other members they have helped out. One reason I think this should be used more often and we should make members aware it exists.

my two cents...

I strongly agree that the affero system should be much more taken into account, amazingly more than the post count. Maybe if it could be integrated a bit more with the user profile, that'd be one way to get it more well known.

I do my best to make sure newbies realize that a post count should have little to no bearing on the answer they take to heart more. I know plenty of users on this board that likely have more knowledge in Linux than I do, yet because I've been here longer (and visit daily ) I have a higher post count. A great example is david_ross.

My

Cool