I've noticed a bit of a trend here at the Escapist. Well, a few trends, really. And, as my 2000th post, I felt it was fitting to pitch some questions.

Whenever a debate breaks out, people tend to side with the person with the higher post count. Whether this is due to popularity or them having a better argument varies from case to case. I've also noticed that topics started by people with high post counts tend to have a more positive reaction in the way of views and responses. Punishments (probations and bans) seem to be given to these 'Veterans' less often as well.

In short:

Do you think that your post count or your time spent at the Escapist forums affects your treatment here?

They are vetrens, and generally have been around long enough to earn respect, and know what they are talking about. No doubt they have learnt how to answer a question well, thus why people side with them.

Since I'm not a "Veteran", I wouldn't know...

Johnn Johnston:

Do you think that your post count or your time spent at the Escapist forums affects your treatment here?

Yes, I believe it does.

bluemarsman:

Johnn Johnston:

Do you think that your post count or your time spent at the Escapist forums affects your treatment here?

Yes, I believe it does.

In what way - the punishments, the debates, the threads or some other reason?

Johnn Johnston:

Whenever a debate breaks out, people tend to side with the person with the higher post count.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahahaahhahahahahh

Sorry, what was the question? :)

Post count and sign up date have nothing to do with how we meter out warnings/bans. Usually when someone has been here 6 months or more they know which topics to avoid. We do still have some people who make it to a high post count and make mistakes.

I would say that the people who have been here longer seem to be less crazy, barring Khell.

I've only been here for a little bit, but it seems to me that people tend to judge other posters more on how they come across, intelligently or otherwise, as opposed to the amount of posts they have.

wilsonscrazybed:
We do still have some people who make it to a high post count and make mistakes.

Mistakes, that's such a diplomatic way of putting it.

I've only been banned once(and for mostly good reason)but I would say I'm surprised I haven't been banned more times for some of the things I say, even I think they're a bit too far sometimes o.0
I would say to some degree yes it does affect your treatment, btu then again I do have a solid head on my shoulders(if I don't mind saying so myself, which I don't lol).

Yes as it should be. If you've lasted here for 10 months with no permaban and a couple thousand posts then people know who are, can tell you know how behave and more likely than not, have shown to be worthy of respect on the forums.
Edit: Also I think your punishments are lessened by how much you contribute to the community and discussion here.

It's just that they know the people with the higher post count better.

Well, I don't think it's because of that, but that definitely correlates to the reason.

It's like, say, a person who's spent eight years fighting with swords will win more fights than one who's only spent one.

If you've gone 2000 posts here, you will have had time to figure out what does and doesn't go, and will be better in the debates here, because you know what you're doing, who with, and have experience with both. A person who only has sixty will tend more to do things without knowing how the mods will react, and will generally be worse in debates because they don't have sufficient experience with them here.

While, if a person is very good at debate in the first place, they probably won't have much problem anyway, except with behavior, and if they're a lurker, or know how to start off in social forums, they probably won't have much problem with behavior either.

I like to think I've made a few great arguments in my career here, in multiple areas, and I've only got around 260 posts (at time of writing). It's well balanced, though, with arguments that weren't near as effective.

Vote: Not Really
Reason:

To be completely honest, I had the strange feeling that showing up out of no where would elicit a "Who the hell is that dude?" response, but people've been generally nice to me, and several treated me as if I was some old friend, string jokes along with me and generally carrying on having a good time.

I like the people around here, and even though I have a whole 100-or-so posts, they seem to like me back, so aside from a bit of "Hey, I know this guy" treatment others get that I don't, there's no real "He's a vet, screw off newbie" vibe going on here.

Johnn Johnston:
I've noticed a bit of a trend here at the Escapist. Well, a few trends, really. And, as my 2000th post, I felt it was fitting to pitch some questions.

Whenever a debate breaks out, people tend to side with the person with the higher post count. Whether this is due to popularity or them having a better argument varies from case to case. I've also noticed that topics started by people with high post counts tend to have a more positive reaction in the way of views and responses. Punishments (probations and bans) seem to be given to these 'Veterans' less often as well.

In short:

Do you think that your post count or your time spent at the Escapist forums affects your treatment here?

I think that having a reputation one way or the other influences things, and that posting frequently helps establish that reputation. However, I think that judging it by simple post count is an error in logic. Correlation does not equal causation.

A high post count may allow people to get to know you better. Sometimes that works in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it means you are "popular," sometimes it just means you are a shit-magnet.

As for moderation, again, knowing the person better allows the mods to make a better judgement as to whether an individual is trolling or just having a bad day. However, having a high post-count alone does not make a person influential, especially now that people can just spam the living hell out of the RP/Games forum and rack up posts like mad.

And I've never seen a debate where people automatically sided with the highest post count. People side with the person who mirrors their opinions and prejudices.

vdgmprgrmr:
I like to think I've made a few great arguments in my career here, in multiple areas, and I've only got around 260 posts (at time of writing). It's well balanced, though, with arguments that weren't near as effective.

Everyone has hit and miss days. Sometimes I make a 1/4-page long point-by-point rebuttal, and sometimes I fail quite spectacularly.

A little. I will click on a thread if it has an interesting title, and I will click on a thread that doesn't have an interesting title if the thread creator is a name I respect. But a lot of it just comes from these people being my friends.

The longer you've been here, the more people know your "style". If Khell_Sennet had been here for a couple days and started one of his rant threads, he would most likely be put on probation if not banned. The vetereans generally stay out of trouble, and the mods are a bit more leneant with them, but in order to last long enough to make it to a high post count and be a "well defined member of the community" you have to be a good boy too. Or girl.

I remember all those months ago when I used to spell words in "text speak" and not spell them out fully and my excuse was that "it's quicker", I would never capitalise my "I"'s or offer anything constructive but one sided, unrelenting rants, oh how things have changed:)

WlknCntrdiction:
I remember all those months ago when I used to spell words in "text speak" and not spell them out fully and my excuse was that "it's quicker", I would never capitalise my "I"'s or offer anything constructive but one sided, unrelenting rants, oh how things have changed:)

I recall back when you posted like that, and I watched your transformation as if you were a character in a film. Albeit, a film where you never see the person's face and most of the dialogue is written, not spoken, but a film nonetheless.

I've only been here four days but people treat me the same as everyone else. It's cool to see such little elitism on an internet forum, where normally everyone would just be trying to engage in penis comparing sizes with new guys like me.

I mean, I'd win, but I appreciate not having to go through the trouble.

(lol joking)

WlknCntrdiction:
I remember all those months ago when I used to spell words in "text speak" and not spell them out fully and my excuse was that "it's quicker", I would never capitalise my "I"'s or offer anything constructive but one sided, unrelenting rants, oh how things have changed:)

And look at you now. A fine, upstanding member of the community. It's enough to make any long-time Escapist citizen swell with pride. One more convert to the joys of English, one less potential troll to clutter up the forums.

Anyways, I'd like to think I've notched up enough posts to be pretty well known around here, but I don't think post count really means all that much in the long run. Look at someone like Gigantor. I don't think he's even Gone Gonzo yet, but he's still incredibly popular amongst the forums, simply because his posts are always well written, witty and insightful. The Escapist is one of those forums where people really do read what you type, and treat you accordingly. You can be five times Gonzo, but if you go around acting like a cock, don't expect us to sing your praises.

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:

Look at someone like Gigantor.

Speaking of which, where is he? Haven't seen(well obviously not lol) nor heard from him for a while now, I miss his reviews:(

I haven't been here all that long, though I've been here longer than most of the folks on the boards. Of course, I don't post as often as many, so my post count stays blissfully low.

In my experience, people don't come to this board to get mocked or shouted down. Guys who make their first post about how great Halo is, and then their next ten posts are about how terrible every other good game is (while also comparing them all to Halo), rarely stay on the boards too long (not too subtle dig there). Thus, the high-post count folks probably get agreed with because they stayed here, and they stayed here because people agreed with them.

See?

- J

I had the foresight to lurk about for awhile, so (I like to think) that even with a low-ish post count, I know what does and doesn't fly around here, and behave accordingly. (Not to say that I'd be a troll, or use net-speak anyway.;)

That said, yeah I think a reputation helps mods take appropriate action with you and garners respect from fellow veterans.

As for siding with frequent-posters, because they are as such, I think that is ridiculous. People side with veterans slightly more often because.... Frankly, veterans tend to have "better" opinions. Again, not because they are veterans, but because they have proven themselves to be respectable enough people, to have attained the rank, over the period of time it takes to do so.

I put 'slightly.

It's not completely true that having a lot of posts means people immediately respect you. (Unless it's some crazy big number like Thebobmasters)However, people often correlate post count with time spent on the forums. So they assume the higher post counter'ed (?) person is more experienced. Which just isn't true.
I've been here, what? Two or three months now, and I have more posts than Mr. Tiredinnuendo, but he's been on these forums longer than me. On top of all that, being a roleplayer will immediately net you a few posts, as you'll often reply several times to the same thread.

So yeah. Am I a vet? No. But I know where the toilets are.

Sort of..

When I see people who have been here less then a month with 600+ posts it takes a little more for me to take them seriously

It is the same in any forum....More posts and time spent = more respect.

I think a lot of the newer users tend to go with the "veterans" so they dont get ripped on too much for saying anything... this is the case in most forums ive been on anyway.

I think that every forum can kinda be like that. If someone has been around forever and is "friends" with a lot of people of course they will get a bit more respect. But this forum has been pretty welcoming to me, while some forums I go to it took a while longer to see more friendly faces.

Xvito:
Since I'm not a "Veteran", I wouldn't know...

"Crawl back into your hole!"

Ah, what I mean is...

I'm basically with Larenxis on this one. I generally tend to look at titles that interest me. If I see a few of the regulars talking I tend to understand that it's a decent topic.
With that said, I find myself reading a lot of topics from newer people as well and generally liking them on the same grounds.
The only reason I said 'slightly' is because I tend to think of the regulars as more of 'friend' terms. Internet friends that is; I'm not one of those sad people that zones out from the real world and...*cough* I'll stop talking now.

I've been here for awhile now and I feel like a real oddball since I've been here for almost 6 months now and my post count is well.... lacking. I'm on here usually once a day, I read alot of the better threads (Khell's stuff is my favorite to read), and I think about them but almost never post unless I really want to say something. If I had wanted to I could have gone gonzo but I guess I just decided not to.