# I know I've posted more than 278 times. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907 "2006-03-11T04:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/1 "2006-03-11T04:18:48Z")
WTF is up with the post counter on the SDMB? I don’t spend a lot of time looking at it, but I swear it is locked at 278 for me. I post from my laptop and my desktop computers. Has anyone noticed this, or am I dreaming of the hundreds of posts I’ve made? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/2 "2006-03-11T04:21:03Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > WTF is up with the post counter on the SDMB? I don’t spend a lot of time looking at it, but I swear it is locked at 278 for me. I post from my laptop and my desktop computers. Has anyone noticed this, or am I dreaming of the hundreds of posts I’ve made? Yeah, before you comment, yes, I see that it’s up to 280 on the previous post. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/3 "2006-03-11T05:03:35Z")
That is odd. I recognize you and know a little bit about you. That doesn’t usually happen with people with lower post counts for me. One fact may clear things up. The post count here isn’t just a simple count. The board assigns “points” to your posts based a a computer algorithm that judges the quality of the post when you hit “Submit Reply”. One point is the most common number and means an average post but it can go up or down including fractions. That explains why the post count marks on my pad of paper are near 50,000 but my post count appears much lower than that. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/4 "2006-03-11T05:47:32Z")
Whereas I have posted a total of 17 times. But I’m perspicacious as all fuck. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/5 "2006-03-11T07:31:08Z")
This post is worth 4/9 of a point. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/6 "2006-03-11T16:26:34Z")
He He He. My plan to gradually lower everyone’s post count until I am the “post leader” is going according to plan. Wait, did I say that or think it… ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/7 "2006-03-11T17:52:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > He He He. My plan to gradually lower everyone’s post count until I am the “post leader” is going according to plan. > > Wait, did I say that or think it… I just deducted three points from you for stating your nefarious plot! ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/8 "2006-03-11T19:03:57Z")
> [@LunaV](#): > > I just deducted three points from you for stating your nefarious plot! So is the actual algorithm posted anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/9 "2006-03-11T19:17:10Z")
Is it a simple word count (one word = 1/100 post) or something more complex? I had no clue it wasn’t just a “post count”. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/10 "2006-03-11T19:20:42Z")
Yeah I’ve only posted twice. This makes three. My post count will go up to 580 after this, because this post is so great. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/11 "2006-03-11T21:32:10Z")
To add to the mystery, **Hippy Hollow** , your post count is currently 281 in the messages you’ve posted in this thread. However, a search of your history revealed only 280 “hits”. I’ve occasionally noticed my post count appear to decline from one **SDMB** session to the next, and assumed the mods have been doing some housecleaning and eliminating hamster-induced duplicate messages. Still, I agree – you do seem to be more of a presence on the boards than that three-digit figure would indicate. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/12 "2006-03-11T22:40:44Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Is it a simple word count (one word = 1/100 post) or something more complex? > > I had no clue it wasn’t just a “post count”. Weird. Oh, no. It’s based on the value of your post. The computers evaluate how useful a contribution your post was to the discussion at hand, and if it’s deemed extremely useful, you get lots of points, but if it’s not useful, you might not get any at all. ---
**Author:** ![6\_6\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e0b2c6/32.png) [@6\_6\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6_6_6)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/13 "2006-03-11T23:29:19Z")
It’s a shame we can’t post inline images any more. That used to be a a great way to get a higher count. (1 picture is worth 1000 words, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/14 "2006-03-11T23:56:15Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Oh, no. It’s based on the value of your post. The computers evaluate how useful a contribution your post was to the discussion at hand, and if it’s deemed extremely useful, you get lots of points, but if it’s not useful, you might not get any at all. I may have posted a dozen times, then. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/15 "2006-03-12T03:53:08Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Oh, no. It’s based on the value of your post. The computers evaluate how useful a contribution your post was to the discussion at hand, and if it’s deemed extremely useful, you get lots of points, but if it’s not useful, you might not get any at all. _whoosh!_ Thanks for the thoughts, gang. It’s just a little weird. On one hand, it’s kind of cool that one can have a low post count and be “known” (thanks **Shagnasty** and **Sternvogel** ). On the other hand, where are the fruits of my efforts? Man, I’ve missed a lot of bad TV, potential exercise, and sleep posting here… ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/16 "2006-03-12T06:28:01Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > _whoosh!_ Why’d you quote me? _I_ wasn’t the one who got whooshed! ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/17 "2006-03-12T08:55:09Z")
Awhile back, I got some nice spam in my email from some guy named Cecil who said he had a cream I could rub on to increase the size of my post. As you can see, it worked. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-ive-posted-more-than-278-times/347907/18 "2006-03-12T12:42:56Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > WTF is up with the post counter on the SDMB? I don’t spend a lot of time looking at it, but I swear it is locked at 278 for me. I post from my laptop and my desktop computers. Has anyone noticed this, or am I dreaming of the hundreds of posts I’ve made? This question’s really meant for ATMB (assuming it’s a serious query), but as you noted in the very next post after your OP, your post count did increase–and has continued to increase as you’ve posted more. By the time that I write this, your post count now rests at 287. So, I’d move this, but it’s already been answered. I think I’ll just let 'er sink.