I bring this up because I have noticed that David B, co-moderator of Great Debates, is fast approaching the 5000-post mark. For any other Doper, this would be cause for great celebration. However, as a Moderator, Mr. B. has an advantage the rest of us don’t. He HAS to be here, whereas the rest of us are here voluntarily. He has more opportunities to post than we mere mortals.
I suggest the following: We should go through his entire output and count how many posts he has made with his Moderator hat ON and how many he has made with it OFF. (I’d do it, but even I don’t have that much free time.) We would then subtract that from his overall total giving us a true measure of the man. A “mixed” post (containing both content and Official Moderatin’ Duties) would be counted as a Moderator post and not as a Doper post. (We gotta draw the line somewhere.)
To be fair, we should do the same for the other Moderators, even if they were mere Dopers in a previous life: Gaudere, Arnold Winklereid, manhattan, et al. Former Moderators are, of course, ineligible.
I invite you all to post your feelings and join the debate on one of the most pressing issues of the day. Moderators are free to join in, of course, unless you’re doing it just to inflate your post count.
Thank you.
Brought to you by CPIC. (The Committee to Prevent Inflated Counts)
If you want to do that, are you also going to go subtract all post-padding done by non-moderators? (i.e. all posts on “The Post-Padding Thread”, all posts along the lines of “1 less post to go until XXX”, all posts in which the person posts one word per post to make up a sentence, etc.)
It seems to me, in at least advanced cases, a post count denotes dedication to the SDMB. A sort of “I’ve hung in there” mark which might give one a sense of belonging to something. I think most of us humans need that. I also think some posters might even think of it as a post/birthday.
One * could *liken ones number of posts to the hash marks on a soldiers uniform. The ones on his sleeve that refer to previous campaigns and duties and says to others in general " I’m no fresh upstart, I’ve been around a bit and may be able to give you somewhat of a sensible answer to your question."
If so, that would be cause for celebration in my book.
Although you may have heard otherwise, it is not at all true that Ed chains us to our computers and forces us to read the SDMB. Some of us actually do do this voluntarily (though we sometimes wonder why ).
You have all the opportunities I do. I prove this by pointing out that I do not have the highest post count on the board, nor does any moderator or administrator.
Yeesh. Good luck. Frankly, though, the ratio of ON:OFF is fairly low.
That said, I’m probably going to have to put it on to toss this over to MPSIMS…
I notice that Tom posts a lot on this topic.
I wonder if he might be engaging in a subtle joke.
I think that post milestones can be seen as birthdays. If they were just an excuse to have a party then would that be so bad? Everytime you submit a reply you are sharing. I am glad that you do. I might enjoy reading it. Thanks.
So, why celebrate birthdays? It’s just a meaningless number, right? We do it because it’s fun, not to mention it’s a bonding experience. No other reason is given, or needed (at least, not by me).
David B-
Heheheheheheh… doodoo… hee-hee!
God blessed those of us who are easily entertained…
When you said A modest proposal, I thought maybe you were suggesting eating post party participants. Well, I guess that’s just because I’m a Swift fan. Never mind.
).