User ranking/title - how important is it?

harishankar

How important do you think user ranking (their title which appears below all their posts) based on post counting is?

Do you think it encourages people to post more to get a higher rank? What are its benefits and defects?
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Triumvirate · Posted: 9/14/2005, 9:32 pm Post subject:

To some people their rank/post number is the most important thing. I know a lot of people will tend to spam especially if there are certain sections/forums that are only open at a certain post counts/ranks, so that is definitely one drawback. On the other hand I use ranks on all my forums as a way to show dedication to the community and to some extent how long they have been there. Of course, if I find a user continually spamming to push their numbers higher I may go through and remove some of their posts.
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Patrick · Administrator

Just a bell/whistle mainly. I don't really think that it encourages (many) people to do anything. Sometimes it can be "fun".
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Keith · Posted: 9/15/2005, 9:35 am Post subject:

marc · Posted: 9/15/2005, 10:09 am Post subject:

I don't use them at all, we have absolutely no ranking or similar of any kind.

The admins and mod's are exactly the same as every other user. (so no titles either).

I actually really dis-like ranking on forums, don't know why, not sure I could explain it.
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Siberian Fox · Posted: 9/15/2005, 1:05 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't describe my board as having a rank system, it's more like a graphical post meter bar that slowly fills up. I do believe it improves user 'stickyness' to a site if after 2000 posts they have some sort of status symbol to show for it.

I agree with marc that admins and mods shouldn't have spacial ranks, in order to prevent user alienation and a "them vs us" atmosphere.
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dojo · Posted: 9/15/2005, 1:10 pm Post subject:

I made a ranking system for my webmaster community. It seems people like it and for some it was an incentive to post. I rember when I was on Karate Forums I put some effort to get the black belt. Smile

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chrispian · Posted: 9/16/2005, 1:45 pm Post subject:

I think that rankings can be fun, but on every site I use any such system people try to use it to "game". Users will use post counts to say "your a newbie, your opinion doesn't count" and such, or they'll try to post more posts to get extra "pips". Anything that can be gamed will be gamed. So I suggest using it with caution.
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mmj · Posted: 9/21/2005, 2:25 am Post subject:

It's easy to underestimate their importance. With a community, part of the reason people participate in the community is the extra little bonuses they receive, such as stars or rankings. Even though they don't mean much, some members see them as a reward for the hours they have spent on that forum.

A good way to test how important these items are would be to suddenly remove them - would people complain?

The little things are very important to some people.

Teknomancer · Posted: 9/21/2005, 3:17 am Post subject:

I think it's a good idea. But as chrispian said, people seem to post just for the sake of it, to get a title promotion.

But in anyway, carefully thought-out and suitable title promotions are always welcome by me.
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