MODERATOR HAT OFF

Frankly, the concept of ranks determined soley on the basis of the number of posts does nothing, IMO, to the forum and has no bearing on the quality of posts made. You either like to idea or are indifferent and the posts to this thread show that polarization clearly.

There are much better ways of determining a member's standing than an automatic rank granted after a number of posts. Take a look at he post count and Join date in the top right of each post. How long they have been a member and the number of posts gives you an indication of their level of activity. Then, if you wan to know more, click on their name and look at the satistics in their profile. When were they last on line and when did they last post is an indication of an active member or a lurker.

Finally, you can bring up either all their posts or all their threads to see about the quality of the information they post. If it's a lot of welcome: messages versus a number of erudite and well thought out responses versus knee jerk reactions to a thread you can get a meaningful idea of that member's value to the forum.

I'll admit to getting upset once in my early days on the forum when a rank up was not acknowledged. But as I matured on the forum, I came to believe that awarding ranks was the forum equivalent of the Peter Principle - "people are promoted to their level of incompetance". Gaining a rank based solely onthe number of posts is no diffeernat to getting promoted based on the amount of time you have spent in a job. It says NOTHING about you.

And with that said I will Put my moderator hat back on

As far as titles are concerned - Kilted Legend, Forum Historain, etc I do believe there is a place for titles that are earned for service to the forum and bestowed approriately. Right now, with all the activity associated with the site skin change we don't have time to give this matter full attention, but rest assured it is on our 'to do' list.

I do have one other concern with this thread. Reasonalble dialog and differences of opinion are one thing. But when members start to attack other members views with personal comments we, as moderators, WILL step in. Tthere have already been posts on this thread reported and we will continue to monitor the threads.

It is not for nothing we consider ourselves the Ladies and Gentlemen of XMTS and expect behaviour appropriate to that sentiment.

Brian



Brian