Why No Stars ????

[dbaker48]

I don't have a bunch of stars, but that is really one of the items that attracted me to this forum. I found that by looking at the stars, usually gave an indication as to how familiar that individual was with the overall topic. Its alway good to know that the person has been around awhile that your asking an opinion from.

The star system can't take that much in software development it is pretty simple. If the total count is available, then a simple logrithum to post a star for a given number should be pretty easy. It can't be because the sophistacation is too difficult.

Additionally, the "benefits" and jokes related to becoming a 5 star general are great. Actually the "target" of achieving a star is an added incentive to continue posting on to the forum. We ALL know that any information received as a result of the forum is use at your own risk.

PLEASE, reconsider the stars, or maybe substitute with a series of icons related to trains. Big Boy = 5,000 posts, or something! Don't loose the uniqueness that this forum has, and the personality.

It really can't be that much of an effort!

Thanks, for letting me voice my opinion, and either way I will not be cancelling my subscription.

Don Baker

[ChiefEagles]

10-4, Don. I really think it is funny to see the register date of some [years ago] and then only post occasionally and usually to gripe. [;)]

[Poppa_Zit]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dbaker48

I found that by looking at the stars, usually gave an indication as to how familiar that individual was with the overall topic. Its alway good to know that the person has been around awhile that your asking an opinion from.

I haven't seen any correlation whatsoever between the number of stars and expertise, save for a terrific ability to generate tons of posts.

Perhaps this latest revelation will start "Star Wars."

[Anonymous]

I suppose good arguments can be made both for and against the "star" system. Personally, I've never paid all that much attention to them, preferring instead to determine a person's expertise/experience based on what he or she includes in the posts made.

You could easily have someone with five stars who offers less relevant input than someone with one star, so I'm not sure level of participation (post count) is a measure of anything all that meaningful.

At the same time, some folks are motivated to post more often by the star count, and I suppose that can be an incentive for people to participate on a regular basis, which is a good thing.

I don't much care whether they elect to keep or eliminate them since I pay little attention to the number of stars under a person's screen name, and certainly don't use them to judge the value of the information an individual contributes.

[tmcc man]

I really don't care about the stars either, because it is not the quanity of your posts, but the quality of them. There have been a few flame wars over this.

[ChiefEagles]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tmcc man

I really don't care about the stars either, because it is not the quanity of your posts, but the quality of them. There have been a few flame wars over this.

Colin, you've done pretty good since you've come to the forum. [star wise that is [;)]]

Colin, I can remember to "good old days" [not really as now are the good days] when CTT had only two to four posts a day. In fact it was mainly Elliot, Tom, Buckeye and myself. Then OGR pissed their folks off and a herd came over here but then left when they "kissed" and made up. It's been the great guys like you and the others that regularly post, that has made this the best forum on toy trains.

[Jumijo]

Stars are one of the items that attracted someone to this forum? Who really cares about the number of stars one has next to their name?

I'm more interested in what a person has to say. Are they good contributors? Do they offer good advice? Do they know what they're talking about? That's the sort of thing I look for, and that attracted me to this forum. Here you will find plenty of nice people from all walks of life, that know toy trains, and enjoy sharing knowledge and anecdotes. All the stars tell you is how many times so and so has hit the "Submit Reply" button.

Jim

[tschmidt]

I guess the stars don't mean that much to me. I post here because I see the people here as my friends. I have been fortunate to meet some of them in person. I get to ask questions and get good answers. Sometimes I have even been fortunate enough to be able to help someone else out.

I spend a lot more time reading the posts and not as much writing them.
TomS

[jefelectric]

Hi guys,

If CTT lets the image file on their server, you can add your own stars in your signature. Like this. Just an experiment to see if it would work.

[dwiemer]

I

[dwiemer]

Want

[philo426]

I do not judge a response based upon the number of stars a poster has but rather if the response is helpful and knowledgeble.Some people(especially on other forums)feel that they need a high post count to be taken seriously.So the post irrelevent or non-helpful posts just to boost their count.One of my faves is when someone posts that they cannot answer their question but just wished the poster a nice day!If you don't know then don't post!

[dwiemer]

MY

[dwiemer]

Stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dwiemer]

Sorry, just kidding and trying to show a point. While I only have less than 100 posts till my next star, unless I pad the forum with a bunch of garbage, I won't make it. That being said, I do tend to look at a post count when reading someone's message. I have found that some of those with some of the harshest opinions hardly post, while most that post often share valued information. There are several exceptions, ie: Dave Farquarr, who does not have a lot of posts, yet many times offers good info. In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter.
Dennis

[dbaker48]

Well, I guess I inadvertanly opened another can of worms. Maybe didn't clarify myself well enough, I don't know.

I have found this forum to be really valuable and enjoy all the comments, and ideas. I have really learned a lot by just reading it. If I am one of those that the Chief is refferring to as "only posting occassionally, and then to gripe", I appologize. It certainly has not been my intention. For the most part I'm sure most of you have forgotten more about trains than I know, and therefore don't feel that my inputs to a specific topic are particullary beneficial.

Certainly, there are comments by others that are not always on target, or maybe even the person giving the comment does not have all the necessary information and if he did would comment differently.

But, I still maintain that the stars do give the this forum a little personality, And, John (jeffelectric), came through with a good resolution, that works! Has the same validity value, measures quantity not quality, and you could even make the stars what ever size desired. I'm satisfied [^]

[dwiemer]

Don,
I doubt you were one of the ones referred to by Chief. I have never read a post of yours that had any flame or poor content. Some do seem to lurk in the background and only post occasionally to tear someone down. That is not what this forum is about, it is about friendly discussion of trains. As the success of the "Coffee Pot" demonstrates, I think that many of us would feel welcome to all sit down and have a cup of Joe with the next guy and just BS about trains. We all just need to sit back and not take ourselves too seriously sometimes. I look forward to this little break from life to just sit and chat with you and the rest here.
Dennis

[Anonymous]

Number of stars often equals how much time was spent on the "Pot of coffee" thread. Joe

[ChiefEagles]

Don, you are not the ones I am talking about. They know. We know too. [;)]

[csxt30]

QUOTE: Originally posted by philo426

One of my faves is when someone posts that they cannot answer their question but just wished the poster a nice day!If you don't know then don't post!

I wouldn't want to be on a forum that's so serious you can't welcome a new person or at least say something, especially when that person asked a question several hours ago.
Look at it like this, the whole OTTS club was started with just guys saying hi when they saw you lived nearby ! Lots of members getting together from a simple Hello !! Some of us don't have such good literary skills as others in explaining some things, but might understand the problem they have, or whatever. So if we don't care about the stars, who cares if they at least welcome them ? !!

[Blueberryhill RR]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxt30

QUOTE: Originally posted by philo426

One of my faves is when someone posts that they cannot answer their question but just wished the poster a nice day!If you don't know then don't post!

I wouldn't want to be on a forum that's so serious you can't welcome a new person or at least say something, especially when that person asked a question several hours ago.
Look at it like this, the whole OTTS club was started with just guys saying hi when they saw you lived nearby ! Lots of members getting together from a simple Hello !! Some of us don't have such good literary skills as others in explaining some things, but might understand the problem they have, or whatever. So if we don't care about the stars, who cares if they at least welcome them ? !!

I agree with you, John. I think that a person should be able to be
friendly and not be expected to answer the question and then ' shut up '.

[Anonymous]

Since I have "O" stars, as I have been a very infrequent poster, I have no dog in this fight.
That being said, I was a little disappointed to learn that when the website is updated, they do not intend to continue with the star system.

I agree with the posters who take pride in the number of stars that they have accumulated. In essence, they feel vested in the forum and should be proud of their contributions.

Perhaps the philosphy of the forum managers is to emphasize quality over quantity but this is subjective at best. There is no harm in indicating a forum member's contributions by designating a star based on the number of posts that were made.

As was stated by Don in his posting, it gives the forum a personality. It also may be an incentive to encourage further participation and I see no real benefit to discontinuing the star system.

Steve Tapper
Northern Central High Railers

[mitchelr]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tschmidt

I guess the stars don't mean that much to me. I post here because I see the people here as my friends. I have been fortunate to meet some of them in person. I get to ask questions and get good answers. Sometimes I have even been fortunate enough to be able to help someone else out.

I spend a lot more time reading the posts and not as much writing them.
TomS

I agree with TomS - Stars don't mean as much as the welcome I got when I started posting regularly. I had read the forum off and on for a couple of years before I found the coffee pot. There's nothing better than sitting around sippin' a cup of coffee with friends talking about trains (or life's trials and tribulations).

Stars or not, this is still the best place I have found for friendly advice about the world's best hobby.

Take care,

Mitch

[cmrj]

Hello guy's, I don't post very much, but I do read what you have to say. I contribute when my knowlege allow's. I still consider my self a newbe. I think the stars are a good thing.
[2c] Mike

[lionelsoni]

Stars don't make me no never mind.

[Bergie]

Think "quality of post" over "quantity of posts". It's that simple.

Frankly, the discussions in our various "coffee shop" threads are the perfect example. Post like, "What's for breakfast?" or "Yeah, me too" shouldn't give one user any type of credibility over another user.

Bergie

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Frankly, the discussions in our various "coffee shop" threads are the perfect example. Post like, "What's for breakfast?" or "Yeah, me too" shouldn't give one user any type of credibility over another user.

Bergie

BINGO! Seems like a lot of bandwidth is wasted with those threads. The same people post over and over and run their post counts up. If you want to know about the weather, go to www.weatherchannel.com[swg]

[dbaker48]

Ahhhh, come on guys. It's just a bunch of people having a little fun. It's great that people get together to just talk about the weather or mundane activities that are happening in their days or life. Seems to me if I remember the "good ol days" thats what neighbors would do at the fence, just light hearted conversation. Unfortunately there really isn't enough of that anymore.

Sure, this forum provides a LOT of valuable and good technical information, but isn't it really more for ENTERTAINMENT? How boring this would all be if it was just about fixing a wiring problem, or repairing a piece of inventory. I hope the personal posts and light heartedness does not go away.

It is probably best to eliminate the stars, because as the way most other things go in todays society, we must protect those that would draw the wrong interpretation from the significance.That the stars are releated to quality, and of course their not. (We are becoming less and less responsible for ourselves, and rely more on others to protect us.)

I hope the slippery slope doesn't delete all the smiley face icons also. Even though there is a legend to define the intended meaning.

[alstom]

I joined here on June 23, 2005 and have made 940 something posts. At first, I kind of wanted to get in with the big boys (yes, I admit) and get four to five stars right away. But soon, I realized the same thing that many have posted on here.

I agree exactly with Bergie that what you SHOULD look for in a post is the quality. Not the quantity of how many posts that the user had made.

I have three green stars currently and, if this site wouldn't be going under the construction it is going to be under, I would probably get four yellow/golden stars within the next month or two. But, honestly, I do not care all that much.

Just remember that: "It is the quality of the post, not the quantity of posts." That is the right way to go, so don't let your stars bother you if they go.

-But I do want my stars a little bit! I have three, almost four, almost! Dang it, should've posted more.....LOL

Rich

..................

EDIT: Bergie, if you read this, just a quick question, will the "average-per-day" thing in your profile be staying, because mine is 2.48.

[philo426]

Let me clarify !I think my post came across as harsher than intended.I just think it was funny when someone posted who did not know the answer.