Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Gray-Wolf

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
2,603
2
Pandora, Home Tree
A day or 2 ago, my post count reached 238. I have made 4 posts that I know of, and the count is still 238. My question it, is someone deleting posts from time to time?

Edit- and sub question for a mod, is it possible to change names? Short of creating a new account?
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,503
"Between the Hedges"
If a thread is put in the Wasteland, they go away from your count I think
Also, not sure that posts in the Political Forum show up

I'm sure a Mod will show up soon and correct us

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 

Melrose

Suspended
Dec 12, 2007
7,806
399
From my mod experience elsewhere, unless the posts are actually deleted, they should tally up to your total count, whither they're in wasteland or not. Unless it's taken right out of the database, it should count.

Different forum software may handle it differently though. Were's a mod when you need one? Hellooooo...?
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,503
"Between the Hedges"
Pretty sure if it goes to the wasteland it is deducted, but what do I know

And I know PRSI posts don't count towards an avatar

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
Finalday: As explained in the FAQ, posts made in the Politics, Religion, Social Issues, Console Games and Marketplace forums are not included in post counts. Deleted posts and posts moved to the Wasteland also don't count. In your case, a lot of your recent posts were made in the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum.
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,503
"Between the Hedges"
Edit- and sub question for a mod, is it possible to change names? Short of creating a new account?

That is usually discouraged
You should PM a Mod directly for answers to that one

Since HexMonkey responded here, he might be a good place to start
Although I think it takes a "god" to do that

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 

Nicolecat

macrumors 6502a
Apr 2, 2008
968
7
I had this same problem...

I noticed a good amount of posts that were no longer on my count...I'm pretty sure they were moved into wasteland. But on no other board are legitimate posts deducted from my count unless the thread is deleted.

This is very disheartening...because, you never know when a thread will be moved. So making a decision to improve your post count becomes a coin toss as to whether or not it remains there.

So, tell me this...what happens when someone reaches 500 posts and is able to post an avatar, then 20 of those posts gets moved to wasteland. That person legitimately made the 500 postcount, but is now only at 480 posts....does their avatar simply not work anymore?

It's been nawing at my brain for a while... just curious.
If wasteland is the equivalent to deleting, then why not just delete?
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,375
2,801
We recently ran a script to recalculate post counts in order to fix things after our incident with the PM spam-bot a few weeks ago. For whatever reason, recalculating post counts resulted in a loss of post count for most members, as somehow the incremental post counting wasn't correctly keeping tabs on everything. No posts (aside from normal deletions here and there) were actually deleted...it was just that the inaccurate post count totals were corrected.

As for your question about the purpose of the Wasteland as opposed to deleting, it serves two purposes in my eyes: 1) It serves as a "what not to do" display to assist other users in making appropriate posts; and 2) It serves as entertainment value for some people, and leaving the threads visible but not counting towards posts and not able to be replied to makes them relatively harmless.

Regarding avatars, yes, a user would lose their avatar privileges if Wastelanding or deletion dropped their post count below the 500-post threshold. But it's pretty rare for more than a handful of posts by a single user to be removed from their post count in this way, so they would quickly regain their avatar privileges.

And boosting your post count should never be "a decision." Members should post when they have something to say, and the post count will rise by itself. If we do spot a user obviously padding their post count with little-to-no real content, we will delete significant numbers of their posts and send them a warning.
 

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,118
4,096
5045 feet above sea level
I had this same problem...

I noticed a good amount of posts that were no longer on my count...I'm pretty sure they were moved into wasteland. But on no other board are legitimate posts deducted from my count unless the thread is deleted.

This is very disheartening...because, you never know when a thread will be moved. So making a decision to improve your post count becomes a coin toss as to whether or not it remains there.

So, tell me this...what happens when someone reaches 500 posts and is able to post an avatar, then 20 of those posts gets moved to wasteland. That person legitimately made the 500 postcount, but is now only at 480 posts....does their avatar simply not work anymore?

It's been nawing at my brain for a while... just curious.
If wasteland is the equivalent to deleting, then why not just delete?

i am still surprised why people care about post counts
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.