I think this is a very good issue to mention.. looking at the top posters in forums, its easy to see for those using post count as a measuring stick, that there's absolutely no way for anyone new to come close to hitting those numbers. You guys have added a "Thanks" counter and I think that's quality of sorts... who has posted the most helpful info as judged by the community. But at the same time, thats also almost a user-based popularity thing as well.

Idea... other forums and sites have a built-in "Karma" system which sometimes works kindof like a combination of post-count and Thanks. What if you guys added something similar to this, but forum specific? For the sake of the example I'll call it "Karma" here...

You could technically set it up to where in certain forums (BDSM-related) upon posting, the processing form would go through a word-count, and if your response contained more than a few words... or more than X words (say 20-40+ words, as an actual thought out response to something) you could get a "karma" point. This would get us closer to a point system based more on Quality-than-Quantity... although this would also breed those Alpha-types that would just ramble and ramble and ramble to hit that number (do I get karma points yet?) All of this could be done behind the scenes with no one actually knowing specific formulas.. and for most here, that wouldnt matter. But it would reward those who took the time to write out full responses or their opinions to responses over just "I agree!" and post.

In other forums, say F&G, maybe its not a "Karma"-worthy forum. So while posts still increase, this new "Quality Contribution" measuring system wouldnt be applicable there.

Oh, and of course then you could have polls and contests to name the new measuring stick.. and all the fun and such that would ensue from that.

Awards: Is there an award for Chat Jackass of the Month? I think I'm due.