Great thoughts everyone. Of course there are as many viewpoints on this as there are on any other issue...

The point of my post wasn't accusatory in any way (as I stated in the post), nor was it to diminish the roles people enjoy having for themselves on the forums. It was more a "food for thought" post, to perhaps lure some people out of their comfort zone a little to post where they otherwise wouldn't, and to perhaps remind everyone that the forums is a HUGE place, with TONS of different people, but at the same time, getting to know new folks (whether they are new to you or just new to the site in general) is 1/2 the fun of the o/l world... after all, we would all be quite boring if we just talked to ourselves & our stuffed hippos all day... not that I do that...

I knew some people w/higher post counts might get defensive with this thread & that wasn't the point... the point was simply to open everyone's eyes that there is more out there then just post counts.

Tufty, I apologize if it appeared my remark on that "tech problem" re: the post counter appeared to be directed at you--it wasn't. You make lots of contributions to the site... it was simply demonstrative of my point (albiet taken perhaps out of context).

Lastly, I would also state that I mentioned in my original post that I didn't think there should be more "awards" or anything of the like... I guess my question is, why even award post count? What if we just did away with that category of award entirely? And left the awards for things like writing, photos, etc? Inherently most awards are popularity contests or they are somewhat mechanistic (the Hall of Fame here)... If everyone with the high post counts says that the awards don't really matter, why not just get rid of them? Why keep them in sig blocks, or keep announcing them? Why not just let all members be "equal"??

Now, please note I don't speak for the staff of the forums. Let me repeat: I DON'T SPEAK FOR THE STAFF. So before everyone says "well as a staff member you should..." I am not staff. I am merely posting as a forums member.

I think that's all I have left to say after a long day...

Thanks for the great thoughts, everyone!