Why Are Post Counts Excluded in General Discussion Forums?

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Posts made in the General Discussion (GD) forum, including its sub-sections like Philosophy, do not contribute to the overall post count. This policy is primarily aimed at ensuring that post counts reflect contributions to more substantive areas, particularly for roles like Homework Helper and Science Advisor, which require a focus on scientific discussions. While there is acknowledgment that some posts in Forum Feedback may be less meaningful, the volume of posts in that section is typically lower, which has led to it not being included in the post count exclusion. An FAQ is being developed to address common questions and provide guidance, although it is anticipated that users may still prefer to create new threads for inquiries.
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I just learned that posts made in the General Discussion forum are not counted in the post count. Does this apply to the sub-sections of GD, like Philosophy?

Could anybody tell me the rationale behind this?
 
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Shooting Star said:
I just learned that posts made in the General Discussion forum are not counted in the post count. Does this apply to the sub-sections of GD, like Philosophy?

Could anybody tell me the rationale behind this?
It should apply to Philosophy, but the post count for some reason didn't get dropped when Philosophy was moved here as a sub-forum. Politics & World Affairs posts do not count.

The rationale is that for consideration for Homework Helper and Science Advisor we are looking for people that are contributing to the sciences and the post count should reflect posts in those forums.
 
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Evo said:
The rational is that for consideration for Homework Helper and Science Advisor we are looking for people that are contributing to the sciences and the post count should reflect posts in those forums.

I anticipated that to be the reason. In that case, in my opinion the posts in Forum Feedback should also be not counted, because many a times a number of wasteful posts are made just to find out about how a button works.

So you are saying that philosophers count...? :smile:
 
Shooting Star said:
I anticipated that to be the reason. In that case, in my opinion the posts in Forum Feedback should also be not counted, because many a times a number of wasteful posts are made just to find out about how a button works.
True, but people may only post a few times there, not hundreds, so I think it was never considered an issue.

Kurdt is working on an FAQ that will answer some of the most common questions and also provide tips. Of course people will start a new thread to ask the question instead of reading the FAQ, but at least we can just answer with "read the FAQ". :smile:
 
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