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Ranking?

I don't care for ranking systems on forums by the number of posts. I've known some real "golden children" who think they have special clout due to their post count. As far as I'm concerned I'm skeptical of guys who have a 10K post count, don't they work?

To that end, I've somehow earned 10 additional reputation points. For what? Typing? Telling old stories?

My friends and I joke that we're going to start an "anti-social media" called In-Your-Face-Book. Your creds increase by your 'enemies,' not by your mythical friends. Frankly, it makes about as much sense as anything else.

If you want to commend me on my posts, tell me so. Or tell me the opposite to my face in a PM. That I respect.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
It's just a feature offered for 'fun,' whereby your rank increases as you post more. Same with reputation - if people 'like' your posts or give you reputation points then your reputation increases. They're meant to add a fun element to the forums, and if you take them too seriously, either in the pro or con direction, then you're spending more time thinking about them than you ought to.
 
The problem is that many people obsess over this. My wife is a teacher and relates stories of kids hanging themselves over FaceBook entries. I'm sure most adults here get a little spring in their step from am atta-boy over a post.

Then again, I've had clients call back within minutes, panicked, and stating, "I texted you three minutes ago, why don't you answer?" Heck, I didn't know what a text was until I heard my phone with a new ring tone I had never heard before--I thought it was broken.

I have a severe chest cold today, so I'm staying home. My guess is that my post count will go up simply because of increased disposable time and boredom. That's a valid reason for praise?
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
@Cheezy: Acolyte, Apprentice, Journeyman and the rest are defined according to the number of posts.

Other people are Article Team because they have volunteered to write Fantasy articles for our home page, you can also find that some are Staff (involved in other activities) and there are also Moderators like Steerpike and myself.

@The Tourist: You have no reason to post negative comments in this thread, please stop that.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
The way I view it, it is a fun addition that people enjoy, and such things shouldn't be removed because a minority of people place inappropriate weight on them. Your post count hopefully reflects some substantive contribution to the community, but whether it is high or low doesn't mean much to me. Post counts also aren't a good indicator of time spent working or doing others things, because they represent a total number of posts made over the time period a member has been registered with the site, and some members have been here a lot longer than others.

I have one of the higher counts, which still averages out to under 10 posts a day, and I manage to work 60 or 70 hours at my job most weeks. I think it is safe to say the daily posts here represent some fun, something I am interested in, and something that helps maintain some relaxation and sanity over the course of a long week.

If people on other forums get some over-inflated sense from reputation or post count, then that's a problem for those forums to handle. I haven't seen that happen here, so addressing either of these things in the context of Mythic Scribes seems like a solution searching for a problem.
 

Butterfly

Auror
If I could thank you, I would... but apparently, I've already thanked way too many people today so the system won't let me thank any more until 24hrs has gone by.
 

WyrdMystic

Inkling
Wait. So I'm not really a Mystagogue? What am I going to do with all those business cards I had printed? I like the 'Thanks' as you can see who did it, it's a polite thank you for being informative or making someone piss themselves laughing.

Thanks on behalf of Butterfly :D
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
The details of the Ranking System are posted here.

As someone with a fairly high post count, I think a few things are worth noting.

Mythic Scribes is a professional community, directed towards people who are interested in improving their writing skills or otherwise taking their work to the next level, whether they define that as putting together a concept, finishing a manuscript, or pursuing publication. While there's a lot of fun to be had in this community, a novel can be a massive years-long undertaking for anyone to pursue, and in my opinion, even a few thousand posts on Mythic Scribes is a drop in the bucket compared to the work that goes into many novels. Let's not forget that.

Joining Mythic Scribes might be 10 parts a hangout, and 10 parts a hobby, but it can also be 1 part career move, improving your skills and your network and your understanding of the fantasy publishing field. Unlike many forum communities, some time here might well be worth the investment in helping you to improve your abilities and to progress as an author. That's the goal, anyways.

And one last thing - and I'll swear I've heard this from every person with a 1,000 posts or more - but go write, right now, even if it's just to prove you're not wasting time here. That's as good a reason as any.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I never really noticed any rank structure.

I use the forum runner app primarily and it shows only 4 categories: Junior Member, Member, Senior Member, & Moderator.

I never realized I was arguing with Dark Lords!
 
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