It doesn't take long to realize that the most posts one puts up, the better title one gets. This assumes that the more one posts, the more knowledgeable the poster is. This is probably better than the what the WS has and is similar to the Parker BB, but we should strive for a better method (in due time of course).

I would propose that the forumites decide what classification one gets. This could be done either by forumites voting (similar to ratings) what classification a poster gets, or another would be for forumites to give credit to a particularly good post and the classification of the poster goes up as the number of credits are accumulated.

Just an idea.

Interesting idea GATC although I'll be doomed to Boones Farm Wannabe for the rest of my life!

Most of us know each other in some manner or other. Includes likes, dislikes, behavior patterns, frequency and length of responses. While number of posts is not better than number of stars, any system is arbitrary.

I just decide,"Hey, GATC posted. Worth a read." Simple enough for me.

Perhaps number of views per post rather than the gross amount of posts should be used for ranking purposes.

My feeling is that post count, stars, views or any type of rating system is really pointless. Are we in some sort of competition with each other?

I read what I want from the posters and subjects that interest me. I don't need some sort of arbitrary rating system to tell me who and what are valid. I'm quite capable of deciding that for myself.

The goal of any website such as this one is to attract new viewers and participants. A person new to this site does not have the same ability as you do GA to separate the wheat from the chaff. Some sort of a ranking gives a new participant a starter foundation on which to build.

Please clarify for me Jonesy. Are you referring to technical ability to manuever through the forum or wine knowledge?

Apparent Wine Knowledge.

I really disagree Jones. If you use the criteria of another board that you used to frequent, you had less stars than a certain non-wine knowledgeable supposed wine professional from the great white north. There are many people who have more posts than you or even me. Are they more wine knowledgeable? Some are, some aren't.

I think any rational person would agree that in those cases stars or post counts were meaningless.

If that is the purpose of any rating system, I question the validity of it as a “meaningful” guide to new posters.

They need to lurk, join in or not. Let them make up their own minds.

Just my 2 cents.

Feel free to remove my stars.

I tend to agree with GA. For me, these forum(s) (fora?) are an extension of what was started back in the Usenet newsgroup days (yes, I still visit alt.food.wine on a daily basis). In Usenet tradition, there is no ranking system, but it is customary for a newbie to lurk for a while to get to know the forum before jumping in. By doing so, you learn the customs, the regulars, specialties, etc. It really takes very little effort, and provides much better insight than stars and numbers by a name.

I agree with GA. Let people make up their own minds.

Hey all,

Great conversation.. Firstly, let me point out, the "naming" of people in relation to their post count is first and foremost just supposed to be fun, while also telling people who the more senior members of the board are in terms of "who's been around a while" and not in terms of knowledge. So far perhaps the naming convention could be misconstrued.

Let me lay it out for you as it is now... and keep in mind this is just something I put together on a whim while building the site. First is number of posts, then title.

0 Wine Stranger
25 Wine Newb
50 WineO Wannabe
100 Wine Student
200 Wine Enthusiast
400 Wine Addict
800 Official WineO
1200 Sommelier Wannabe
1600 Sommelier Student
2000 Sommelier Enthusiast
2400 Sommelier Addict
2800 Oficial Sommelier
3200 Master Sommelier
4000 Master of Wine

Notice I skipped 1000, and skipped 3000. 4000 is the real goal for now... but I have room to put a ton more titles.
This functionality is built into the system.

Since we really do want to listen to our community, here is something easy to change if needed when talking about number of posts and titles. If we change how the ratings are done entirely, it'll be extremely hard to change and will take a lot of custom programming. (A Route we will probably go eventually)

So here is what we can do as an easy change:

Everyone interested.... come up with different User Titles, and different post counts that those User Titles take affect if you like.

After everyone who wants to suggest something has suggested something worthwhile... we'll then have a forum wide vote on who's we want to implement. You can also vote of course to keep it as is. You can also suggest to make minor changes as well, as admittedly some of the titles are very stupid. (WineO Wannabe??!!)

Other ideas have to wait for now, but will be noted for possible inclusion later on if we customize this software.

So this forum is open... have at it.... and have some fun with it.

In four more posts, can I be a JonesWineNo1 Wannabe?

In reply to:

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while also telling people who the more senior members of the board are in terms of "who's been around a while" and not in terms of knowledge

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Uh, Rev, what better way to show "seniority" than the very definition of it -- age. That is, when the poster signed up? Or, the proxy for this would be the sequential user number.

"Quantity" obviously does not correlate with either "Quality" OR "Seniority", so why not just kill it?

In reply to:

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so why not just kill it?

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That indeed is another option.

Outstanding points made by everyone.
Rev. instead of fonts in the title, can there be pics instead (ie-small jpegs of gifs)?

something like:

0-25 -Green Grape Cluster
26-200-Purple Grape Cluster
201-400-2nd Purple Grape Cluster
401-600-3rd Purple Grape Cluster
601-999-4th Purple Grape Cluster
1000-Wine Glass
1500-Filled wine glass
2000-2nd wine glass
2500-Filled 2nd wine glass
3000-3rd wine glass
3500-Filled 3rd wine glass
4000-4th wine glass
4500-Filled 4th wine glass
5000-A Flag with the coveted Vinocellar.com logo.


Just my early morning ramblings....

The lifeblood of a successful wine board is new posts. At a minimum, counting posts provides some incentive for someone to actively participate on the board. Removing the post count would only remove this incentive.

I like post counts. I like the silly names/rankings. I also like making up my own mind about what posts I like to read and which ones I do not.

I am sort of addicted to trolling thboards, so I tend to read EVERYTHING.

BUT, Jones' point about helping out the newbies to the site is well taken. BUT, doesn't this site have the functionality to rate posts? Indeed it does. If you like a particularly interesting post, rate it a 5! If you think the post is pointless, or silly or whatever, rate it lower. This is perhaps the best means to rwally 'rate' a poster. All but the most annoying people will actually rate posts very honestly and it would be a true measure of a particular post.

Perhaps there might be a way in the future to keep track of how many 5 star posts, 4 star posts and so on a particular poster has. Maybe this would be something anyone could look up. This would clearly help the newbies see not only who is a prolific poster, but also who is well-respected and most likely knowledgeable.

So, whatchoo think?

It is difficult to rate someone with one raw score since people have obviouse strengths and faults.

For instamce, as a poster I think that my strengths are in book knowledge. I study wine like a college course. However, I admit that my weak link is in tasting experience. I can tell you what any wine is supposed to taste like and why, but not alway's from experience. I also do not have extensive knoledge of most high end producers.

Take Jones and Board-O, two of the most experienced posters here. I would rate them both very high. I have enjoyed many conversations on wine theory with both of them but rarely are there tasting notes of help to me since I am usually priced out by their selections. (However, I would like to point out that they have both pointed me towards an occasional great purchase that I could swing - thanks guys). When I am looking for buying ideas I often look to other posters.

It's tough to peg a single rating on a person.

TCK

Agree with Jones that encouraging people to post is good. I definitely need get out of the wino wannabe ranking. I like the Wine student and Wine Enthusiast are good titles. Somehow the Sommelier categories are not that attractive to me. Most sommelier's appear to be very knowledgeable about wines that I don't select, but seldom know much about the wines I do.