[eric343]

Quote:

Originally posted by elrod-tom They are a measure (though not a perfect one) of one's level of AUDIO expertise and experience. This benefits newer members, as they can gauge to some degree the experience behind the opinon of various posters...at least that's the theory behind it.

How many posts does Kevin Gilmore have? Ppl? Tyll Hertsens? Jan Meier? Vka? Nik? Zzz? Jatinder? DARTH NUT?

Case in point - Who would you sooner go to for electronics advice, Kevin Gilmore (who has >>20 years experience in high-end scientifc equipment design and has been into ultra-hi-fi since college) or me?

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally posted by eric343 How many posts does Kevin Gilmore have? Ppl? Tyll Hertsens? Jan Meier? Vka? Nik? Zzz? Jatinder? DARTH NUT? Case in point - Who would you sooner go to for electronics advice, Kevin Gilmore (who has >>20 years experience in high-end scientifc equipment design and has been into ultra-hi-fi since college) or me?

Just curious Eric...you didn't read any of my OTHER posts on this subject in this thread, did you?

It's not a perfect measure, and there are of course exceptions. This is what it is...a GENERAL statement about the potential usefulness of the post counts. Prior to the gunking up of the threads with questions about peanut butter and such, it was MORE useful.

Let's assume that you think that there is NO correlation between expertise and number of posts (certain exceptions aside). I'm assuming that you don't think that taking extraneous posts OUT of the post count would make it LESS useful, right??

That's what we're discussing....

 

[eric343]

Well, what I'm trying to say is that post counts are not related to the amount of audio knowledge a person has, but to the amount of time they spend on Head-Fi. Someone with 1000 posts will probably have spent more time on Head-Fi than someone with 100 posts. What you're saying is that spending time on Head-Fi results in an increase in audio knowledge (to a point), and that someone with 1000 posts will have spent enough time on Head-Fi to dispense audio advice that, even if not from first-hand experience, is the result of lots of reading of other's posts, and will probably match more the general consensus of opinon. Which I agree with - however, the general consensus of opinon is not necessarily accurate (and is notoriously vulnerable to fads!), which is why post count is merely a handy one-directional guide to how much audio experience a person has - that is to say, a person with a high post count likely has a lot of experience, but one cannot determine the amout of experience a person with a low post count has without reading their posts (or simply asking them).


Or something like that, anyway.

 

[elrod-tom]

and to the extent that the post count is inflated with posts from Take it Outside and Certifiably Inane, it is of even LESS use. That's all I'm saying.

 

[KR...]

When will the madness end?

I hope things claim down again and ease into it's normal flow once school starts for everyone.

Everyone is starting to sound like a broken record.

Post counts don't really matter, you can't tell much about a person from them other than they post too much or not enough

 

[Mr.PD]

Goodbye Russ.
Good luck with the books.

 

[chadbang]

Aw, finish your book and come back. This place is too much fun and you'll always be an audiophile.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by usc goose
i'm actually a little tempted to quit with you
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Oh, the irony is unbearable.


[snicker, snicker]

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by acs236 I doubt that there is even a correlation between post counts and expertise of experience.

Maybe to you, because you've been around awhile. But for new members the post count and "Registered" date are ways to discern which members have been around a while and are used, wrong or right, as a way to approximate experience and knowledge levels.

And the truth is that although there are surely members with 30 posts that are incredibly knowledgable, and members with 2000 posts that got those posts mostly through "chatter," there is definitely a high correlation between post count/membership time and "knowledge" -- if only because members who have been active for longer period of time have read thousands of posts about headphone audio. So, as Elrod said, even though these measure aren't perfect, they are indeed useful.



Russ, I have no idea if you'll see this, but for what it's worth: I've always respected you as a knowledgable and eloquent member of Head-Fi, even when I disagreed with you (which was actually quite infrequently

), so I wish you were sticking around. And I completely understand the "time suck" factor -- I've been MIA from Head-Fi for a month or so on a couple occasions because of work. However, to leave in part because you disagree with a policy decision without giving that decision time to play out (i.e., without seeing what the actual results are) is shortsighted, IMO. In fact, it seems to contradict your oft-stated preference for empirical evidence. Give it a try and see if the recent policy change really results in the destruction of "community" at Head-Fi