Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:46 pm
I think that some people are not really sure what it takes to be a respected member.
You do not have to have thousands of posts to be respected. For example, when you think of a combustion master, who do you think of? Many of you probably think of Burnt Latke, who owns possibly the most informative combustion spudgun website. You know how many posts he had on Spudtech? Under 250 posts.
Now, I will admit that he was an exception. Most of the great spudders had well over one thousand posts. Such spudders include DR, Mr. Plow, Clide, Jackssmirkingrevenge, sgort87, etc. There are many more great spudders. However, when these people made posts, they always had something important to say. I have never seen one of these members write a one sentence post basically saying "nice spudgun". They say their opinion, offer criticism, provide answers to questions, address serious issues, etc. They have many posts not because they wanted to increase their post count, but because they wanted to contribute to the forum.
On this forum, there are people who have high post counts who I don't respect at all. I won't name any names, just to avoid controversy. One of the main problems is that some people view post count as the only way to judge the talent or respect of a member. Yes, post count can be an effective tool in judging the respect of a member, but it really should not be.
In a nutshell, if you have something significant to say, say it. If not, don't say it. People WILL NOT respect you if you write "nice cannon" in every single thread in existence on Spudfiles. If you post good information in a well thought out post, that is a COMPLETELY different story.
EDIT: Just wanted to thank everyone for taking this thread seriously... I really feel some good will come out of this. Thanks again.