I can't believe that you guys are taking this so seriously!  Did we change into a military unit last night whilst I was asleep?

We know who each other are and on whom we can rely for advice.  Every so often a new member comes along and sticks around, the vast majority who don't rarely get beyond two stars.  When they stick around we get to know them and either decide that they are worth responding to or not.  A "Valued Member" who is an annoying little brat does not evolve into a nice person after 51 posts of pure drivel.

The current system IMHO is perfect.  It takes a fair amount of effort to turn up here and post 500 reply's.  You don't know anyone and may not know that much about FS.  By the time you hit 501 posts you have developed a fairly good relationship with the regulars and chatting becomes more natural.

Leave things as they are, please!!!  There are certain members who feel that they have a right to talk down to and be abusive to new members on the grounds that they have hit the "post" button more often.  I do NOT wish to find myself in a situation where simply because I have a mere 1400 posts I have to swallow my tongue and be polite to an idiot who has 1800 posts.   These are just examples I'm not implying in anyway that this would happen, I'm just saying that a more complicated "rank" structure would encourage it.

The only person on here who automatically gets respect is Pete, the rest of us have to prove ourselves with the quality of posts we make, not by writing LOL as a reply on all 1208 threads on the Joke forum.

For those that are so concerned about their "Seniority" in the forum, add the date you registered to your signature....

Will

Will, if you know of some member who is being as ass simply because of the number of stars he/she has, then please let a mod know and it will be taken care of immediately... 

That was aimed at no-one in particular but I have noticed that on occasion people have been referred to in the manner "hey, newbie" when they disagree with a point of view.  If back in February I had been greeted with this attitude I would have left in seconds.

My major issue is that this is a public forum and each members opinion holds equal weight with each other members opinion.  Andrews thoughts don't carry 7 times more weight than mine and neither do Ozzy's carry five times more weight. 

Also by use of forum names we don't really know who anybody actually is.  Take Leonr in the CFS3 Forum, he has a grand total of 7 posts to his credit and is thus a "newbie" to the forum.  The fact that he is a member of the CFS development team adds a certain influence to his comments. 

Finally a militaristic ranking system puts me off, the stars are not ranks they are a guage of posting frequency.  You can post tons of spam messages and get stars quickly, or you can sit back and only open your mouth occasionaly and take your time.

IMHO by the time you have hit 500 the regulars know who you are and will have developed a certain relationship with you.  I don't need stars under my name to prove anything, all I need to know is that there are about thirty+ people out there who I can scream for help to and be guarenteed an answer within twelve hours.

Will

In my view the whole star ranking system is ridiculous & childish. I would do away with it completely. Unfortunately I understand we're stuck with it.

I think it would still boil down to a competition. 'I've been here longest' and such...

I don't understand why everyone thinks this thing has to be a competition.  It's NOT about who posts the most.  It's about recognition for people who care to contribute.  To be honest, I think I see more people bitching about people 'pulling rank' than I see people doing the offense.  More people complain about what it means than people who try to 'use' it.

Just relax and don't make such a big deal of it!

Just to play "Devil's Advocate", the number of stars displayed by someone responding to a particular subject, does hold weight(for me)on topics specific to SIMV. The reasons for this would be obvious. I don't think the system needs to be changed at all, but I wouldn't remove it altogether either Ken. Quote:
I wasn't suggesting you turn this place into GESTAPOVIATION, I just thought if you were going to make a change why not something inline with military insignia, just for nostalgia sake.
In retrospect, I can see how this could create a problem with "badge collectors".    I DO think it would be nice if the member had their basic credentials or strongpoints posted ie; software engineer, former United Captain, Active CFI, Aerospace Engineer, former floorsweeper at the Skunkworks etc. etc. etc........
Again, just my two cents    Pat 8)

Quote:
I'm not comparing the "star system" to someone's tenure or background OR intelligence, and you really don't have to be a rocket scientist to answer many of the questions on the forum.         But.........
Just take a look at some of the post history around here. Seems like a lot of "who are you?, where do you come from? what do you do?" My suggestion was not a intended as a replacement or enhancement of the current system, but as a "on a similar note...." idea.