Can we do away with the title/post count combination?

[rockdeworld]

Something I've wondered about for awhile is this:

Discussing Post Counts
This also includes discussing user level or time being a member. Some people may think that a large post count is a status symbol, or grants them spooky powers. It doesn't. We try to treat all posters as equal, the ones that just started posting and the ones that have been here since the dawn of time have equal importance.

These titles are there for fun only and post counts mean nothing here. Don't treat anyone any differently because of their post count and please don't post to increase your count.
If that's true, why do titles increase in awesomeness as post count goes up? This is de facto the opposite of the spirit of these rules.

Would the admins of this forum do away with this combination so as to support the spirit of "all posters as equal"?

[erikun]

Isn't "increase in awesomeness" rather a matter of opinion? It seems that they more increase in size more than anything.

In any case, it's a funny little thing to look at from time to time and otherwise ignore. If the titles don't increase on their own, I would just rather have them removed entirely. After all, if people were free to choose what title they wanted to display, then some people would begin making a deal about whatever they'd set their title to - rather against the whole point of them in the first place.

[Loreweaver15]

I was actually surprised when I registered that users weren't allowed to customize their own titles.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Something I've wondered about for awhile is this:


If that's true, why do titles increase in awesomeness as post count goes up? This is de facto the opposite of the spirit of these rules.

Would the admins of this forum do away with this combination so as to support the spirit of "all posters as equal"?

As I recall, the administration has commented on the matter before, including suggestions of allowing users to set their own titles. If I remember correctly (I sadly can't find a source) there is no way to decouple the post count and titles aside from giving everybody the same title or letting users set their own, and letting users set their own titles is undesirable as it's another thing to moderate. In short, the only other thing to do is to get rid of them entirely.

[ChristianSt]

Please do not discuss post counts and user titles, but do feel free to courteously link users who raise the issue to this announcement. Thank you.

Courteously placing a link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2663453&postcount=1).

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Post titles are ubiquitous on forums, so people expect them. If we remove them entirely, we have to field questions on why they aren't there. If we let posters choose their own, that's one more thing we have to moderate for appropriate content. So we have what most forums have, a series of titles related to post count. They provide a little local color. They go up in size, I suppose, but whether they get "better" is a matter of opinion. The most common request regarding them seems to be a request to return to being a pixie followed by being a dwarf.

They don't mean anything and the Forum Rules and quoted text support that. That doesn't mean they don't do anything; they provide an expected feature in a way that adds a little fantasy gaming themed local color.