oscar51
05-30-2003, 03:51 PM
To add to the usefulness of the vBulletin application, I suggest that each member be assigned a "posting profile" that can be conveniently viewed by all other members and that will show at a glance the forums to which a member's posts have been submitted.
To illustrate this concept, here is the posting profile for vBulletin.org member "Xenon" as of 5:30 AM PDT on 29 May 2003. The posting profile is the column of numbers labeled "Rounded". The numbers in this column are the percents shown in column "Exact" rounded to the nearest whole number. (High precision is not required for this concept to be useful.) For example, Xenon has contributed about 2% of his total posts to the "Announcements" forum, 12% to the "Full Releases" forum, 1% to the "Beta Hacks" forum, etc. -- and note that 0% does not necessarily mean 'none'. (I hope the entries in this table lineup properly; I cannot preview of view them myself. Sorry for any inconvenience here.)Member Xenon: 6083 posts since 02-25-2001
Percent of 6083
ID Forum Posts Exact Rounded
-- ---------------------------- ----- ----- -------
02 Announcements 115 1.890 2
04 Full Releases 745 12.24 12
05 Beta Hacks 51 0.838 1
06 vB1 Hacks 2 0.032 0
07 Site Feedback 409 6.723 7
08 Hack Requests 1277 20.99 21
09 Help Me Finish 242 3.978 4
10 General Hacking Discussion 849 13.95 14
11 Support 459 7.545 8
13 The Lounge 992 16.30 16
14 Forum Commenting 31 0.509 1
15 PHP / MySQL 444 7.299 7
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 12 0.197 0
22 Template Modifications 41 0.674 1
23 Language Packs 6 0.098 0
24 Buttons and Graphics 27 0.443 0
25 Testing Zone 33 0.542 1
26 Pre-Sales Questions 253 4.159 4
27 Template and Button Requests 81 1.331 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 14 0.230 0
-- ---------------------------- ----- ----- -------
Total posts: 6083Posting profiles can be easily calculated from parameters readily available in the MySQL data base and could be made available routinely either as a list of numbers or a simple bar chart accessed via a suitable link in each member's personal profile. Posting profiles would be especially useful in avoiding arguments over whether or not the parameter "post count" is to interpreted as a measure of merit indicating a high (or low) level of technical expertise.
Readers interested in a longer and more detailed explanation of the concept of a posting profile may refer to the reports I wrote on that subject for MyOPera (http://www.oscar51.net/other/opfrpt1.html) and for Tech Support Guy (http://www.oscar51.net/tsg/tsgrpt7.html). Warning: These reports contain big tables with lots of numbers and may induce sleepiness in their readers. Pleasant dreams -- er, reading. :)
Posting profiles can be generated by anyone willing to download a bunch of files and run some filtering and tabulation software. But it would be a lot more convenient if these profiles were generated routinely in the vB software and then displayed on request. If this capability is already part of vB, I have not been able to locate it.
P.S.: As additional illustrations, here are the posting profiles of "Erwin" and "FireFly" as of early morning PDT 30 May 2003.Erwin: 4256 posts since 01-07-2002
ID Forum Percent
-- ---------------------------- -------
02 Announcements 2
04 Full Releases 30
05 Beta Hacks 3
07 Site Feedback 5
08 Hack Requests 11
09 Help Me Finish 1
10 General Hacking Discussion 10
11 Support 7
13 The Lounge 20
14 Forum Commenting 1
15 PHP / MySQL 3
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 0
22 Template Modifications 1
24 Buttons and Graphics 0
25 Testing Zone 0
26 Pre-Sales Questions 4
27 Template and Button Requests 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 0
-- ---------------------------- -------
FireFly: 5410 posts since 06-18-2001
ID Forum Percent
-- ---------------------------- -------
02 Announcements 3
04 Full Releases 19
05 Beta Hacks 1
07 Site Feedback 9
08 Hack Requests 12
09 Help Me Finish 8
10 General Hacking Discussion 17
11 Support 4
13 The Lounge 9
14 Forum Commenting 2
15 PHP / MySQL 6
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 1
22 Template Modifications 1
24 Buttons and Graphics 1
25 Testing Zone 1
26 Pre-Sales Questions 2
27 Template and Button Requests 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 3
-- ---------------------------- -------
To illustrate this concept, here is the posting profile for vBulletin.org member "Xenon" as of 5:30 AM PDT on 29 May 2003. The posting profile is the column of numbers labeled "Rounded". The numbers in this column are the percents shown in column "Exact" rounded to the nearest whole number. (High precision is not required for this concept to be useful.) For example, Xenon has contributed about 2% of his total posts to the "Announcements" forum, 12% to the "Full Releases" forum, 1% to the "Beta Hacks" forum, etc. -- and note that 0% does not necessarily mean 'none'. (I hope the entries in this table lineup properly; I cannot preview of view them myself. Sorry for any inconvenience here.)Member Xenon: 6083 posts since 02-25-2001
Percent of 6083
ID Forum Posts Exact Rounded
-- ---------------------------- ----- ----- -------
02 Announcements 115 1.890 2
04 Full Releases 745 12.24 12
05 Beta Hacks 51 0.838 1
06 vB1 Hacks 2 0.032 0
07 Site Feedback 409 6.723 7
08 Hack Requests 1277 20.99 21
09 Help Me Finish 242 3.978 4
10 General Hacking Discussion 849 13.95 14
11 Support 459 7.545 8
13 The Lounge 992 16.30 16
14 Forum Commenting 31 0.509 1
15 PHP / MySQL 444 7.299 7
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 12 0.197 0
22 Template Modifications 41 0.674 1
23 Language Packs 6 0.098 0
24 Buttons and Graphics 27 0.443 0
25 Testing Zone 33 0.542 1
26 Pre-Sales Questions 253 4.159 4
27 Template and Button Requests 81 1.331 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 14 0.230 0
-- ---------------------------- ----- ----- -------
Total posts: 6083Posting profiles can be easily calculated from parameters readily available in the MySQL data base and could be made available routinely either as a list of numbers or a simple bar chart accessed via a suitable link in each member's personal profile. Posting profiles would be especially useful in avoiding arguments over whether or not the parameter "post count" is to interpreted as a measure of merit indicating a high (or low) level of technical expertise.
Readers interested in a longer and more detailed explanation of the concept of a posting profile may refer to the reports I wrote on that subject for MyOPera (http://www.oscar51.net/other/opfrpt1.html) and for Tech Support Guy (http://www.oscar51.net/tsg/tsgrpt7.html). Warning: These reports contain big tables with lots of numbers and may induce sleepiness in their readers. Pleasant dreams -- er, reading. :)
Posting profiles can be generated by anyone willing to download a bunch of files and run some filtering and tabulation software. But it would be a lot more convenient if these profiles were generated routinely in the vB software and then displayed on request. If this capability is already part of vB, I have not been able to locate it.
P.S.: As additional illustrations, here are the posting profiles of "Erwin" and "FireFly" as of early morning PDT 30 May 2003.Erwin: 4256 posts since 01-07-2002
ID Forum Percent
-- ---------------------------- -------
02 Announcements 2
04 Full Releases 30
05 Beta Hacks 3
07 Site Feedback 5
08 Hack Requests 11
09 Help Me Finish 1
10 General Hacking Discussion 10
11 Support 7
13 The Lounge 20
14 Forum Commenting 1
15 PHP / MySQL 3
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 0
22 Template Modifications 1
24 Buttons and Graphics 0
25 Testing Zone 0
26 Pre-Sales Questions 4
27 Template and Button Requests 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 0
-- ---------------------------- -------
FireFly: 5410 posts since 06-18-2001
ID Forum Percent
-- ---------------------------- -------
02 Announcements 3
04 Full Releases 19
05 Beta Hacks 1
07 Site Feedback 9
08 Hack Requests 12
09 Help Me Finish 8
10 General Hacking Discussion 17
11 Support 4
13 The Lounge 9
14 Forum Commenting 2
15 PHP / MySQL 6
20 Hacking Hints and Tips 1
22 Template Modifications 1
24 Buttons and Graphics 1
25 Testing Zone 1
26 Pre-Sales Questions 2
27 Template and Button Requests 1
42 Pre vBulletin.org Threads 3
-- ---------------------------- -------