Will the "TOP POSTERS" list be retained?

[Mark Ransom]

I was quite surprised to find myself on the list for this forum!

 

[Mathew Anderson]

I was quite surprised to find myself on the list for this forum!

Great question! Yes, though we may limit it to the last year or so. There are a few "top posters" who haven't posted in many years.

 

[Corialtus]

I'm not sure that "Top Posters" is a useful metric as it says nothing about quality.

Perhaps have a list of posters with most "likes" instead?

 

[Mathew Anderson]

I'm not sure that "Top Posters" is a useful metric as it says nothing about quality.

Perhaps have a list of posters with most "likes" instead?

That's certainly true. We'll actually have several options here that we could enable. Do you have any other suggestions on what you want to see? We might be able to create other Top lists for what the community wants.

 

[Corialtus]

I'm not sure that "Top Posters" is a useful metric as it says nothing about quality.

Perhaps have a list of posters with most "likes" instead?

That's certainly true. We'll actually have several options here that we could enable. Do you have any other suggestions on what you want to see? We might be able to create other Top lists for what the community wants.

I've been very lazy and just checked this out with AI. There are some good suggestions on what a "good" contributor is, but I'm not sure how easy this would be to implement.

.......

To measure the best contributors in a forum, combine quantitative data like post count and activity with qualitative factors like the quality of their contributions and community engagement. A balanced approach considers user behavior, such as consistently providing helpful answers, fostering positive discussion, and role-modeling ideal behavior, rather than solely focusing on high post counts.
Quantitative measures

• Post and activity volume: Track the total number of posts, replies, and new threads started.
• Active participation: Monitor how often a user logs in and how long they stay active, such as through time logged per 24 hours and the number of "episodes" (sessions) they have.
• Engagement metrics: Look at the number of "likes" or upvotes a user's posts receive, if your forum supports this feature.

Qualitative measures

• Contribution quality: Evaluate the depth, relevance, and novelty of a user's posts, not just their frequency.
• Problem-solving: Prioritize users who consistently provide high-quality answers and solutions.
• Community-building: Assess how well a user helps others, clarifies information, and fosters positive interactions.
• Role-modeling: Identify users who exemplify the community's desired behavior and help set a positive tone.
• Consistency: Look for users who consistently provide valuable content over time, not just a few isolated instances.

Advanced methods

• Weighted scoring: Implement a scoring system that gives more weight to higher-quality contributions over sheer quantity.
• Expert-ranking algorithms: Use algorithms that can help identify genuine experts based on the quality and consistency of their answers.
• Rubrics and scoring tools: Develop rubrics with specific criteria to score contributions more objectively.

Combining metrics

• Focus on impact: The goal is to identify users whose contributions add the most value, which may not be the most frequent posters.
• Consider different user "stances": Recognize that different users have different valuable roles, such as the "caretaker" who is always around to help, or the "discussant" who starts many threads.
• Use a combination: A mix of quantitative and qualitative metrics provides the most comprehensive picture of a contributor's value to the community.

 

[Mathew Anderson]

I'm not sure that "Top Posters" is a useful metric as it says nothing about quality.

Perhaps have a list of posters with most "likes" instead?

That's certainly true. We'll actually have several options here that we could enable. Do you have any other suggestions on what you want to see? We might be able to create other Top lists for what the community wants.

I've been very lazy and just checked this out with AI. There are some good suggestions on what a "good" contributor is, but I'm not sure how easy this would be to implement.

.......

To measure the best contributors in a forum, combine quantitative data like post count and activity with qualitative factors like the quality of their contributions and community engagement. A balanced approach considers user behavior, such as consistently providing helpful answers, fostering positive discussion, and role-modeling ideal behavior, rather than solely focusing on high post counts.
Quantitative measures

• Post and activity volume: Track the total number of posts, replies, and new threads started.
• Active participation: Monitor how often a user logs in and how long they stay active, such as through time logged per 24 hours and the number of "episodes" (sessions) they have.
• Engagement metrics: Look at the number of "likes" or upvotes a user's posts receive, if your forum supports this feature.

Qualitative measures

• Contribution quality: Evaluate the depth, relevance, and novelty of a user's posts, not just their frequency.
• Problem-solving: Prioritize users who consistently provide high-quality answers and solutions.
• Community-building: Assess how well a user helps others, clarifies information, and fosters positive interactions.
• Role-modeling: Identify users who exemplify the community's desired behavior and help set a positive tone.
• Consistency: Look for users who consistently provide valuable content over time, not just a few isolated instances.

Advanced methods

• Weighted scoring: Implement a scoring system that gives more weight to higher-quality contributions over sheer quantity.
• Expert-ranking algorithms: Use algorithms that can help identify genuine experts based on the quality and consistency of their answers.
• Rubrics and scoring tools: Develop rubrics with specific criteria to score contributions more objectively.

Combining metrics

• Focus on impact: The goal is to identify users whose contributions add the most value, which may not be the most frequent posters.
• Consider different user "stances": Recognize that different users have different valuable roles, such as the "caretaker" who is always around to help, or the "discussant" who starts many threads.
• Use a combination: A mix of quantitative and qualitative metrics provides the most comprehensive picture of a contributor's value to the community.

This is a great list. I know the forum config for this is 'somewhat' constrained, but I think we can combined some of these to get a few interesting segments listed.

 

[mfinley]

I've never seen the value to the Top Posters roster for each forum. I'm not going to click on their names, if it's a forum I frequent I probably already know who they are.

I think more useful would be a

Top "liked" posts or

Oldest zombie threads revived :-D

If ai gets involved it could probably pull out most discussed topics

 

[TaSad1]

There are a few "top posters" who haven't posted in many years.

Probably because they were banned and came back under a different usernames...

 

[Mathew Anderson]

I've never seen the value to the Top Posters roster for each forum. I'm not going to click on their names, if it's a forum I frequent I probably already know who they are.

I think more useful would be a

Top "liked" posts or

Oldest zombie threads revived :-D

If ai gets involved it could probably pull out most discussed topics

Those are possible .

 

[Moe Betta]

I'm not sure that "Top Posters" is a useful metric as it says nothing about quality.

Perhaps have a list of posters with most "likes" instead?

This would help direct people to helpful posts (sift through some of the nonsense). I plan to use the "follow" feature more in order to build a cohort of informative/instructive members that I find helpful.

 

[robert1955]

I was quite surprised to find myself on the list for this forum!

Great question! Yes, though we may limit it to the last year or so. There are a few "top posters" who haven't posted in many years.

The 'This forum' Mark is referring to is not all of dpr but only 'new forum system ...' which has existed for couple of weeks only.

Still, it is a fun to know sometimes, but if you need the space for something else, I'd go for it

 

[J A C S]

I was quite surprised to find myself on the list for this forum!

Great question! Yes, though we may limit it to the last year or so. There are a few "top posters" who haven't posted in many years.

I think that the ranking reflects a limited period of time, like a week or so.

 

[TaSad1]

I was quite surprised to find myself on the list for this forum!

Great question! Yes, though we may limit it to the last year or so. There are a few "top posters" who haven't posted in many years.

I think that the ranking reflects a limited period of time, like a week or so.

It was always limited to the current week. I've never seen a list of a "top posters who haven't posted in many years. "

 

[Mathew Anderson]

Here's some insight into the options we have to show member stats...

It might be able to be expanded beyond this.

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DPReview Community Manager