Quote Originally Posted by M. A. C. Newsome View Post
This is my first, and perhaps only post concerning the removal and/or restoration of titles. I never really paid much attention to them when we had them, and didn't even notice when they were removed until people started discussing it. So count me in that camp that doesn't really care one way or the other.

But it has occurred to me reading the posts in this and other threads, that people either post to say how much they miss the titles and hope they come back, or they post to say that (like me) they never really paid attention to them so it doesn't really matter.

I have yet to see a post by someone who adamantly feels that they should not come back and have no place in the forum.

I think that fact alone may be telling....
Matt has a great point here I think. The original premise for removing the special titles and post count related rankings, all of which meant little REAL effect in the grand scheme of things, was that they were potentially intimidating to new members and had little relevance to the value of that persons posts and contribution to the forum. As Matt has astutely noted, instead of three camps in this debate--those of those in favor of the titles, those against the titles for some particular REAL (not imagined) reason, and those who couldn't give a rip either way---we seem to be hearing only the voices of those in the first and thrid camps, and no REAL valid argumants for why the special titles and ranking should NOT be a part of the forum again.

I for one, when I arrived, and to a degree still, valued the notoriety of those with special titles, even silly and meaningless as, say, grand defender of the rubber chicken, as they were unofficially earned recognition of some particular contribution to the forum, be that based on knowledge, service, or simply a major contribution to the overall tenor and tone of the forum family atmosphere. The ranking, faulted as they were by potentially inflated numbers due to low utility posts like "nice kilt" and "way to go", still, when combined with the recognition of how long the poster had been a member here, and with the reading of just a few of that member's posts, fairly quickly could tell the newbie who really had a valued voice and opinion in this forum, regardless of who often they posted. And over time those with lesser numbers of posts, but a long duration here, also came to be recognized as being knowledgeable, but selective in their choice of what to say and when, such as Mac o Rath, just as an example.

But the point overall is that where was the hue and cry to rid the forum of these achievement points actually coming from, the populace in general, the newbies (I for one never as a newbie complained about intimidation by either the numbers or titles), or the admins for fear of scaring of newcomers (something I am not sure has ever been demonstrated to be a valid concern with any case demonstration or data).

I like Grant, Jock, and the many others here miss them, and the whimsical jocularity that they brought with them to this extended kilted family we call a forum, and long for those "olden days" of yore.

I even see that Grant has changed his avatar to a black swatch, a symbol of his mourning for their loss, perhaps?

Again, just one man's O.

jeff