Who has how many?

[Cliff Rogers]

now what was that saying about a rats orifice??

A rat's ring; pay attention Bob...

[pawnhead]

Well I didn't post at all in my first year of membership. I did a bit of reading and decided to sign up but didn't post anything. After a year I stumbled on it in my bookmarks and decided to join the mad house by contributing something.
Hard drive is pretty cheap nowadays and it would cost bugger all to keep a non-active member on the books I'd imagine. It's not using any bandwidth unless someone is searching for them in which case they may find that what posts they have made are informative. I'd imagine that a lot of people sign up just to ask a question and you'd never see them again. It's annoying when they don't even check back or leave a thank you for any advice they may receive.

Off topic, I just found a cool smilie on the boards. They haven't got my flag, but they've got the next best thing: -

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Egads! The member's list must be broken! The last time I checked I was several pages in, somewhere about 150th place in the posting list.

Now I'm 10th(ish)!

Surely I don't post that much crud? I'm nothing like the forum's great crapoisseurs, really! Please, please tell me I'm not an Al clone!

[ss_11000]

wow, i'm 40th. although half (or more) of my posts have been non woodwork.

i guess i spend to much time here lol.....

cheers

[ubeaut]

Hey John - This one any good to ya

If not then which one do ya want?

[Iain]

whers the important one, it's part of the last one but doesn't rate a mention

[Iain]

Hhhmmmpphh!!!!!!!

[echnidna]

The ureka flag should have the Southern Cross in it Iain

[Ray153]

I don't post often, I am stuck on page 11 and ranked at 1025th but consider that I am in good company on that page, one day I may reach the dizzying heights of a single figure page number. Who knows......
While there will always be forumites who breeze in, look around and wonder "what on earth am I doing here" and are never heard from again, that is a fact of life with any forum on the internet. I would hope that any moderator worth his/her salt would exercise their veto over membership carefully. Having read Neils post with a 3 year line in the sand, while it matters not my approval of this, it seems sensible on first glance.
When I came on, I was impressed with the level of knowledge and skill that was evident in many posts. I was reluctant to wade in boots first as I do not see myself in the same league as others and am using this forum primarily as a learning tool. Should I be removed from membership because I "don't contribute"? I would hope not. I would argue that it takes time for people to find their comfort level where they feel competent to offer their viewpoint or show their work.
Am I "using" the members who contribute greater than I? Absolutely, and no apologies for it either. However, I would be ashamed if others accused me of cutting and running, I hope that what little I have posted may be of some use to someone, somewhere. I would also hate to see posts deleted purely because they are over a certain age. I understand the constraints etc of storage, but just because an idea/concept/technique/theory is old does not automatically make it worthless. Democracy, for want of a better example, is an idea/theory/system started many years ago. To put it into woodies terms, dovetails have been around for eons but they still have their place.
I think that this forum would wither and die rapidly if the membership was drawn only from those of a certain skill level, if all members have the same skills/abilities etc, you rarely learn much. You learn from exposure to other ideas and from other people. I can speak from professional experiences, I have taught within my profession and learnt just as much from the recruits I taught as they got from me.
I would not like to see any forum membership, not just this one, managed from a viewpoint of "you can only stick around if you generate xxxxx number of threads/posts" It would be a shame imho to see this fora degenerate into something akin to the Folio Society where you have to buy xxxx number of books per year or where members are like used car salesmen "you didn't reach your target this month so we have to let you go".

[Sturdee]

Having read Neils post with a 3 year line in the sand, while it matters not my approval of this, it seems sensible on first glance.

and

Should I be removed from membership because I "don't contribute"? .

Ray, it is not just a 3 year rule, but a 3 year rule of not even logging on to read any posts, so they were a single enquiry type of member.


Peter.

[Stuart]

Just that absolutely. The mods don't care whether you are posting or not - but we do know if you have visited, and if you visit, then you are a member, and have as much right as anyone to be here. You are also eligible to win on the prize forum being a current member of the forum, but of course, you have to post an acceptance if you win

There are many, many members who never, or rarely post. There are also a whole heap who never even register. Horses for courses.

If you register, don't post, and don't return for 3 years, then don't be surprised if your registration vanishes. You are not banned, you are perfectly eligible to join again.

[Stuart]

On a side note, I think that the woodies joke thread is used just to boost post numbers (particularly the Not a joke, just a bit of fun Mk XXXX )

[Iain]

This contribution now gets me to 7311, and I do contribute in areas I understand or excell, such as, well, you go look for them, they are there.

[pawnhead]

Hey John - This one any good to ya

That's Sweden, and I'm Denmark. I've got it in my photobucket anyway so I'm just having a whinge.

The viking is great though. Most people aren't aware that the term "viking" originated as a verb, basically meaning to go out and 'rape pillage and plunder', so you'd better watch out for me raping pillaging and plundering this place.

[pawnhead]

On a side note, I think that the woodies joke thread is used just to boost post numbers (particularly the Not a joke, just a bit of fun Mk XXXX )

You could set it up so posts in more trivial sub-forums don't add to your post count if you wanted.
You could also install a Shoutbox at the top of the "Nothing to do with Woodwork" sub-forum. Basically just a continuous live 'Friday thread' chat room so you could gabble away all you want without building up a monstrous number of posts.