Counters are out

[Frostmarrow]

I read somewhere the other day that web counters are out. A thing of the past. Any site featuring a web counter cannot be considered very hip. Needless to say this made me think of the post counters at EN-Boards. Can we expect to be seeing those here, as we enter 2003 or will they be removed in order to stay on the cutting edge of Internet-style?

 

[Drawmack]

By counters they are talking about counter that just say you are visitor number x to a page. The reason they are out is that they offer no real statistical information on the web-site and the real web-developer can get or build a package very easily that will give them better stats on their sites. For example which pages are visited most, what paths are used through the site, where do people not stay long. Then all of this information can be used to improve the quality of the site. Where as a counter just says woohoo I've had 10,000 hits.

 

[Frostmarrow]

By counters they are talking about counter that just say you are visitor number x to a page. The reason they are out is that they offer no real statistical information on the web-site and the real web-developer can get or build a package very easily that will give them better stats on their sites. For example which pages are visited most, what paths are used through the site, where do people not stay long. Then all of this information can be used to improve the quality of the site. Where as a counter just says woohoo I've had 10,000 hits.

Of course that is the technical aspect of counters. What I'm talking about is style. Web-counters are out just like bell bottoms. Now, I wouldn't mind if Morrus decided to remove the post-counters from the user accounts as I've always found them a tad useless. What do you think? Do we really need post-counters?

 

[Knight Otu]

Do we really need post-counters?

No, we don't need them. It doesn't really say much about the poster in question.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Keep post counters! I love them! It lets me know how much time I've wasted on these boards, and gives me a comparison so I know how much time others waste here too!

They're not a measure of wisdom or experience, but GEEKINESS! Long live the geeks! Keep post counts!

 

[arwink]

I'd be happy enough to see them go.

 

[Morrus]

I don't like them either, but until the people who write the vBulletin software write a version without them, we're stuck with them.

 

[Drawmack]

Morrus,
You can do away with them by making a small modification to the templates. You do not even need to get into the source code. Just go into the appropriate template search for Posts: and then put <!-- before the section of code and !--> after it. Bye bye post counter.

 

[Piratecat]

As an Admin, I find them quite useful for gauging individuals' activity on the boards.

Moved to Meta.

 

[garyh]

As an Admin, I find them quite useful for gauging individuals' activity on the boards.

Moved to Meta.

Indeed. It's not snobbery, or at least I don't think so. It just lets me know if someone is likely to be knowledgable about the boards, both in current content and in etiquette.

Basically, it helps me know if the poster in question should know better than to say whatever they said, or if they're likely to know what the board consensus on harm is.