Suggestion: Exclude marketplace replies from post count

I often come across Marketplace sales threads where the OP has thousands of posts, but their last meaningful non-sales activity was nearly ten years ago. Virtually all of their activity comes from variations of 'bump' and 'PM sent'. On a few occasions, I've even seen Jr. VIPs whose initial 100 qualifying posts came almost entirely from short Marketplace replies.

I'd suggest that much like Lounge replies are excluded from the post count, Marketplace replies should be as well. They may be active sellers, but I wouldn't count commercial activity the same as broader forum participation.

As a seller, I also support this.

This has been suggested before, but I don't remember what was the reason for not going through.

This has been a very recent topic in one of our team meetings.

There's no outcome to share at this point except that it's not a "no we won't do it." However, there are things we have to consider such as user's post counts. If we turn off post counts in the Marketplace, all of the sellers and user's who have legitimately participated will lose a lot of posts on their count. And while some of our users may not care, I guarantee for others that the sky will not only fall but their existence as we know it will be over.

Anyways, I think this is a good discussion to have to get other's viewpoints. So weigh in if you care about losing some post count or are willing to sacrifice it for the betterment of the MP!

That's fair. My concern isn't really the numbers per se, it's the fact that people can post "discount plz" a hundred times and somehow qualify for a Marketplace thread.

Case in point, I'm currently looking at a newly approved Marketplace thread from a member with a post count of 180, of which fewer than 40 were outside the Marketplace. If I were to exclude copy-pasted replies from WTB/HAF/Freebies, that number drops to fewer than 20.

@Stavro One of the things we have to consider when looking at this idea is whether said members just move their posting elsewhere and cause problems in other sections with this sort of posting. Much of the time when it comes to dealing with spam and repetitive posting we are playing a game of 'whack a mole', and we need to consider that when making a decision on this.

And as @PetraAnn says, some members are very delicate about their post counts and that is far from exclusive to BHW, as myself and @PetraAnn have encountered previously.

That's a fair point. I'm just unsure where the line is drawn for post count inflation.

The rules specifically call out "thanks for the share" as post count inflation, I don't see why copy-pasting "sample plz" a hundred times should count any differently, especially if the intent is to encourage broader forum participation.

I support this idea

They could also stop considering the reactions. Tons of bots spamming likes on HAF/WTB.

Someone creates a post ''i need casino links'' : 5-10 likes from bots answering the same stuff

Since we're not getting anymore discussion over this, I'm going to go ahead and close it.

Once again, we are talking about it. This is not a no.

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