robertito62 - 9:18 pm on Oct 17, 2004 (gmt 0)

> but I'd guess that a comment from someone with 5K posts is likely to be more credible than someone with 5 posts.

This would have been true in the past, the naive years of 90's. There are now organized groups and paid tasks force to push for post counts so that *some* members become -as you say- *credibles*.

Then, these operators who achieve the status of authorities by virtue of their post count engage in spreading their own ideas, manipulating the information available and even engage in outright spamming of the board, one way or another.

We may not see all the consequences of this in this particular forum but the convincing quality of a high post count is on everyone's mind, thus the desire to take advantage of it. Now a days, the only assessment one can make about postcount is that the poster has plenty of time to spare, or is a moderator, or someone with a goal in mind. As anything else in business, once a certain falacy turns into an accepted fact, it becomes subject to exploitation.

A better gauge for measuring an *experienced* poster is the estimation of how many years he/she has been around, whether participating or lurking. Either way, that poster probably has a good handle of what goes on, understand the rules and knows who is who.