Alright, so multiple times I've seen people create threads about how they wished Bungie.net had a post-count. It's been thoroughly discussed, and I've seen enough evidence to prove to me it's a horrible idea. The threads have too much spam as it is, and this would only encourage it.
But I think it is a valid argument that helpful members of the B.net community should get recognition for their services on the forums. I've seen some interesting ways of doing so, specifically on the Apple discussion page. Now, I know some of you might not like Apple, but bear with me here.
The Apple forums are based off of "question points." When a question is asked, (I'm assuming) a moderator marks that as a "question." If someone answers the question, another moderator (again, assumption) awards points. The point value varies according to the complexity of the answer, and "helpful" hints get fewer points, as to "complete" answers get full points. They also go by a star system, where the amount of points you get gives you a higher rating.
I'm not suggesting all of this be implemented in the Bungie forums, and I understand that a lot of this encourages "elitism." Although, how much "elitism" or "bragging rights" can you have if all that you're bragging about is how much help you are? It takes a lot of the steam away, and you can instantly see who knows what they're talking about. If someone answers a billion questions and gets a billion points, sure, they might have a higher rank than someone new, but all that it means is that they answered a bunch of questions, and gives them a sort of recognition that they wouldn't normally get.
Now, I understand how difficult this would be to implement, I just read all these threads about how "post counts R leet!", and thought that this might be a better solution than just a simple counter.
I also understand how much more this would ask of our moderators, who already put tons of time and effort into keeping these forums clean. And I'm not expecting this to work, ever. It's just a thought, and I would like to get some input on the idea.