I HAVE THE POWER!!! (in terms of forum milestones)

[Aginor]

The thing with me is that I make posts of various lengths. You have witnessed first hand the gigantic political discussions, star wars discussions, survival discussions, etc. Even if only 15% of my posts are on the longer side, I have 10 times more posts than just about everybody else.

With all the memes and single line posts you make I am pretty sure that not even 5% of your posts are longer ones (longer than, say, 100 words) which probably puts a number of users into roughly the same word count, at least in recent years.

But yeah, finding out the real numbers is hard.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Now we await you, @Canas and @Warden to hit the 5000 mark!

To be honest I think @Warden will reach 5000 before @Canas and I, despite being less active than either of us, because he has quite a lot more posts to his name already and he dabbles in pretty much everything. Good luck to him!

The race to become Tenth Slann is a bit more neck-and-neck. @Canas is principally active on the AoS side of the forums, while I’m more active in the Fantasy, Kings of War, General Hobby Chat and Off-Topic sides. Both of us have a painting blog, but while @Canas updates his more regularly, I also post stuff in the Fluff section. @Canas does have around 300 more posts than I do, but if I am more active in the next month or so I have the potential to catch him up.

 

[Canas]

Mwha, I'm not super active, and with how long my posts are getting an hour of activity per day can still translate into a mere one or two posts

Also, my painting is probably gonna slow down. Need to first find more storage space before I can pick up the pace again. That is if GW even delivers the stuff I order. No idea why but when I have it deliver with the free "regular" mail option it frequently goes wrong. Yet GW is the only one that ever has this issue for me. It's weird.

 

[Warden]

There are nine slann on the forum already???

Edit: correction there are EIGHT already? That is crazy. Good to know the forum is still going strong and only continues to grow!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

With all the memes and single line posts you make I am pretty sure that not even 5% of your posts are longer ones (longer than, say, 100 words) which probably puts a number of users into roughly the same word count, at least in recent years.

For the sake of argument, let's use your 5% estimate at face value. That works out to 1262 long posts. Just how many members on the forum even have that many total posts? That is difficult to tell. The 20th most prevalent poster has 1871 posts. I'll make a conservative guess and say that there are no more than 40-50 members with 1262 posts or more. Now that is just total posts, and no one with that many posts has anywhere near a 100% rate of long posts. I'd say that even among the longest posters, for every one long post they have they probably have three or four shorter ones (maybe @Scalenex is an exception, but even he has quite a few short posts, i.e. welcoming new members, quick comments on memes, etc.). I'd guess that the highest rates of long posts aside from @Scalenex is about 25-30%. So if we use a rate of about one third, then for a person to match my long post count of 1262, a member would have to have a minimum of 3786 total posts. That leaves us with very few people.

Another important point is that when I do make long posts they are usually exceptionally long. The thing with me is though that I really need disagreement to reach those levels. I need an adversary to bring those posts out. However when the stars align, anyone outside of @Scalenex will have a hard time to match the length of those posts.

The third point is that even short posts do add up. Sure, not posts comprised purely of a picture, but even posts of less than 100 words add up over the course of thousands of posts!

Aside from @Scalenex , there are likely very few people to match my absolute word count. Now average word count would be a very different story, but total absolute word count will likely fall in my favor. I'd say that in terms of absolute word count I would for sure fall into the top 10, and likely somewhere in the top 2-5.

Not that it really matters, but it is a fun exercise to engage in. Maybe I'll start including some random words alongside of each of my memes

 

[ravagekitteh]

Another important point is that when I do make long posts they are usually exceptionally long. The thing with me is though that I really need disagreement to reach those levels. I need an adversary to bring those posts out. However when the stars align, anyone outside of @Scalenex will have a hard time to match the length of those posts.

I don’t want to be a pedant, but I wouldn’t call your long posts exceptionally long - not when compared to someone like @Scalenex. Don’t get me wrong, they are still very long but even with your debates, they still tend to be made up of a lot of videos and quotes. When we do end up embroiled in debates, I would hazard that my word counts equal/surpass yours, simply because I tend to write down all of my arguments, rather than use videos (I find videos in debates a major turnoff - I would much rather people took the time to articulate their thoughts themselves rather than rely on someone else to do it). By no means are they short - if we were to factor in the words said in those videos, it would be a very different story indeed - but as it is I think to compare it to say @Scalenex is a bit of a stretch; your posts are about the same length, but I reckon his has the higher raw word count.

However, having said that I still wholeheartedly believe you have the highest overall word count on the forum . @Scalenex length or not, those posts sure do add up! Even if you were to factor out all of the “chaff” posts, you would probably still be in the top ten at least due to the vast amount of wide and varied content you do put out on the forum (something which to be clear, we do all appreciate!). I don’t think there can be much doubt about that!

 

[Canas]

I"m really curious how everyone ranks now in terms of wordposts. How many slann would lose their positions if we counted that way

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

don’t want to be a pedant, but I wouldn’t call your long posts exceptionally long - not when compared to someone like @Scalenex.

Which I never denied, and I even listed him as an exception several times.

Don’t get me wrong, they are still very long but even with your debates, they still tend to be made up of a lot of videos and quotes

(I find videos in debates a major turnoff - I would much rather people took the time to articulate their thoughts themselves rather than rely on someone else to do it)

I make no apologies for my inclusion of quotes and videos. I express my arguments in a debate and then support it with external sources. I actually find the opposite to be off-putting in a debate. If someone puts forth their opinion in a debate without supporting evidence, I find that a weak argument. Then we are just expressing our own personal opinions and fall into the trap of everyone's opinions are equally valid.

So if my "opponent" says A, B, C are true in Star Wars and I claim that X, Y, Z are true (and ABC and XYZ are mutually exclusive) and I provide video evidence demonstrating X, Y and Z then I am in the much stronger position.

In a more serious setting, say an academic essay or scientific paper, this is of paramount importance. An argument must be supported with external sources (quotes, data and findings from reputable sources). Now, since these debates are much less formal, the supporting sources are not going to be from academic papers, but I still always try to support my arguments. Sometimes that support is a clip directly from a film (which backs up my viewpoint, or contradicts my opponent's point) or an interview with a subject expert.

I would hazard that my word counts equal/surpass yours

I would disagree. I think you are forgetting that I am often debating multiple opponents simultaneously. For instance, last time I was debating against you, @Aginor and @LizardWizard at once. I was counter arguing each of you in turn. Actually, sometimes I break up the post because it would simply be too unwieldy with so many points and counterpoints + supporting evidence.

However, having said that I still wholeheartedly believe you have the highest overall word count on the forum . @Scalenex length or not, those posts sure do add up! Even if you were to factor out all of the “chaff” posts, you would probably still be in the top ten at least due to the vast amount of wide and varied content you do put out on the forum (something which to be clear, we do all appreciate!). I don’t think there can be much doubt about that!

I honestly think that @Scalenex would have me beat. That's why I predicted my ranking would likely fall somewhere between 2-5 on the forum.

 

[Aginor]

...and that's all apart from the fact that a long word count doesn't say anything to begin with.

I've argued with someone on another forum regularly. He was a (mostly) nice person and a very educated one to boot, but he turned everything into long-winded walls of text and used sever hundreds of words where a few dozen would have sufficed.
Plus he added a lot of quotes, and more often than not you had to search for the parts he wanted to argue with, or they just weren't proof at all (he just thought they were, like we all do sometimes).

So yeah, nothing to gain with a high word count if you don't have something substantial to say.

Edit: oh and btw I hope you weren't debating "against" us, but with us. Debating highly subjective topics isnt anything that can be (or should attempted to be) "won".

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

...and that's all apart from the fact that a long word count doesn't say anything to begin with.

This is very true!

Sometimes being concise is far more difficult.

oh and btw I hope you weren't debating "against" us, but with us

I was debating against the ideas you guys were putting forth, not against any of you personally. And I feel that you guys were rightfully doing the same. Nothing wrong with that as long as we stay on the topic and focus on the arguments themselves. I think we have actually navigated some pretty risky topics quite successfully.

Debating highly subjective topics isnt anything that can be (or should attempted to be) "won".

I agree with that statement, but I would disagree that everything we discussed was subjective.

 

[Scalenex]

I got flagged a bunch

I honestly think that @Scalenex would have me beat. That's why I predicted my ranking would likely fall somewhere between 2-5 on the forum.

Back when when we had a more primtive server base. If memory serves me, there was a brief time where Red Devil wrote in code specifically because I was repeatedly hitting the word count limit on Tacticas and fluff pieces

But fairly soon after I became a moderator, moderators were given a bigger ceiling. Then after the forum upgrade the point became moot because the ceiling for maximum word count for one post is so high even I never came near it.

I'm not sure if word count is something to brag about. Something I need to work at in my writing is being more succinct. It has been noted when I write critiques for the short story contest that I tend to fixate on word counts in stories.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I was repeatedly hitting the word count limit on Tacticas

A couple of your tacticas still stand amongst the very best things I have read on the forum!

Then after the forum upgrade the point became moot because the ceiling for maximum word count for one post is so high even I never came near it.

Just out of curiosity, what is the maximum word count for a single post?

m not sure if word count is something to brag about.

I suppose neither are any of the other things we playfully track. But it is fun! And it would appear that you stand on the very top of the podium.

 

[Scalenex]

A couple of your tacticas still stand amongst the very best things I have read on the forum!

Feel free to like bomb the tacticas. I estimate I get at least three or four times the dopamine hit for a tactica like as opposed to a normal like. I just wished I had more opportunties to game in my area, so I cannot really come up with new material for Tacticas. I very rarely get to play 8th edition or Age of Sigmar. I own the Kings of War starter kit, but I have never run across a player for it.

Just out of curiosity, what is the maximum word count for a single post?

I looked it up! It's a character limit, not a word count limit. It was 64,000 back when I bumped up against the limit at least a half a dozen times. Then I started splitting big things into Part 1, 2, and 3 (I get more likes that way anyway). I had passed 100,000 once or twice at least.

The current character limit is 500,000 or at least it was when we switched to this new forum server. Since then we've implemented a variety of minor nearly imperceptable upgrades, but I don't think we changed the character limit sense.

We will have a big party when you 500,000 posts or likes Nightbringer. I believe at that point you will become an Old One.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

We will have a big party when you 500,000 posts or likes Nightbringer. I believe at that point you will become an Old One.

That is a pretty big number to hit. I don't think I'll ever make it that far. I'm barely over 10% of the way there in terms of likes. 100k, maybe (and even that would take years), but I fear that 500k is simply to large of a mountain to climb.

 

[Aginor]

Yeah, that's what we engineers call a "pretty safe limit".

 

[Canas]

Yeah, that's what we engineers call a "pretty safe limit".

And then a genuine user shows up and breaks it on the first try....

 

[Lizerd]

Just hit 900, and only 100 away from becoming a carnosaur!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Just hit 900, and only 100 away from becoming a carnosaur!

Moving on up!!!

 

[airjamy]

I can have more false modesty if I get someone ELSE to recognize my achievement...but if you insist. I looked up 5000 memes and there was some sacriligious stuff about Jesus feeding 5000 people. So it's sacriligious of me to make a loaves and fishes remarks.

But in honor of Lustria's savior. I will give you all 5000 snakes.

Congrats scaly, thanks for your continued support of the forum! On the tactica, it is progressing.. slowly. I have started work on the individual unit entries. But it will get there, the rat menace must stop!

 

[Lord-Marcus]

The most hip of frog-men, that is to say me, the 6th generation, the dabbing slaan, would like to wade in.


We all need to post more. Real life gets in the way.