How does one get the stars filled in?

[LargeSlowTarget]

ORIGINAL: Naskra

Filling the stars is an odd but common ambition.
Here's a breakdown of the community's preferences:

Gratuitous Insults 21 %
Throwing Gasoline on Flamewars 12 %
Idle Speculation 5 %
Whining 8 %
Whining about Whining 16 %
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition 14 %
Irrelevancy 8 %
Astounding Trivia 13 %
Helpful Information 2 %
Wit 1 %
Correcting One's own Mistakes 7 %
Trying to Get the Last Word 51 %

Been there, done all that (except 4th from bottom) and got all stars filled - now I'm so used to it that I can't stop although there is nothing more to gain. Call me an addict.

Btw, most efficient way to fill the stars is commenting posts with nothing but a smilie - just three mouse clicks, no keyboard necessary.

EDIT: Do edits count as new posts?

2nd EDIT: Apparently not[:@]

[LargeSlowTarget]

[;)]

[Platoonist]

Ah.....a post number inflater thread. [:D] I'm there. [;)]

[DuckofTindalos]

[:D]

[Hortlund]

ORIGINAL: madflava13

I can confirm 1000 gives you your 5th star...

I guess I should take this time to complain about the 200-odd posts I lost a couple years back during the early days when the board went t*ts up?!

Ahh... For the good old days of sub-500 posts. [:D]

Dude, I think I lost something like 2000 posts...but you dont see me complainin now do you? [8D]

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Panzerjaeger Hortlund

ORIGINAL: madflava13

I can confirm 1000 gives you your 5th star...

I guess I should take this time to complain about the 200-odd posts I lost a couple years back during the early days when the board went t*ts up?!

Ahh... For the good old days of sub-500 posts. [:D]

Dude, I think I lost something like 2000 posts...but you dont see me complainin now do you? [8D]

You LOST them?[X(]

Have you checked the pockets in your pants in the laundry hamper? Under the couch cushions?

[DuckofTindalos]

Man! [X(] I've heard about losing small change, keys and stuff, but you'd think 2000 posts just wouldn't disappear into thin air.

[Mr.Frag]

He's talking about the great forum hack where months of months of posts were lost.

What a mess that one was, right in the middle of the alpha of WitP, cost us massive amounts of time where everyone was out of touch.

[DuckofTindalos]

Yeah, I'd kinda figured that out... Sad how some people hack things just because they're there, not caring sh*t how much they inconvenience other people.

[Platoonist]

I seem to recall that not long after that the art of wargaming subforum vanished from history and the Mad Cow Steakhouse was born.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

Ah.....a post number inflater thread. [:D] I'm there. [;)]

[8|]I would never stoop to such a thing...tsk tsk tsk[:-][:D]

[Platoonist]

Never say never again......[:D]

[DuckofTindalos]

"Do you expect me to talk? No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"

One of my favorite movie lines of all time. As a side note, Gert Fröbe, who played Auric Goldfinger, didn't speak a word of English. All his lines were dubbed.

[Raverdave]

Then there are the small band of posters, such as myself, who are simply interested in the content of what we post rather than simply looking at our "post count", such things are beneath us.

[Raverdave]

Sh1thot ! My post count is now 4371 !!!!!!! Wooooo Hooooo ![:D]

[Hortlund]

Well guys, its not only that, back in the old days, the forum only tracked the posts made in the last year or something like that. At least I think so, because I remember sitting watching my postcount drop from day to day...that would cause you spammers to scream in agony [:@]

Ah I miss the good old days in the Art of Wargaming forum. Im talking of the time before 9-11...after that day everything changed. *sigh* memories memories...

[TheHellPatrol]

[:D]I like Spam, and i've always been rather fond of a cheese sandwhich[:'(][:D].

[madflava13]

Yeah, the old AoW forum helped boost lots of people's post numbers...

Whatever happened to Chiteng, anyways?? [:'(]

[bradfordkay]

He's getting beat up at the Mad Cow's Steakhouse forums.

[Captain Ed]

Gee Bob I hope your question was answered somewhere in this mess.[:D]

ORIGINAL: 509th Bob

Perhaps this was discussed in ancient forum messages, but, how does one advance from "recruit" to more advanced status? I've posted 18 messages/replies. In some, I've displayed my ignorance (calling an A-36a an Invader). In others, I've displayed a fuller grasp of historical reality than I've seen posted (effect of Japan attacking Pearl Harbor). I generally don't post often, I generally get my chuckles from other people's posts (especially the cutting responses to 'identify this' posts, or the recent "I only dropped in to insult somebody" thread! THAT was hilarious!).

So how does one advance in "rank"? Playing PBEMs? Number of posts (which would only seem to encourage meaningless verbosity)?

I am genuinely curious. Should I gratuitously drop in and insult others? Should I (as is my preference) withhold my remarks unless I think that others have missed the mark? Or do I have to PBEM? I'm getting to that point (trying a PBEM), but don't I deserve at least "one" star?

I fancy myself as being at least "VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE" about Pacific War history, but I am frequently humbled by the depth and breadth of knowlede displayed on these forums. I even usually manage to spell words correctly (which does not appear to be a necessary strength in these forums).

By the way, what does IIRC and AFAIK mean? I can figure out what "IRL" means, but not these. [8|]

Please enlighten me!

Thanks, 509th Bob