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Originally Posted by e-lite

But "activity" are only measured by "posts per day" or something yes? Wouldn't it be more fair to measure "visits" or "logins"? Just wondering, because getting 35% activity by posting is not hard. It's just to login and spam "gz m8!"

Please read the Member Activity Ratings thread; activity rating incorporates many other factors than just number of posts, such as frequency of visits, length of posts, posting in specific forums, etc.

Originally Posted by 711

As I stated, the activity meter is dynamic. Total historical post counts do not count nearly as much in the activity rating as more recent activity (e.g. within the past 6-8 weeks). Also, some activities count more than others. The system is set this way to give a fair indication of how "active" a member is.

Think of it as an "enhanced" postcount. The activity ratings would be quite meaningless (and redundant) if they simply factored total post count: imagine a member who has say 3000 posts, but hasn't visited or posted in 9 months; would you consider that an active member?

Also, the current activity rating settings allow new members to gain a respectable activity rating after a few weeks of consistent forum activity, making the system interesting and useful for everyone.

The system's purpose is to encourage positive and meaningful contribution to the community, so short replies in a thread such as "LOLZ0ROMG" carry much less weight than longer posts. Also, certain forums can be weighted more than others...

Originally Posted by 711

As Marco is wont to say: I cannot discuss the dynamics of...

Hehe, j/k, the activity ratings take into account most past activity that is pre-existing in the forum database (post counts, threads started, etc.). However, because certain variables included in the activity calculation require logging of data that did not preexist, (such as blog entries, visiting certain pages, etc.), that data collection process has just begun.

As I mentioned earlier, now that the engine is collecting all those different data, the activity ratings will become gradually more definitive and reliable as we move forward. Once this "buffering" is complete, the formula will weigh a member's latest activity highest, meaning that even a post made 4 days ago will count more than a post made 14 days ago. Older data (more than 12 weeks or so) is also included in the activity calculation, albeit with lower weighting in the formula.

The forumula is configured to encourage not just activity in bursts, but also continued and consistent participation in the forum community. And as mentioned above, quailty is just as (if not more) important than quantity with regard to posts; it's possible to achieve a higher activity rating without an obscenely high post count. Creating threads weighs more than responding to others' threads. Creating threads in the proper forums (as a rough rule, the more general a forum is, the less weight it has; the more specific, the more weight) also helps. One good-sized opening post in a targeted forum could easily be worth 50 random one-line posts scattered around the forum (especially if those posts are in places like the Off-Topic forums, or General Discussion).

Ok, I've said too much... part of the fun is figuring this stuff out on your own, don't you think?