How many megabytes to become a Regular on BB

[Donald_Petersen]

Hey, it’s nearly as fun to do it to his (virtual) face, too. Just call him OMike, and he’ll cut ya!

[popobawa4u]

[daneel]

How many bitcoins could I have mined instead of reading the BBS?

[Skeptic]

How many bitcoins could I have mined instead of reading the BBS?

Well, since BB readers are often tech and code savvy, I’m wondering how many of the regulars have a bot programed to spider just enough BB topics and replies to meet the requirement. Seems like it ought to be fairly simple for any coder to set up…

[anon35121463]

How many bitcoins could a BBS bitcoin miner mine if a BBS bitcoin miner could mine coins?

[anon37332521]

The default for a regular actually got decreased recently. It used to be higher:

Rules for Regulars

This idea has been niggling in the back of my head since I gained regular status. I used to be a very conscientious reader of threads. I never jumped in with a comment before reading all the posts. Then I found out that there was a "read percentage" I wasn't hitting. Okay. I'm a network security dude. I like a good hack, but now I find I'm missing stuff and not always posting the best replies. Is this a failure on my part, or a failure of Discourse? (Discuss)

[LDoBe]

I’m not kidding when I say “I’m not an employee, I just live here”

Never tried for regular. I’m just that socially dependent on the BBS community.

[Skeptic]

The default for a regular actually got decreased recently. It used to be higher:

More than 25% of all topics and replies?

[anon37332521]

Not exactly a good fit on BB, which is why it got altered.

[Skeptic]

Not exactly a good fit on BB, which is why it got altered.

Ah, that makes sense. On other forums, setting a % for topics in a sub forum might make sense. BB’s forum category aren’t really of the self-sorting, interested related kind, though.

[nimelennar]

The default for a regular actually got decreased recently. It used to be higher:

More than 25% of all topics and replies?

No, it was still 25% of each, but each is now capped at a certain number (20K replies, and 500 topics). So, since 25% of BB’s posts per hundred days is generally over 20K, the effect is a net reduction in the posts that you need to read to become a Regular.

[anon37332521]

Yes. Thanks for the clarification.

[teknocholer]

must have viewed 25% (capped at 500) of posts created in the last 100 days
must have read 25% (capped at 20k)

Could someone explain the difference between “viewed” and “read”, and is viewing merely clicking on a link? Is BB tracking my eye movements?

I’m not sure how I got regular status in the first place, and it probably won’t last, but those numbers seem daunting.

[teknocholer]

Mocking @OtherMichael behind his back: Priceless.

Ixnay. You know he can hear us, right? I was counting on some time to prepare my defense - something along the lines of, "Geez, I was only joking ".

[anon35121463]

but those numbers seem daunting.

Not so much. Only takes 50 days.

[nimelennar]

“Viewed” applies to topics, so for a “view” you only have to enter a given topic.

“Read” applies to all the replies in a topic, and it counts each reply as “read” as it appears on your screen.

[teknocholer]

So a quick scroll down a long thread means that I have read all the replies? (Asking for a friend who really wants to be a regular.)

[nimelennar]

There’s a blue dot next to each post you haven’t read. It takes a couple of seconds to fade, and I think that if you scroll past it too fast, it will still be there if/when you scroll back.

So, yes, a quick scroll will do it, but I don’t think you can be too quick about it.

[teknocholer]

Thanks

[beschizza]

My feeling is that once earned, a status should not lapse. I think BB readers need breaks: it’s always been a site that looks jaunty and fancy free, but is often focused on harrowing and stressful political/culture war stuff.