Hi there,

The Top Commenters just shows some of the people that are most active in the forums, currently. There are no awards or special privileges for being included there.

Of note - posters who choose to not show their posts and comments on their profile do not show up in that list.

So, there IS no point to it. Remove it. It's clutter.

Well alright. It still makes this place seem like I'm in the wrong forum...like adolescents post here...what's next? "Friend" requests? Sorry it's just a dumb notion to think anyone cares. Please treat us like the adults we are...(I live in hope that a poll could be created?)

No, not at all.

In general, it is the newbies who do the most posting. The people who reply 'ooh, cool. I didn't know that!', NOT the people who do know things. They post when, or if, they have something to offer.

Basically what you are talking about is Dark Ages stuff. Back when I started posting on GardenWeb, Bill Hillman and I would come in and answer tons of Rose Forum questions. Anything that was answered dropped to the 2nd page automatically, which tells you something about the state of affairs. Then, yes, we were the experts because we were the ones with multiple posts. That hasn't been true for 20 years, though.

Hey, here's a plus: just now, one of the top posters is from HT. Ooh, baby, if folks click on it to see what the posters there are talking about, and how they are talking about it, well, are they in for a hot treat!

Oh, yeah, keep up the top commenter column lol!

The "Top Commenters" module should be something you can opt out of in user settings. There's absolutely no reason any of your users should be forced to see this if they don't want it. I suspect for a large percentage of users, this is just unwelcome noise.

Paul, for people who DO like to see top commenters, I'd hate to see some innocent intolerant stumble upon HT and start flagging because they just don't like posts, then Houzz steps in to tell people to act nice or the forum will go away (they already did step in) Although, someone did ask about getting lurkers to post more...

Emily would you consider a poll about whether it should stay or go or be re-done?

It absolutely never occurred to me to consider top commenters as "experts" or to follow them when I was new. So thank you for that possible explanation.

I just "liked" penny's post, but I want to point out that just as we consider Top commenters to be a popularity contest, isn't counting whether someone "likes" your post also a popularity contest? I rarely look at that function, I didn't realize people put so much stock in it. I'm sure Emily has better things to do than click; besides, she probably doesn't like much of what we are posting here. Maybe they need a "yeah, yeah, I know" button.

To me, liking a post means that I don't have to add to the chorus of "use Revere Pewter"(ugh)... It's just adding my vote to something someone else has already said to avoid thread clutter for some of the simpler questions a poster has....so that has a use, imho...

I'm not on any of the conversational areas of the forum, much though so it's different there, I guess.

IMO, the top commenters listing is useless and I question its accuracy. I just looked at the activity for top commenter for today and that person has something like 8 posts in the past 24 hours. I can guarantee you there are commenters on "New Look for GardenWeb" thread that Emily started who have more than 8 comments today.

Once upon a time, Pros vied with each other to be the top commenter by replying brief one word answers to posts. Usually in the Before and After section, where they would post “Nice”, etc. Posting in the Forums ups your rank in the Search rankings. And they thought that being a Top Poster would put them first in the listings. It didn’t. Although if you look at Before and After, plenty of Pros still think that.

I think the only way that you can remove yourself from the ranking is to remove the visibility of your posts and comments from your profile. Which I think also removes any followers that you might have too. I may be wrong on that though.

I agree that the listing appears to be very random.......much like many of the changes we have seen recently. And by that I mean, the post 'count' is not at all accurate as I am aware of some very frequent posters (upto several dozens a day) who have never shown up on that list.

And frequency or quantity of posts has nothing to do with whether one is an "expert" or not any any particular topic!! Long time members of GW already know who are considered experts or at least extremely proficient or knowledgeable in any given area.....and it generally has nothing to do with the quantity of any daily number of posts but just an established history of thoughtful, helpful and accurate responses when they DO post.

I seem to remember when Houzz first took over Gardenweb there was a way of opting out of being eligible for Top Commenters. So when I went through and disabled all the email notifications and other junk, I also did whatever that was. Like others, if I ever found myself on that list accidentally, I'd have to banish myself.

Something else I've just become aware of today, is that certain people also seem to have disqualified themselves from being listed in post notifications. I never paid attention to the bell before this garbage started last week, but since then I've found it convenient for following certain threads. Today I posted to an actual, real life gardening thread, and found that half the posts created after mine aren't listed in my notifications.

Mad_gallica, that happens to me a lot...sadly it occasionally delays me from thanking a poster for replying to a thread I started.

Also sometimes a notification from the past will show up randomly even though the comment was made a while ago. In other words, notifications of comments don't show up when posted.

I've noticed also that the notifications do not seem to be consistent...or necessarily very timely. And two frequent responders to multiple garden forums from the UK are never included in the notifications. Not sure if that is their choice or an overseas programming blip or what.

I'd add that I really like the notifications feature as it does seem track the current threads that I have posted to, so easy to stay on top of the discussion. And how I am made aware of any private messaging. It is actually the first thing I read (and respond to) when I come into the site.

I would just like to point out that just TODAY, the Cooks Kitchen answer appeared for me....

This whole thing is so glitchy :(

Per Emily - Of note - posters who choose to not show their posts and comments on their profile do not show up in that list.

So how EXACTLY does one do that? I've checked and unchecked every conceivable setting and STILL see crap on my profile.

Add me to the chorus - get rid of top commenters in total. Don't drill down to something "more granular" for each forum. Just make it go away.

Hi again, If you go to your profile settings, and click Advanced Settings, you will see a section called "My Profile Pages."

In that section, uncheck "My discussions" and they will no longer appear on your main profile page and you will not be eligible to appear as a Top Commenter.

Hope that helps!

This occurred to me after seeing a post on Kitchens about a cracked sink: there is a large handful of posters who are incredible treasures, veritable fonts of information, whose posts are kind (well, usually!), informative, and helpful. People ask them to weigh in on questions and issues. They are NOT necessarily the most prolific posters. They are, however, the most treasured.

I noticed this week that one day an old GWebber who hadn't posted much in recent years showed up on the list one day, gone the next, then showed up again and now gone again.

Yes, that seems to be a major problem with the listing.....it is nowhere close to being accurate!! When I checked a day or two ago, the second 'top commenter' had only a single post in the previous 24 hours! I am aware of many others that post multiple times an hour on a wide range of various threads all day long and never show up on that list.

The entire concept is pretty pointless IMO and even more so if it is not accurate.

Once again, the 'top commenter' is showing activity of only a single post in the past 24 hours!! However this is being determined or calculated, it is NOT correct!! So what the heck is the point???

Hi all, Our team is looking at this. It's not behaving as it is supposed to, so they are taking a look. Thanks for the heads up!

Current (6/23) 'Top Commenter' has not posted or commented since Monday!! I'd say it certainly wasn't "behaving as it is supposed to" :-)

Today's number one top commentator has a down arrow to the right of the name. Does that mean that they had previously been even higher than number one?

Edited to add: top had a down arrow again today 6/30/18

Albert, my suggestion is just ignore this Houzz "feature" :-) It is broken and simply does not work!! Today's 'top commenter' had a single post yesterday......hard to imagine that being a valid 'top' measurement of anything!!

I think it is just a random selection of some user name and has absolutely nothing to do with the frequency of any comments.

Hi Albert, Yes, the arrows would indicate what direction that profile moved in the list.

Still working with our team to get this working properly, btw! I will update when I have news to share!

Since the primary sentiment toward Top Commenters seems to be apathy, perhaps the team can simply remove it. (I was thinking that they could use how many times a commenter is "liked", but that is as inaccurate as number of posts.)

Emily - PLEASE just make it go away. Stop wasting the 'team's' time on this. There are far more important issues to deal with that make forum use a PITA.

Ha ha. The top 4 posters are on HT.

I still don't know what "top" even means!

Edit to add 7/7/18; I've still no hint as to what "top" means.

Once again the "1." under " Top Commenters" has a "⌄" after the name.

I can't help with that, albert...maybe it has something to do with whether their standing as "top" is going up, or down?

I always thought it was more of a competition...like "I posted the most comments, look a me, aren't I special"....not sure, though, and my dislike for it may have influenced what I think ;)

Well I was a "top poster" and just removed myself from that stupid list. It's ridiculous and good for someone 16 years old.

Cpartist, I'm sorry to tell you that I see your username in the list, about an hour after you said you removed your name. Maybe it takes a day to catch up.