Update after last night's maintenance.
As part of the maintenance, we had to remove two extremely large threads (N
ewbie Outing #1 and
Sentosa Gathering #1) which had more than
35,000 
posts
each as they were corrupted during the server upgrade and causing some issues in the archive section where they were being stored. These two threads are also the precursor to why we have requested threads to have no more than 2,000 replies/posts as the larger the threads grow, the larger their impact on system performance.
The unfortunate by-product of this deletion is that some members post counts will have dropped (some more drastically than others) as the threads contained a disproportionate amount of their posts and we sincerely apologise for this setback. ..... 70K posts ..... I am still in awe of how the two threads managed to accumulate so many posts back then, given the fact that we were running on the older server (but I also remember that we were experiencing issues back then as well).
In addition to the deletion of the two threads, we have also re-configured the Kopitiam sub-forum. with regards to members posting statistics.
As of yesterday, posts in Kopitiam no longer counts towards increasing members' post counts.
Why have we made the change? Kopitiam was set up initially as catch-all place for talk not related to photography, and while it is one of the busier sections of ClubSNAP, it is not conducive to the
advancement of photographic knowledge or sharing. Attempts to close off Koptitiam in the past caused some consternation to members as they felt that a place to conduct OT chats was needed, and we heeded their calls. But, as a
Photography forum, we should be focusing (
hahaha pun unintended) on posting information, images, and other topics which are
relevant to photography.
Some members have also raised concerns (some in public and some privately) about the misconception of members having high post counts being mistaken as being more
photographically-endowed than others. While the truth is somewhat grey and in-between (more posts
does not necessarily mean more knowledge; corollarily less posts
does not necessarily mean less knowledge), with this move to dis-count Kopitiam posts towards member's post counts, we are at least a bit more assured that the member has
contributed more photography-related posts in the other sections of ClubSNAP - the Gallery sections, the Equipment Discussions, the Outings and the Marketplace. Of course, there are exceptions as OT posts still happen those sections, but for the most part, those OT posts should not have significant impact as a percentage of a member's
useful post count. On the whole, while the Moderators are doing a great job in culling OT posts, members should also try not to post too many OT posts outside of Kopitiam.
Summary (after that long monologue) :-
1) Two humongous threads were deleted, resulting in members losing significant number of posts (and we apologise for that)
2) Posts in Kopitiam no longer increase a member's post count.
As always, we welcome feedback so please feel free to voice out.
