One justification cited for post count validity is experience; a higher post count indicates that a member has been around longer and has put in more time on the boards.
Or does it? I've seen plenty of superfluous posts in order to artificially build up one's total post count, both here and elsewhere. When you have people inflating their post count with meaningless posts, it damages the credibility post count might otherwise afford to true contributors.
In my mind, a member's signup date and post history say a lot more about their value to the community than the number of posts they've made.
In the new forum software, your signup date and a link to your post history will be displayed prominently next to your avatar. It will be easy for people to see how long you've been around and just what you've been up to while you've been here.
What about advanced user titles? Can't they only be achieved by post count? With the launch of the new software, I'm returning the forum to the days when rankings were earned and voted upon by the community. Your fellow forum members will nominate you and votes will be cast. Post count will be irrelevant. No all-night posting benders to "earn" the title of Jedi Knight. Custom titles will be made available to everyone and users may enter whatever title they wish, but the traditional high-level Jedi/Sith rankings will be reserved for those deemed worthy by the community.
In addition, I will remove post count from beneath user avatars and place it in the user profile where it will receive far less attention. Post count will be stripped of its function--determing your title--and become merely another statistic.
Thoughts?