oooo, i like it, sounds logical, however, poor Komodo will have to deal with that assuming it's economical (time wise) to put together. But wouldn't that effect sponsorship? Meaning, if "we" say that we have 1000 posters, the sponsor will look at that value as 1000 possible clientel. However, if we adjust that value according to your statisical analysis, then that number would drop to a value much less, resulting in Komodo's presentaion of posters to a lower figure reducing the amount of possible clientel to outside vendors.
You know, jms, it could be that we are just thinking about this way too much, making it way to complicated and beyond laymans needs. But, I do like your view on it, assigning a value to the number of posts a person does to support the forum. That value has feedback in terms of more "respect." And I put that in quotes because YOU ARE NOT YOUR POST COUNT. We don't want a bunch of N00bs going around posting one word posts and racking in 1000's of posts. I'm just concluding that your reasoning makes sence, to me at least. It could even be something that can help maintain attendence and participation. The forum that "pays" you back... haha.
But yes, to much thought, too much time...
Dough