Definitely. Because I care above all else about my reputation on an online forum, and it really would raise my self-esteem if I had a high reputation on TouchArcade.
As I've said before when this comes up, I've really yet to see a forum reputation system that didn't cause drama.
I have always disliked post count being visible to ordinary users here like myself. Behind the scenes it is ok, I guess. I would personally rather have a reputation system that is visible than a post count. A guy with 50 posts could be much more valuable to a forum and be somebody you would want to look at because he is rated highly, rather than a guy with 12,000 posts who spends all his time typing "Yes. /10chars.".
Well, it already is somewhat like that with Junior and Senior members, just not as in depth as you are describing.
Junior and Senior members are based off of post count. Somebody can become a Senior member in a day by posting /agree or +1 or this is a good game in every thread.
Reddit style karma points. Upboats and downboats based on user submissions. If someone posts something and it recieves a large amount of downvotes then the comment is hidden and a message displays that says *This comment has been deemed spam to unhide the comment please click Show Comment*
Since this is a vBulletin forum, if they used such a system which it sounds like they will not, it would probably be the usual vB rep system described here: http://forums.toucharcade.com/faq.php?faq=vb3_user_profile#faq_vb3_reputation
Are people really bothered by post count though ? I've never held it in high regard. Someone with 12 posts can post something great, and like you say someone with 5000 posts might just reply too much. I post a lot as i type veryyyy fast and work at home so its easy to check and reply. But whether i've got 100 posts or 100,000 it doesnt matter to me. Like others have said it'll just cause hassle, people moaning to the mods that their rep count is low and they havent done anything wrong etc. But rep count/post count, means nothing. I think theres too many people into game achievements they now want post achievements
I think the best thing to do is remove post count. Just leave the forums as forums with no fuss. Don't replace it with anything. Any sort of system doesn't reflect the quality of games. If a 10 poster says a game is good and a 1000 poster says its bad, this doesnt really mean anything in itself. It all depends on the quality of the post itself at the actual moment in time. Also different people will have different tastes. I never look at post count... Unless its kingbosalot with 1 post in total saying "thus game is soooo the best in the wooooorld!" in which case it is still fairly obvious any way.
No. Post count gives a general, rough idea of how reliable a person is. I want to know how long this guy who's recommending a $10 game has been around. I would actually prefer some sort of rep system, even though it isn't gonna happen. The point is, I want to be able to distinguish the newcomers from the the older members who have been here years or have contributed to the site a great deal. Yes post count isn't perfect but it's better than nothing.