I think a minumum number of words per post no matter what would sort out a lot of the meaningless posts as well as rampers. Ive found through experience though that a lot of the guys who do have green sheilds, also are on HC a lot more than most and therefore do have more knowledge than the average Joe....in general.
IOW Theres a certain amount of general market knowledge that comes from being on HC frequently enough to actually be given a green sheild and a person who cares enough to obtain one by posting more, must be pretty heavily into the stock market as opposed to someone who is a casual, carefree investor or newby.
Of course there are exceptions and ive seen some posters who have green sheilds put out posts that are less than informative and sometimes down right wrong - I am guilty of this myself. The problem with this then, is that newbies may get mislead into thinking that someone with a sheild actually knows what they are talking about (from a learning prospective, as we all know that one should never take trades based on someone else's opinon :)
I like the idea of a "most thumbs up icon".
Another good idea IMO is to also reward and encorouge up and coming learners with perhaps a "most improved trophy every month or somthing. This could go a long way in making sure that there are always fresh ideas coming into HC and a new breed of trader all the time. It would encourage everyone to get better at it, which IMO can only be a good thing for everyone here.
