Making deleted posts not count as posts

[Ezynell 2,037]

Alot of new members seem to think that spamming your first five topics is a way to get a profile picture, and even when their posts/threads are deleted, they still keep them and their record. If not this, then something else to discourage spamming. (Here's a recent example)

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,528]

IP.Board doesn't decrease a user's post count when their posts are deleted. This is by design, and I once reported it as an issue to them: http://community.invisionpower.com/tracker/issue-33574-deleting-a-post-does-not-decrease-its-authors-post-count/ One of the developers had this to say:

 

The member made the post, even if you deleted it. The cached count is not decreased when you delete a post. The profile shows all CURRENT posts in the database. This is because statistics are run based on the count, so we need the real count (not the "forever" count).

 

Unfortunately, this is less than ideal for a forum like ours where the post count is used to grant and restrict various permissions. We can manually change someone's post count and user group, but it's extra hassle to go edit their account to do it.