Dear E2,
I was originally just going to message Clockmaker in private, but I decided to reply to him here in order to share my thoughts with the broader userbase.
First off, I'm thankful to both Clockmaker and GAIL for sharing their thoughts. These are both long-time users whose opinion I greatly respect.
Under the old numbers, only two new users had made it to C! power in the past two full years. Under the new numbers, only 3 additional users did. The effect of these changes is very small indeed. If there are too many C!s in the system, it is caused by the vast majority of C!s given out by old, well-established users, most of whom are way above Level 4.
To do what Clockmaker is suggesting would mean actually clawing back C! power from people who have already had it for a while, which would certainly not sit well with many users.
The only real way to solve the issue of too many C!s is to increase the number of writeups getting posted, which will not happen until we modernize the site, which jaybonci has been feverishly working on for the past two years.
Until jay finishes up the modernization process, any changes we make to XP/Levels is, as I've said elsewhere, little better than rearranging deck chairs. But even after we get some more new users, I and almost everyone else I spoke with during the three-week comment period for this change agrees that we need to get new users into the system faster and get them the main powers sooner.
I'm actually very sympathetic to Clockmaker's idea of using the C! power as something to strive for as long as possible, to wring as many writeups out of people as we can, since that is how we've done things around here for a long time. However, in the end I feel like we have to accept that the internet has changed in the past 15 years, and people can't be expected to wait around for years to get basic site powers.
Highest regards and a very merry season to you all!
-m