I use to run into a sci usenet poster who usually provided 10-30 shortened links with his postings pointing at books, papers and previous postings (google group

I use to run into a sci usenet poster who usually provided 10-30 shortened links with his postings pointing at books, papers and previous postings (google groups). Arguing over a topic he one time explained he had a clear analytics picture of what references other posters did and didn't read, who [silently] participated in the discussions, how much people read before and after writing a response, etc.