I find the counting one useless. I feel that they were mostly used to boost post count. Don't get me wrong, in my younger years my post count mattered a lot more to me, but I did feel, and still do, that posts should have substance.
Not everything needs to be an essay at all, I don't even mind single worded posts if they are on point, like "congrats" or "awesome" but I just don't care for counting stuff.