OK then.

1-9 posts: Never heard of General Antilles
10-99 posts: Has noticed General Antilles
100-499 posts: In awe of General Antilles
500-999 posts: Tries to smile like General Antilles
1000-3799 posts: Tries to act like General Antilles
3800+ posts: Is General Antilles

Regards,
Roger

Why don't you send everyone a pm with a survey or quiz or both attached rating that user's level of knowledge on such things as linux, networking, programming, etc. You could even add a whole section to the itt site: Test for Senior Member

But I believe that if we go ahead with this that the forum should somehow direct more newbie traffic towards the "senior members" because otherwise why does this matter?

Like in Ultima Online how you had counselors and game masters and admins.

I think unanswered threads past however long it takes to push it off the top page should be forwarded to senior members to take a look at.

Here a confusing suggestion:

New Member
< 10 post

Observing Member
> 10 post

Member
> 10 posts and (4 post in last 30 days or > 2 Thanks in last 90 days)

Guru
> 40 Thanks total or (> 40 posts total and (> 20 post in last 30 days or > 10 Thanks in last 90 days))

God-like
> 100 Thanks total or (> 100 post total and (> 50 post in last 30 days or > 25 Thanks in last 90 days))

The actual numbers of thanks and posts is somewhat arbitrary & should be adjusted to reflect other members opinions.

Even though it's confusing, I think a valuation scheme like this is a good balance between recently joint member who jump right in contribute quickly, valuable long time members who have been unable to contribute due to recent external circumstances & the other active members to this forum.

For example, I would I consider myself an observing member to this forum. I read it 3 time a week, but I don't contribute often - therefore I'd give myself a label of "Observing Member". If I decided to contribute more and those contributions where valued by other member (by Thanking), then I would be rewarded with a higher member status.

So thank me for this contribution so I can be rewarded.

That's the point, it doesn't matter, but the current arrangement (with seniority) makes it seem like it does matter. So, I'm fishing for some cool alternatives that underline the fact that it doesn't matter.

[Sigh] That post was supposed to be a light-hearted joke, but I've received some PMs which show that not everyone took it that way. Sorry about that.

Regards,
Roger

I may be one of those users who spams help requests The thing is I'm unsure if the reason no one answers is because no one knows or because no one cares to waste their time on the stupid newbie question. So I post in multiple areas hoping to get a response and end up a senior member just two days after receiving my first NIT.

There's certain issues I see with the forum that could work much better for everyone should the people with the know decide to make it matter. I personally do not have the skills and perhaps I'm a bit out of place suggesting such things but I'd like to see a bit more structure in the tablet forums.


Wouldn't it be better a newbie like me could post a thread and know that he'll get help from a "experienced" user and not just another newb with 1000 posts?

You don't even know, buddy, you don't even know. . . .

Just for fun, let anyone with more than say 100 posts make their own title.

However, the length of the title can be no more characters than the number of post divided by 20. You would get 5 characters for a title once you hit 100 posts and an extra character every 20 posts after that.

This would let everyone get creative with their titles and have fun with them. It would also still give an indication of how many posts someone has as well.

I say we get to make our own ranking once past "newbe." That should make it interesting.

remove the post count and the total thanks from each comment.
keep it on the profile page and keep the thanks in this post listing.

comment thanks should not be based on any level of seniority or history.
A newbie with something valid to say should be heard and rated by the peers in the discussion on an equal footing to someone who has been around for a while.

what I *do* think we need is a way to moderate out the crap.
a so called no-thanks which could start to fold up the offtopic comments made (obviously not deleting them and individual users should choose whether to see them or not)