[telecom69]

Not sure if this is already applied,but would it be possible to advise users,new ones in particular,to state their level of competence when asking a question,there is nothing more frustrating when after giving a sometimes lengthy suggestion to find out the questioner knows nothing about computers lol, its just a suggestion what do you think ? I would suggest 3 levels Novice/Intermediate/Advanced ....

[RandyG]

I think it could be done, and also think it would be a useful suggestion. When a new member registers, there could ba an addtional radio button for them to tick their level of Computer literacy. It could also be available through their Profile, so it can be updated, and also allow current members to set it. Make it a manadatory field during registration.

It could be displayed to the Right of their Member status.

Good suggestion, IMHO!!

Let's see what Mike has to say!

[telecom69]

Hi RandyG Thanks for the support two of us think its a good idea anyway,it would be very helpful to know beforehand whether the person you are replying to will understand what you are suggesting or whether you need to take it in easy steps so to speak,easier too for the person asking,not to be faced with a lot of technical jargon that they havent got a clue about ....take care and have a good day

[brushmaster1]

I also think it might be a good idea!

[Davey7549]

I also like the idea but I would suggest the level of experience should not be tied to overall user ability but should be a manatory entry when a thread is created\submitted in the tech section. Some people may be very versed in hardware or business software but not OS or security.
Maybe we should also consider the debate section considering some of the questions and answers posted there!

Dave

[TechGuy]

Hmmm... I'm trying to figure out exactly where that would show up. vBulletin has the ability to that in place of the user title (Member, Senior Member, etc) but I don't really want to lose those... I'll have to look into it.

[McTimson]

You also have to have a way to define what exactly is an 'advanced' computer user and what an 'intermediate' comptuer user is...I mean, there's some people who might think that they were advanced, and then it turns out that they know nothing....

[TechGuy]

Yeah, it would definately be a self-rating... I mean, it's not like we could test them or anything.

[AcaCandy]

*Candy's thinking she may be able to figure out a test *

[telecom69]

Many thanks for replying guys, I agree it would have to be self-rating,it would be in the poster's best interests to state how they see themselves,I cannot see how even Candy (In her infinite wisdom can come up with a test that cannot be fixed),it would just be a guide as to how to word replies to posters,we have all gone through lengthy and sometimes technical replies only to find in the next post a question asking "how do I do that" lol,as for where the status would show,how about right on the right next to their nickname? Once again thank you for your interest.....take care

[dannyboyfx]

it would be a good idea, but i think it would be very hard to enforce, and may end up being more of a hassle than its worth

[telecom69]

Thanks for your reply,I cant see why you think it would be hard to enforce though as in lots of post people make it quite clear that they have limited knowledge of computers,there is no shame in that,everyone has to start somewhere,and we all know how daunting it seems at first

[RandyG]

It's not really an enforceable tool, just one that will, relatively easily, assist anyone who is providing help to gage the general level of technical ability of the requester.

Most of us can do that readily by seeing the type of questions asked, but I think a lot of us have put a lot of time in a detailed response, only to get back a " ?? I have no clue what you are talking about" type of response.

[AcaCandy]

The way I see it, if someone puts in their profile that they are a rocket scientist, we'll give them rocket science instructions, you know, like format c: If they put they have hardly no experience or medium, we'll tell them to fdisk first, delete partions, create new partitions, then format c:

[Davey7549]

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Dave