I'm not a Novice! - the 'status' debate

[CADTutor]

It has come to my attention that our User Titles may need some revision. Specifically the use of the title "Novice" to describe new members may not be appropriate because it could be construed to mean an AutoCAD novice, whereas we all know that some new members are actually AutoCAD experts.

So, I'd like to change this to something like "Forum Newbie".

Other suggestions will be considered - let me know.

[dtkell]

What are the other categories of classification?

Maybe 'plebeian' would be appropriate?

[CADTutor]

Curently the user titles are as follows:

Novice 0-9 posts
Junior Member 10-24 posts
Full Member 25-99 posts
Senior Member 100-499 posts
Super Member 500-1999 posts
Forum Deity 2000-4999 posts
Luminous Being 5000 and above

Any suggestions for changes to these or additional categories will be considered. Basically we can have as many as we like and decide how many posts are requited for each.

Let me know what you think.

[zars]

I think it's already clear.

I mean it's well understood that the rank is related to the forum and not to ACAD skills although "Forum Newbie" would be fine.

[dtkell]

Curently the user titles are as follows:

Novice 0-9 posts
Junior Member 10-24 posts
Full Member 25-99 posts
Senior Member 100-499 posts
Super Member 500-1999 posts
Forum Deity 2000-4999 posts
Luminous Being 5000 and above

...

With only over 9 posts required to get out of the novice category, it shouldn't be a problem.
See, I did it.

[f700es]

Not to nit-pick but I think something is broken. I lost my "Forum Deity" status when you switched over to the new board. Not a big deal but you might want to check some code to see that it is set correctly. I thought that you just changed them. Anyway, no big deal.

Sean






Curently the user titles are as follows:

Novice 0-9 posts
Junior Member 10-24 posts
Full Member 25-99 posts
Senior Member 100-499 posts
Super Member 500-1999 posts
Forum Deity 2000-4999 posts
Luminous Being 5000 and above

Any suggestions for changes to these or additional categories will be considered. Basically we can have as many as we like and decide how many posts are requited for each.

Let me know what you think.

[CADTutor]

Yes, your Super Moderator status overrides your Forum Deity title in vBulletin. I'll see what I can do about that - only fair to give credit where credit is due. :)

[Cad64]

With only over 9 posts required to get out of the novice category, it shouldn't be a problem.
See, I did it.

You're right, we all did it, but some people have very fragile ego's and being called a novice just really bothers them. I think "Forum Newbie" would probably be a better title, it's much more obvious that the title refers to their forum status and not their experience level.

I also think that having more titles, spaced out at maybe every 500 posts might be nice. Just to have a little more variety. It's a long haul from 500 to 2000, and even further from 2000 to 5000.

[CADTutor]

You're right, we all did it, but some people have very fragile ego's and being called a novice just really bothers them.

That's exactly the issue.



I also think that having more titles, spaced out at maybe every 500 posts might be nice. Just to have a little more variety. It's a long haul from 500 to 2000, and even further from 2000 to 5000.

Well, if you can come up with an amusing naming scheme, I'll consider it. :)

[ReMark]

Neophyte at the beginning and Grandmaster at the end. Or...

Grasshopper at the beginning and Megasauraus at the end. No, that's not mega-sore-ass which is a completely different forum.

Corporal at the beginning and Command-in-Chief at the end. Although I'd love to hang out for awhile at either Sargent-Major or Left-tenant ha, ha.

[f700es]

Forum noob is not so bad. We all had to start somewhere ;)

[eldon]

As a comparative newcomer to the forum, it is very apparent that "posts" do not equate with "prowess".

Some posts consist of one word (or less), whilst others appear to be the result of considerable cogitation.

Perhaps the post count should be limited to the posts on the public side of the forum?

[iain9876]

Neophyte at the beginning and Grandmaster at the end. Or...

Grasshopper at the beginning and Megasauraus at the end. No, that's not mega-sore-ass which is a completely different forum.

Corporal at the beginning and Command-in-Chief at the end. Although I'd love to hang out for awhile at either Sargent-Major or Left-tenant ha, ha.

what about ultimately achieving the status as a "Jedi knight?""..now that would be cool...obviously we would need to use the force...or at least try to use it for the better...!...
..and not migrate to the dark side...because that would be uncool!

[CADTutor]

As a comparative newcomer to the forum, it is very apparent that "posts" do not equate with "prowess".

Some posts consist of one word (or less), whilst others appear to be the result of considerable cogitation.

Perhaps the post count should be limited to the posts on the public side of the forum?

The vBulletin software has a Reputation system, which I haven't implemented but that basically does what you are suggesting. The quality of a members posts can be determined by other users and the more "good points" a member gets, the higher the reputation. This system can be used in parallel with the (rather crude) number of posts system so that it's possible to see both how many posts members are making but also how good they are.

If members would like to see such a system implemented, do let me know, it's very easy.

[Starkey]

I don't think we would need a system like that here. Now I know I'm not a veteran member of the board, but being on as many car forums as I am, I would say that it's not that important here. Everyone here either knows there stuff or is here to ask questions and learn. With the car forums (and other forums that are larger) there is a lot of bull that goes around that I don't see here at all.

[iain9876]

As a comparative newcomer to the forum, it is very apparent that "posts" do not equate with "prowess".

Some posts consist of one word (or less), whilst others appear to be the result of considerable cogitation.

Perhaps the post count should be limited to the posts on the public side of the forum?

I think eldons observation has a point, some people do seem to post a lot of non cad related topics and make their way "up the promotion ladder" (myself included).
Perhaps we are looking too much into this, even those that post a lot of non-cad related topics still have a vast knowledge of cad and do help others. Afterall cadtutor, you can't please all of the people all of the time, so why fix something that isn't broken?
Unless of course one could possibly become a "jedi Knight"...then ...well change the whole thing!!!!

[ReMark]

One computer-related site I was a member of would actually have the responses graded by the person who asked the question. Therefore, if the response fully answered the question the grade of "A" was assigned. If, on the other hand, it fell flat, then the grade of "F" was assigned. Posts made just for the sake of posting, off-topic posts, derogatory or mean-spirited posts were automatically graded "F" and over time they tended to diminish in frequency.

My personal opinion is we all had to start somewhere. Even with my several years worth of background in CAD I had no problem starting out as a novice on this site. In the long run, we prove ourselves not by the quantity of our posts but by the quality. Long time members of this forum, in the end, will recognize the difference.

[enthub]

as long as i concern....i aint got problem with that stuff....newbie..novice...super or etc...i found this forum 2find a solution and give a solution....learn alot,2make my CAD perfect...3d or 2d...and hope found a trick on CAD that i dont know...
so GUY'S..thx 2all of u....

[umop-3p!sdn]

Can we have alignments too? :shock:
I'd like to be a level 7 Mage with a +20 Quill of Elvan SPLINEDIT. :roll:

or somewhere between Newcomer and Oldtimer ... :shifty:
Or at least somewhere between Green and "Read". :P

[Ronrico19]

I like the idea of having many differents so it's interesting to see. If it's easy to switch then I would have several themes to switch from at random.

(ex.)
1-10 Cheesy User
11-20 Actually been here a bit
21-30 Starting to be Cool
31-40 Close to Cool
41-49 VERY Close to Cool
50 COOL
51-60 Just was Cool
61-75 Actually known around here
76-100 Quite Popular
101-125 Kudos Rising!
126-150 People Actually Listen to you Now!
151-200 You're Considered Smart!
201-300 King of the Block
301-400 Autocad Guru
401-500 Boss Hogg of Autocad
501-600 Cars:Lexus - Forums:You
601-700 Rockin' all to do with AutoCad
701-800 Why aren't you bowing to me?
801-900 I own you all
901-998 I drafted your mom last night.
999 I'm about to make a crappy post because I want 1000.
1000 My last post was crappy
1001-1250 I'm officially the King!
1251-1500 Treatin' Homies!
1501-1750 WARNING : HARDCORE POSTER
1751-2000 Ultimate Poster
2001-9999 Ultimate Poster+
10000-up I need a life... (sigh)

[Ronrico19]

An actual theme maybe?

(ex.)


1 Beat up BattleCruiser
2-10 '84 Pontiac Alero
11-20 '89 Honda Accord
21-30 '91 Nissan Maxima
31-40 '76 Cadillac (bad condition)
41-50 '92 Geo Metro
51-75 '92 Honda Civic
76-100 '94 Jeep Cherokee
101-150 '98 VW Jetta
151-250 '99 Audi A4
251-500 '06 BMW M4
501-1000 '07 McLaren F1
1001-2000 '08 Cadillac Pandora (not out 'till next year)
2001-up Handheld Teleportation Device

[Vince0115]

Except that Oldsmobile made the Alero.......

[Ronrico19]

Hrmpf... I had olds alero, then changed it to a pontiac something. Must have somehow changed it back halfways. Well, I spent very little time with the names, but the spacing in between is what I was trying to get across.

[gcp310]

it should go off "Date Joined" not actual posts

as the title may encourage many to become a post whore :lol:

G

[Tiger]

I just noticed I've become 'senior member' ... it truly feels like I haven't deserved that - as I have not given a single answer to an Q... just really love the Chat-section :oops:

[StykFacE]

it should go off "Date Joined" not actual posts

as the title may encourage many to become a post whore :lol:

G
lol, you mean post whore's "like me". haha, i think i have the most posts per day average. my one year aniversery is coming up March 21st tho.

and Tiger we like your company, no worries.... 8)

[Antisthenes]

lol, you mean post whore's "like me". haha, i think i have the most posts per day average. my one year aniversery is coming up March 21st tho.

and Tiger we like your company, no worries.... 8)


see help you have a habbit. or is that stop seeking to help you have a addiction?

[Alan Cullen]

Yeah Tiger, I love your company too :oops:

....and I also love the chat section.....:D

[Antisthenes]

chat section?! where

[Starkey]

I've tried my darndest to post as many question and/or answers on here so I don't post whore. The last car website I was one was all about post-whoring in the off-topic section!

[dbroada]

I'm on a site for VW camper vans and we have a section just for controversial subjects. In there we still have a subject called "'people making posts just to bump their post count, pathetic or what?" which has a higher number of posts.than most of the more serious threads (added togther).

[Strix]

Curently the user titles are as follows:

Novice 0-9 posts
Junior Member 10-24 posts
Full Member 25-99 posts
Senior Member 100-499 posts
Super Member 500-1999 posts
Forum Deity 2000-4999 posts
Luminous Being 5000 and above

Any suggestions for changes to these or additional categories will be considered. Basically we can have as many as we like and decide how many posts are requited for each.

Let me know what you think.
well, following a little discussion on whether it's appropriate to allude to a status of a god, I've reopened this thread for a little more discussion

does anybody have any suggestions for alternative title ladder themes (keeping the old boundaries)?

maybe we could change them every six months? :D
*pretends not to have made suggestions to increase David's work on the site* o:)

[ReMark]

We could use karate belt colors and rankings. In keeping with CADTutor's kickasp reputation.

[SEANT]

We could break it down by the various dimensions of involvement.

1. Point
2. Line
3. Region
4. Solid
5. Animation
6. SuperString theory

That last one hasn't been fully implemented into AutoCAD yet. :wink:

(This post was made mostly in jest) :)

[ReMark]

Number 6 should be renamed SillyString Theroy. LOL

[SEANT]

Number 6 should be renamed SillyString Theroy. LOL

I imagine a road atlas will be more complicated when including all 10 dimensions.:)

[dbroada]

(wonders if a recent PM brought this up....)

I take little notice of what is written there and base opinions on what I have read by the posters.

And even if I do start reading the status I am more likely to be distracted by the little white (or I just notice gold) blobs under it. Anybody care to remind me what they are for?

[ReMark]

The blobs are your pay grade.

[MaxwellEdison]

So I've made it back to E-4? I knew I should have went for my comission...

In all seriousness, I tend to ignore the names for more than just amusement, probably because I don't put much stock in my own post count as a measure of aptitude, it just means I post a lot. You can usually tell after reading the first paragraph how much understanding someone has of AutoCAD, and even then I tend to go through the "tech support" structure of simplest "human error" causes first.

I always try to avoid "talking down" to those asking questions as that would presume superiority over them. Although there are some people who wear on you when it seems they can't handle a simple concept, their understanding in no way relies on their post count, nor do the validity of my answers rely upon mine.

So basically Post Count titles for me are just for fun. Call me a peanut butter sandwich, I'll still ask if you've purged and audited your drawing.

[ReMark]

Peanutbutter sandwich? Nah, how about a fluffernutter? LOL

Call me anything you like...just don't call me late for dinner.

[uddfl]

LOL
http://www.funnyforumpics.com/forums/This-Thread-Delivers/1/thread-delivers.jpg

And in my opinion, just change the initial status to something neutral and meaningless such as "Registered User".

[Strix]

I use a forum where everybody is a 'registered user' if they're not 'staff' of some description, but when you hit a specific post count you can apply to have it changed to a phrase of your choice - which I think works quite well

[MaxwellEdison]

I use a forum where everybody is a 'registered user' if they're not 'staff' of some description, but when you hit a specific post count you can apply to have it changed to a phrase of your choice - which I think works quite well

Well in that case I want to be a "Dynamic Blockhead"

[Lee Mac]

I agreee that it is a bit of a jump from 500 to 2000.... there a quite a few "super members" to speak of...

Perhaps keep the basic titles you have already and add some more in between, like... maybe Endeavouring Member, or Treasured Poster, I don't know.. :P :P

[Lee Mac]

Or, maybe, with the continuation of a theme.. base it on our mascot in the top-right:


Minnow 0-9 posts
Perch 10-24 posts
Carp 25-99 posts
Trout 100-499 posts
Catfish 500-1999 posts
Swordfish 2000-4999 posts
Shark 5000 and above

Or something along those lines... :P

[Tiger]

Can I be a Tigershark then? :oops:

[Lee Mac]

Can I be a Tigershark then? :oops:


I'm sure we could accommodate that :)

[Strix]

Or, maybe, with the continuation of a theme.. base it on our mascot in the top-right:


Minnow 0-9 posts
Perch 10-24 posts
Carp 25-99 posts
Trout 100-499 posts
Catfish 500-1999 posts
Swordfish 2000-4999 posts
Shark 5000 and above

Or something along those lines... :P

I like those :)... except maybe for 'trout' - that's an insult in most places!

btw - where's the salmon?!

[Lee Mac]

.. except maybe for 'trout' - that's an insult in most places...

Haha, true... just couldn't think of any more fish... (not a fisherman!). :)

[Strix]

Aw come on! Is your google broken? :wink:

[Lee Mac]

Not quite... (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=list+of+fish+names)

[Lee Mac]

Ok, Perhaps:


1-10 Sardine
11-20 Minnow
21-30 Herring
31-40 Mackerel
41-49 Eel
50 Perch
51-60 Sole
61-75 Tuna
76-100 Trout
101-125 Bream
126-150 Seabass
151-200 Cod
201-300 Pike
301-400 Carp
401-500 Chubb
501-600 Salmon
601-700 Barbel
701-800 Catfish
801-900 Swordfish
901-1000 Octopus
1001-1250 Lobster
1251-1500 StingRay
1501-1750 Hammerhead Shark
1751-2000 Tiger Shark
2001-9999 Great White Shark
10000-up King of the Seas :)


I really do have far too much time on my hands :)

[Strix]

:shock: Nice work!

Does anybody else think we need to keep it short and simple though? :unsure:

We'd have people paying too much attention to bumping up post counts if it's too interesting and the next level too easily attainable!

[Lee Mac]

Good point,... I think, just shorten the gap between 500-2000..., makes life more interesting without people just posting for the sake of posting... :P

[eldon]

I think that a better way of showing the active status of a forum member, is to have a rating based on the number of posts per day.

[Dipali]

I think that a better way of showing the active status of a forum member, is to have a rating based on the number of posts per day.

In that case 'Le MAC' will get the highest rating I guess with average 9.6 posts per day:shock:

[eldon]

Now what would be clever is whether the post could be categorized as tecnical information or persiflage, and only the technical posts earning status :D

[ReMark]

Persiflage; frivolous bantering talk.

[Tiger]

Or two separate statuses - one "The Tech Support" (for tech-count more than 7 posts per day) and one "The Bantering Ninny" (for chat-count more than 7posts per day) :thumbsup:

[Lee Mac]

Or two separate statuses - one "The Tech Support" (for tech-count more than 7 posts per day) and one "The Bantering Ninny" (for chat-count more than 7posts per day) :thumbsup:

I was under the impression that any posts in the chat forums didn't count towards the post count.. :huh:

[Tiger]

I was under the impression that any posts in the chat forums didn't count towards the post count.. :huh:

Nah, it doesn't, you're right. I'm just toying with the idea of those of us that spend a lot of time in the Chat section should get some sort of recognition :P

[Lee Mac]

Nah, it doesn't, you're right. I'm just toying with the idea of those of us that spend a lot of time in the Chat section should get some sort of recognition :P

Good point - theres a lot of wisdom in those chat forums :P

[Tiger]

Good point - theres a lot of wisdom in those chat forums :P

:huh: ...uhm...are we in the same Chat forum?


just kidding :P

Wisdom yes, just perhaps not always cad-related wisdom :thumbsup:

[Strix]

... and of course there are those who manage to sneak the odd banter post into the tech section :glare:

I still wonder whether a custom user status for any user over 500 posts would remove the competition over post count which sometimes arises

Mind you, I'm usually not in favour of anything which makes a site more work to run - I prefer forums to be pretty much self managing once the software's all set up :wink:

[MaxwellEdison]

Well perhaps when you went in to your profile to change the title, it would send a flag to the proper admins so they'd just need to click a 'Yea' or 'Nay' button.

[Strix]

it's not accessible from your profile - unless there's a vBulletin hack for it

does anybody know if there is?

[ReMark]

What behavior is it that we want to encourage or discourage?

[Lee Mac]

What behavior is it that we want to encourage or discourage?


Hmmm... I can imagine the kind of ranks we'd be getting... especially if people were having a bad day. :P

Ranks like "Moron" "AutoCAD Imbecile" etc etc

I reckon the Mods would be given a ton of extra work to moderate the swear words out of people's ranks o:)

[Strix]

you can't edit your own ranks :P

you'd have to apply for them, and they're pretty permanent - you don't get to change them daily - that's what signatures are for :roll:

[Zorg]

Ok, Perhaps:

1-10 Sardine
11-20 Minnow
21-30 Herring
31-40 Mackerel
41-49 Eel
50 Perch
51-60 Sole
61-75 Tuna
76-100 Trout
101-125 Bream
126-150 Seabass
151-200 Cod
201-300 Pike
301-400 Carp
401-500 Chubb
501-600 Salmon
601-700 Barbel
701-800 Catfish
801-900 Swordfish
901-1000 Octopus
1001-1250 Lobster
1251-1500 StingRay
1501-1750 Hammerhead Shark
1751-2000 Tiger Shark
2001-9999 Great White Shark
10000-up King of the Seas :)


I really do have far too much time on my hands :)

Stolen from the swamp! either that or you have a thing for fish :roll:

[ReMark]

Lee Mac's middle name is Neptune and he lives in Water World. However, neither fact influenced him in the least.

[Lee Mac]

Nah, I was just going on the theme of our mascot in the top-right :D

[ReMark]

Our mascot. Yes. I keep thinking I'm at the BassMasters' website.

[Lee Mac]

Our mascot. Yes. I keep thinking I'm at the BassMasters' website.

A cunning disguise for what it really is.. :P

[Rsblades]

Or, maybe, with the continuation of a theme.. base it on our mascot in the top-right:


Minnow 0-9 posts
Perch 10-24 posts
Carp 25-99 posts
Trout 100-499 posts
Catfish 500-1999 posts
Swordfish 2000-4999 posts
Shark 5000 and above

Or something along those lines... :P

dolphin ought to be the best of the best.. smart little fellers

[Lee Mac]

dolphin ought to be the best of the best.. smart little fellers

haha, good point :)