Yeah, I'd have to echo many of your comments there rednek tek... hope the new software has a spell checker. I try not to let that get in the way, but there are times when it's very difficult to decipher some posts.
Great idea on the float the non-answered posts to the top... if not possible though I would think it would be easy enough for the Mods to search them out and at least post a hello/bump message there.
Can't tell ya how many times I run in to this kind of thing myself. It does drive one crazy. I sure wouldn't mind if the timeout duration could be made a little longer.Quote:
Also I noticed when posting or writing the original post if you type it to slow and you hit preview, it is blank and you have to start over. So what I found helpful to do is write what I am writing and befoe I hit preview to check for mistakes, I copy and then paste it back in, so I dont have to start over again.
^I haven't seen any option to do this in the admin control panel, hopefully the software upgrade will give me more to work with. BJ
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Another point, I want to make, and I not sure how to address it is, grammar, grammar, grammar. If you want to be taken seriously, you have to look the part. If a post is full of spelling errors, runon sentences, improper or no punctuation, it is to be brutally honest, hard to take seriously.
Whew! Thanks for not mentioning me directly by name.;) :DQuote:
hope the new software has a spell checker. I try not to let that get in the way, but there are times when it's very difficult to decipher some posts.
I myself am a terrible speller so use the Firfox extension Spellbound and for Internet explorer IE Spell both are better than I am at this :D
Nix, I see it as this sort of thing actually having been raised here, just in general (no name) terms. The broader issue is if people are going to other sites then why? What is it there (where ever "there" is) that causes them to go there and not here? If there is, or isn't, something at another site that draws one there then this thread provides an opportunity to identify what it is (what the site is is not important).Quote:
Boldly going where no one has gone so far that I have seen, but why is that so many ex VDr folk have headed to Cybertechhelp forum ?
I went to look at that site. The homepage has a nice design, but the forum page is straight out of the box vbulletin vers 3.x. Not a lick of styling done to it. I didn't care for the way they broke up the links to the forum though. I wanna get to the page and see all my options and then decide which I want to click on. Just my 2 cents.
One serious issue I forgot to address:I never demanded anything. As I recall it I simply extended an offer of friendship, but told Bistro that if he was hesitant that my friends Crooked Nose Lou and Kneecaps Vinnie would be glad to talk to him and vouch for me. As for any checks that may not have been recieved... Like they say: "the check is in the mail".Quote:
Now...as far as "comraderie", just do what DrMDJ did when he first came here....he sent me a PM demanding I be his friend and agree with everything he posts and he started sending me 50 bucks every month. We've been good friends ever since.
Hi to all. I don't usually post to this type of thread, as I consider myself very much a newbie compared to the wisdom and knowledge that abounds on this site. I have read this thread from the beginning, and there are some very good points being made; hopefully some will be implemented and make the board even better than it currently is. I am one of the newbie "lurkers" oft referred to on this thread. I rarely log in, but check the site each day to learn / glean more information. I find, that when I log in and check recent posts, I get maybe 2 pages, not logged in I get the last 5+ pages. I realize that may just be a setting I have to change - will get to that someday. Some of my observations, for what they are worth, are:
Sometimes the answers given to posts are over the head of the requester - maybe by looking at the spelling, mixed up info posted etc., we could taper our replies to the level of the poster.
As Nix stated earlier in this thread, sometimes people take themselves too seriously. I had a post back a while ago, Nix and myself, and PhotoLady?, where a few good comments / shots were tossed back and forth. We, the people actively involved in that post, enjoyed ourselves, solved the problem, and came away with a couple of chuckles. Great!! But a couple of "more enlightened users", deemed it necessary to comment adversely on the jocularity expressed. Somehow, Get a Life, comes to mind here..:D
I agree that a spellchecker would be a welcome addition to the site - we all make misteaks sometimes. Maybe a small thesaurus too, so certain individuals will not equate tech support, helper, etc., with ego, and god. Doesn't happen often, but I thnk we have all seen it.
I like the Seach engine - it has saved my bacon many times, especially when I flub up, and have to go retrieve an answer I got back months ago, or look up something new, but guickly.
These are just some of my thoughts and observations. I very much enjoy VDr, and the people I have conversed with here. Being such a large and active site means there is a real melting pot of people, personalities, and attitudes. For such a mix, I think the site does great.
I hope this will be received in the spirit it was intended - information only.
Thanks for reading,
frums
Great to see more participation!
frums: you hit on a key issue that I suspect a lot more members experience or feel than they might care to admit. There can be a real intimidation factor sometimes in posting. Especially when we compare ourselves to older or wiser members. I've been around here about 5 years (lurked a good while before I got up nerve to post.) To this day I still encounter that intimidation factor. The only thing that's helped me overcome that hurdle is 1) that no one ever has scoffed at my ignorance, to this day. There's been good natured ribbing that's all in fun, and that's just fine. 2) the realization that no one single person here knows everything. I've taken comfort in witnessing the razor sharp guru who gets stumped by an OE issue. ;) There are members here who zipped beyond the basics and delved straight into the very guts of hardware or opertaing systems, so sometimes even they get stumped when they have to backtrack to a more 'basic' level issue. No one was born with a silver mouse in their mouth or cut their teeth on a shiny new hard drive (well, maybe with the exception of Bill Gates, or a character Bistro encounters while on his journeys into the realms of the nether regions. :D )Quote:
Originally posted by frums
Hi to all. I don't usually post to this type of thread, as I consider myself very much a newbie compared to the wisdom and knowledge that abounds on this site. .....I hope this will be received in the spirit it was intended - information only.
So to those lurking who might be newer to very new (just joined), or have been here awhile but don't post much, do chime in! You count as much as the person with 10,000 posts. And a lot of this has nothing to do with skill or knowledge level, really. A lot of what we've touched on comes from personal rather than technical perspective: how you feel about the site, your impressions and opinions (good or bad). Everyone has a different vantage point, so every bit of input counts. Because the bottom line is: with all the diversity here, in the end it's still the sum total of each and every member that composes the whole that is called "Virtual Dr."
1000% true KatMac (and as an editorial comment I for one would be glad to see post count be done away with).Quote:
You count as much as the person with 10,000 posts. And a lot of this has nothing to do with skill or knowledge level, really.
And the words of knowledge that I have been privy to whilst sojourning through those nether regions, I dare not speak outloud.... :rolleyes: :D
I like post counts because it provides information as to whether this is a new member to VDR, so you can cater your response based on that and the content of the post. Obviously, when the post count gets into the high number regions, then it only indicates that the poster has been a very active VDR poster for some time.
Linda
Just to pick up on something you said there Frums [very good post by the way]:
Perhaps someway theres a way we could incorporate an experience field into the user info under the avatar i.e. beginner,intermediate,experienced or technician then those that respond could pitch it at the level of the poster ?Quote:
Sometimes the answers given to posts are over the head of the requester - maybe by looking at the spelling, mixed up info posted etc., we could taper our replies to the level of the poster.
I don't want to come across as taking myself waaay to seriously, but I just realized I committed a "faux paux" of sorts. The "inside joke". They're everywhere, and don't cause real harm, IMHO. It's a form of bonding of sorts. HOWEVER, my last post just above was directed primarily at new/newer members, and one reference I made could leave new/newer members feeling left out of the loop. (Shame on me :o ;) )When I referenced Bistro's journeys to the nether regions, I should have linked to it. You have to read it to experience it. It's hilarious and you don't have to know computers to "get" a lot of it. Just look for the post with the picture of the big hairy mug off to the left (as in3 posts above), click on "The Lost Annals..." at the bottom of the post. Guarantee you can be having the worst day and you'll at least smile, if not sit there by yourself and belly laugh :D So there, no inside jokes to shut anyone out, everybody gets in on the treat ;)