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Designated "Expert" Forum Users?

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MK14:
Already mentioned by me.

But it would be nice to have user selectable options, via the forum account settings, and similar. Such as:

* OPT-IN to Thanking System
* Disable Thanking system for this user
* Show Thanks totals on all posts
* Hide total thanks from everyone except actual user
* Show Expert Titles, Badges and Trophies
* Hide and Opt out of all Badges and Trophies

Cerebus:

--- Quote from: ataradov on February 17, 2022, 07:01:37 pm ---I think this idea was deemed to be bad halfway though the page 1. If this was stackoverflow, the discussion would be over :).

--- End quote ---

That made me laugh.

emece67:
.

Cerebus:

--- Quote from: Siwastaja on February 17, 2022, 07:01:21 pm ---
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on February 17, 2022, 06:34:53 pm ---I must say, having ones post somehow "end" the thread with no response or acknowledgement feels nasty.  It happens to me often, and I never know whether the thread came to a natural end, or if others just got fed up with my verbosity, and chose not to engage any further.  I sometimes do avoid posting for exactly that reason, especially in the Beginner forum; I do not want to be the only one giving advice.

--- End quote ---

You just need to try to work with your self-esteem. I know, it's easier said than done! Anyone who does not like your verbosity is free to ignore you. The rest of us - we like it so much that we are like "Yes!! Nominal has posted again!!". Trust me, even if no one replies anything, the post has been appreciated by many. If you keep the discussion going, even with the risk of being "the last one", the chances of someone else posting again are higher, than if you choose to be silent.

If you are the only one giving advice, sure it feels a bit awkward, but... In the end, the responsibility of participating is on the shoulders of others. If no one else wants to say anything, it's their problem, not yours.

The highest thanks/posts ratio is by those who write something
* easily agreeable by most
* yet not meaningless; with actual points / relevance to the topic
* distilled, 1-2 interesting details
* not too long or detailed,

so they appeal to most groups at least in one way. Cerebus hits the nail.

Those who write very long, detailed posts, like Tim or yourself or even myself sometimes (although I'm not claiming I'm in the same league; I could come closer if I doubled-tripled the effort and time spent in writing), appeal to those who like reading long posts, and have time to do that; that just limits the audience!

Yet, long, detailed posts are exactly what we need, not many write them, because doing it well requires so much time and effort, as you very well know. But because reading them also requires time and effort, it's just inevitable they are not for everyone. The result is mediocre thanks/posts ratio which does not reflect the high quality of the posts.

--- End quote ---

I edit myself. I often initially end up writing something much longer, but I go back, try and put myself in the reader's seat, see if it makes sense, then restructure, clarify, remove redundancies, as necessary. Obviously not if it's just a conversational post.

I've had the luxury of having a sub-editor regularly do it for me, and I've seen how much a sub-editor can improve something; so I try to be my own sub-editor, but it's a poor second place to a having genuine different pair of eyes read something before 'publishing'.

Nominal Animal:

--- Quote from: Siwastaja on February 17, 2022, 07:01:21 pm ---
--- Quote from: Nominal Animal on February 17, 2022, 06:34:53 pm ---I must say, having ones post somehow "end" the thread with no response or acknowledgement feels nasty.  It happens to me often, and I never know whether the thread came to a natural end, or if others just got fed up with my verbosity, and chose not to engage any further.  I sometimes do avoid posting for exactly that reason, especially in the Beginner forum; I do not want to be the only one giving advice.

--- End quote ---
You just need to try to work with your self-esteem.
--- End quote ---
No, that's not the issue.  You see, if I wanted to be the only one dispensing advice, I'd do that at my own web page; I even have a domain ready for that, if the fancy strikes me.  And while I definitely am no expert, I have lots and lots of experience in various things I'm very proud of and willing to discuss.
While I do have some self-esteem issues, mostly my issues are with communication.  As you know, I'm never shy of providing my own opinion or viewpoint.

The issue is that a single viewpoint is just a single viewpoint.  When both questions and answers have quite a lot of guesses and "noise" involved – well, questions mostly lack necessary information, rather than have too much information or useless information in them –, each answer includes a set of undisclosed assumptions, which may or may not be correct.  (I sometimes answer questions based on an informed guess – based on past observations of similar questions – and they suprisingly often hit the asker's target, but equally often weird out other potential answerers as to "what made you think they asked about that?)

Consider a collegial coffee break or beer after work, where someone describes a problem they're having with something, and one of the group makes a suggestion on how to proceed or solve the issue.  Then, consider the three cases of how the situation continues:
* The group simply disbands, people looking at their empty cups or glasses, and either go get a refill or back to their work.
 
* Other members of the group make assent noises or nods, look at their empty cups or glasses, and either go get a refill or back to their work.
 
* Someone (or more than one) says "hey, that's a good idea; thanks for suggesting that, I'll have to rememer it myself too".  Then, everyone looks at their empty cups or glasses, and either go get a refill or back to their work.The first one is what happens now.  You may not believe this, but I'm actually quite emphatic, and whenever I detect that situation in real life, end up chatting with the asker, just to avoid them having to experience that silence.  On the net, it is harder to do.

The second is what I'd like to have: an Agree button.  Not only does it solve the problem Dave is asking whether the forum should have designated "Expert" forum users –– helping new members and basically everyone evaluate suggestions made, without trying to change the posting culture so that people would post much more "I agree, that's what I'd suggest too" posts.  It is also very easy, a single click.

The third is the existing "Thanks" option, from my own perspective.  Because of the perception of a pure "Thank you" in different cultures, different members treat it differently.  Some use it as a pure acknowledgement –– say, like looking at whoever is talking now, showing that what they are saying is being considered and thought of -–; some like myself use it somewhat as a mix of the second and third cases above, depending on the subject; some use it as a bookmark; and some think it is such a strong endorsement that it should be used sparingly, or it will lose its value, lowering the signal-to-noise ratio unacceptably.

Unfortunately, it looks like the forum software does not currently support or have any easy way to implement a separate Agree button that would work exactly like Thanks, but be separate.  So my favourite suggestion is unfortunately out.

Therefore, the "best" option, in my opinion and experience with technical forums, would be to combine the Thanks button with Agree/Assent/Concur.
While the change would be just to the text shown on the page (on the button and in statistics), it might be a clever solution to the underlying problem Dave is considering adding "Expert" user classification for.  For members, it just means that if they read a thread, and they see a solution they themselves would suggest if it had not already been suggested, or if they agree with the suggestion and have some experience with the problem or similar problems, they are encouraged to click on the Thanks/Agreed button. 

On the Help page –– right next to the Home button on the link bar ––, this could be described explicitly; as well as on the pages intended for new members to read, and on the Forum rules etc.

In a real sense, this would be the social engineering option to solve an underlying problem for which a technical solution has been suggested.

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