Member status

[pixel_juice]

By some mixture of luck and accidental presses of the [enter] key I seem to have become a 'preferred member'. Now you all have to take me seriously ;)

I read something recently that amounted to the idea that the member status used to be helpful in judging the quality of the post, whereas now it doesn't really mean anything.

So should I have a happy warm glow at being a preferred member, or is the fact that someone's a senior member compared to a junior irrelevant?

I appreciate the sweeping generalisation involved in my question, but maybe I can get some conflicting opinions. I know that I instinctively look at someone's post count when I read what they wrote. Of course, I'm not saying that members with a small number of posts don't make an excellent contribution :)

[note to mods] I meant to post this in the community centre, but I seem to be in foo...Could a mod please move it for me if necessary? I feel like I just walked into a room, then forgot why I went in there...

[Shane]

Go ahead pixel_juice, have a warm glow.

Area of knowledge being posted also counts. I know something about business, about CSS, next to nothing.

If you wanted to differentiate what do you go on?

..... Shane

[WarmGlow]

So should I have a happy warm glow...

It works for me and I'm just a newbie here. ;)

[Knowles]

I think the warm fuzzy glow should come from the fact that you are part of a community. (Did that make sense?) New people find the site daily that doesnt make them less knowledgeable simply new to the site.

[Shane]

As I said pixel_juice, have a WarmGlow ;)

Now how would you rate this post?

[lorax]

I appreciate the sweeping generalisation involved in my question, but maybe I can get some conflicting opinions. I know that I instinctively look at someone's post count when I read what they wrote. Of course, I'm not saying that members with a small number of posts don't make an excellent contribution

We've gone around and around on this topic and I think, think being the operative word here, that most of the members feel that post count doesn't really matter as much as you might think. The only real way to know if a member is contributing interesting, informative and generally helpfull posts is to 'live' here a while. Only after hanging out and communicating with other members will you begin to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

As you pointed out, we've had many new members that break that first post with a whopper contribution. I know I've certainly been humbled by a few newbies. :)

Bottom line is, read, participate, and get to know the other folks. Forget about the numbers. They really don't matter. After all - if someone has the answer you've been looking for - are you not going to use it just because they arrived to the party after you?

[Shane]

I read something recently that amounted to the idea that the member status used to be helpful in judging the quality of the post, whereas now it doesn't really mean anything.

If this is referring to my other post it was trying to look at how a really popular thread like the ..... "update" thread could be toned down and the rhetoric and nonsense could be cut from it without alot of the mods time. Is it a perfect idea, by no means. It has gapping holes. But it would cut down the volume to something manageable. Should the idea be on all threads, NOPE.

Newbies do post valuable information. A veteran in one area maybe a newbie in another (I know I am in lots :))

My post in the other thread was just a suggetion for cutting down on the volume of the less valuable stuff in a hugh thread. Part of the concept being, once you have been around here for abit you would learn the ropes on posting in the really big threads.

[Nice post] Lorax [/End Compliment]

No offense was intended.

Enjoy the weekend,
Shane