Member 'expert' status suggestion

[penfold]

I dont see the need for an additional specialism/experty badge really. If you spend a length of time on here, you get an idea of the people who regularly post in specific forums anyway. A breakdown of where people have been thanked could be usefull if you would like to see which areas different users are interested or knowledgable in.

 

I always thought this was a forum for IT people to help each other out with problems which we have all encountered rather than doing huge amounts of research individually. If I can help out others then I will, but 9 times out of 10 most areas that I can help in have already been answered before I've even read the post. Does this mean that there are more experts in specific areas than me? Or does this just mean that people have replied before I have?

[LosOjos]

Does this mean that there are more experts in specific areas than me? Or does this just mean that people have replied before I have?

 

See, this is where things like this start to damage communities. I'm not saying that you were taking this personally penfold, but felt it was a good example of how people can start to feel like "what's the point, he has a badge and I haven't but I knew that too". Again, not saying you did react like that penfold, but you can see how it can easily get that way with some people, when all it really means is that they don't happen to be hovering on the boards as much as others

[sparkeh]

See, this is where things like this start to damage communities. I'm not saying that you were taking this personally penfold, but felt it was a good example of how people can start to feel like "what's the point, he has a badge and I haven't but I knew that too". Again, not saying you did react like that penfold, but you can see how it can easily get that way with some people, when all it really means is that they don't happen to be hovering on the boards as much as others

 

Ok I am just going to say this and its a genuine question, not aimed at anyone in particular.

 

Aren't we grown up enough to not get huffy about this kind of thing?

If not its a sad state of affairs.

[LosOjos]

Aren't we grown up enough to not get huffy about this kind of thing?

 

You'd like to believe so, but (I won't name anybody) I'm afraid there are a few around here who I think would cause a fuss over this kind of thing

[localzuk]

Ok I am just going to say this and its a genuine question, not aimed at anyone in particular.

 

Aren't we grown up enough to not get huffy about this kind of thing?

If not its a sad state of affairs.

 

Its difficult really. I've had people get incredibly angry at me during discussions on here, taking general comments as if they were individually being attacked (so much so that I have had one threat of violence at one point). Different people react differently on here, so it would be inevitable that people would feel like they were getting a raw deal or that others were getting special treatment through any such system of 'badges'.

[russdev]

Interesting discussion

 

What about an addition to the rep system where the OP you could flag up if a post provided the solution to the problem..

 

I can hear Shaun from denver going you want to do what.....

 

Russ

Edited June 30, 2010 by russdev

[ahuxham]

Its difficult really. I've had people get incredibly angry at me during discussions on here, taking general comments as if they were individually being attacked (so much so that I have had one threat of violence at one point). Different people react differently on here, so it would be inevitable that people would feel like they were getting a raw deal or that others were getting special treatment through any such system of 'badges'.

 

And you don't deserve any of that right? I mean, for example; look at your "Note" in your signature, proves my point. e-Forum-warrior Localz.

[ahuxham]

Interesting discussion

 

What about an addition to the rep system where the OP you could flag up if a post that provided the solution to the problem..

 

I can hear Shaun from denver going you want to do what.....

 

Russ

 

So in theory, you want to just copy Experts Exchange - The #1 resource on the web for solving technology problems. Right?

[sparkeh]

What about an addition to the rep system where the OP you could flag up if a post that provided the solution to the problem..

 

Solved flags are good. Rep for solving a problem wouldn't be out of place.

[uk101man]

Interesting discussion

 

What about an addition to the rep system where the OP you could flag up if a post that provided the solution to the problem..

 

I can hear Shaun from denver going you want to do what.....

 

Russ

 

 

I like the sound of that... How about a Tech Question tag and an Tech Answer tag, the OP would select the answer that worked, we could then start to build some kind of knowledge base

[Hightower]

Good advice, by definition, is not bad advice

 

That is true, but if you put my post back into the context from whenst it came and stopped cutting bits out to try and prove your point you'd have:

 

What's to stop a 'trusted' person giving you good advice that is bad advice because your network is slightly different

 

instead of:

 

What's to stop a 'trusted' person giving you good advice that is bad advice

 

which does sound completely different!

 

So, my point being: You could tell me to do something that worked for you last week - good advice, because it worked for you. However, my GPO's are slightly different to yours, and the fix that worked for you has just bricked my network - bad advice.

[penfold]

See, this is where things like this start to damage communities. I'm not saying that you were taking this personally penfold, but felt it was a good example of how people can start to feel like "what's the point, he has a badge and I haven't but I knew that too". Again, not saying you did react like that penfold, but you can see how it can easily get that way with some people, when all it really means is that they don't happen to be hovering on the boards as much as others

 

Dont worry I didn't take it personally I just dont see the need. As others have said, we are all adults and capable of making our own minds up when taking advice and researching a problem. I do think a breakdown of rep or thanks would be good to be able to make your own mind up, but I just dont see the need for extra badges of how good some members on here are.

 

I get the feeling that the people who are good, dont really care if they are recognised that they have a specialism. This is an IT forum to help people with similar jobs/interests. The fact that I get help from here and will contribute when I can is enough for me. I dont see the need for a badge next to my name to show what I(or anyone else) have done:)

[jamesb]

Ok I am just going to say this and its a genuine question, not aimed at anyone in particular.

 

Aren't we grown up enough to not get huffy about this kind of thing?

If not its a sad state of affairs.

 

It's not necessarily even about getting huffy, but what's the point of replying to a post with your advice if the 'expert' has already had their say? They're the authoritative one after all, and if your advice disagrees with theirs you must be wrong.

 

Exaggerating above but I'm trying to point out that even if someone's not overly sensitive, short tempered or anything else then having designated 'experts' can discourage others from posting a suggestion or fix. Anything which restricts the advice available is a bad thing. More points of view, generally, are better than just one if you're looking for advice.

[SYNACK]

Interesting discussion

 

What about an addition to the rep system where the OP you could flag up if a post provided the solution to the problem..

 

Do we really need more individual metrics or just a clearer view of the metrics in place already. I know that when a solution tag was suggested a while back the feeling was that it would lead to lots of extra overhead with abandoned threads etc.

 

I could see the feature being useful for automation in the future allowing an AI to much more easily distil the database into solutions on demand rather than the verbal context that is used now. I do think though that at this point it would kind of be a duplication of existing systems. These have had their issues due to their use not being clearly defined but adding more metrics may not be the answer. Most of the issues that the current system has could at least partially mitigated by allowing a clearer overview of how the points were earned.

 

Unless we are looking at building a much better search engine/AI to distill answers more easily I'm not sure if this additional model will be as helpful as expected.

 

I'm not a fan of the individual badges idea personally but a clickthrough to a clearer picture of the rep distribution could be helpful and more importantly interesting.

Edited June 30, 2010 by SYNACK

[LosOjos]

That is true, but if you put my post back into the context from whenst it came and stopped cutting bits out to try and prove your point you'd have:

 

 

 

instead of:

 

 

 

which does sound completely different!

 

So, my point being: You could tell me to do something that worked for you last week - good advice, because it worked for you. However, my GPO's are slightly different to yours, and the fix that worked for you has just bricked my network - bad advice.

 

Hightower, I was joking hence the ":p" at the end of my original post, don't take it so personally!

 

Ironically, kind of shows what a few have said though, people can get very touchy about things. I'm not trying to start an argument, just opening up idea's for possible downfalls to the proposed new rep system

[mac_shinobi]

You could combine tech answer tags with solution tags as sometimes articles that are posted point the OP in the correct direction with enough info to get a solution out of the information and the OP can then post back with the full solution and then tag it with a solution flag

[pete]

I also can't see this ending well. Making rep distribution clearer would be handy, but let people make up their own minds whether to follow received advice.

 

And please don't let it become like expert sexchange. Any site that pulls the "Hey, you need to sign up / pay to see the answer......Oh, unless you can scroll down" should not be emulated.

[mac_shinobi]

I also can't see this ending well. Making rep distribution clearer would be handy, but let people make up their own minds whether to follow received advice.

 

And please don't let it become like expert sexchange. Any site that pulls the "Hey, you need to sign up / pay to see the answer......Oh, unless you can scroll down" should not be emulated.

 

I think just a solution flag would suffice as the thanks button is more then good enough without any other flags keep it simple as they say.

[LosOjos]

And please don't let it become like expert sexchange. Any site that pulls the "Hey, you need to sign up / pay to see the answer......Oh, unless you can scroll down" should not be emulated.

 

LOL @ "expert sexchange", I kind of hope it was a typo because that would be even funnier

And I've never quite got why anyone pays to use that site, like you say, you can scroll down to the answers anyway...

 

I think this thread alone proves the badges are a bad idea, it's nearly turned in to an argument twice already. A clearer rep system I agree with others would be a better way to go in my opinion...

[pete]

LOL @ "expert sexchange", I kind of hope it was a typo because that would be even funnier

And I've never quite got why anyone pays to use that site, like you say, you can scroll down to the answers anyway...

 

They didn't have the dash "-" in the domain name initially. They realised their mistake quickly.

[elsiegee40]

My two-penn'orth.

 

Expert status seems like a good idea, but you'd have to have sub-categories to indicate what you're expert in.

 

For example I might earn the expert status on e-Safety, but if you asked me about Mac, I haven't got a clue.

 

Personally I think it would be cumbersome.

[jsnetman]

It's easy just stick quals under your post MCSA/MCSE/CCNA...., people will take your advice if you have the relevant quals in the subject. Although you can still of course be knowledgable in a subject without.

[ZeroHour]

I am thinking of ways for something like this to work. It has a lot of +/- with it and one concern would be how to judge the ranking etc.

I will post me thoughts once I have mulled it over.

[pete]

It's easy just stick quals under your post MCSA/MCSE/CCNA...., people will take your advice if you have the relevant quals in the subject.

 

You're missing a sarcasm tag there.

 

The worst posts on the Internet probably have a sig containing MCSE, mainly due to the amount of bootcamp MCSEs.

[PiqueABoo]

The worst posts on the Internet probably have a sig containing MCSE

 

I'll second "some of the worst".

 

--

 

I think this is a bad idea.

If it's to make 'experts' happy they ought to grow up, because earning brownie points and badges is a childish preoccupation.

If it's to help stop 'casual visitors' being burnt by dipstick advice/assertions, then they need to get used to it because that's what 99% of the net is like now.

 

One of the few things that is still good about the net is that anyone who has done the work can say something clever on that topic and get a fair hearing based on their words alone i.e. regardless of their acronym collection, job title etc.