user information

there is a pretty good thread going on in the soapbox subject “:
Suggestion: GUI, not terminal!” to which i tip my hat and give credit
for prompting this ‘bright idea’ (if it is…if it is not then i
take ALL the blame for its stupidity)…

the originating poster’s point is that some of the folks here most
often jump right to an “open a terminal and…blah blah…” answer…

he is right, of course…but, the truth is that in some cases that is
THE answer the asker wanted…BECAUSE the asker is at the correct
level of understanding of Linux to USE that answer…

i mean, lets face it: there are folks that ask a question and if they
get an answer like “open YaST and go to Software > blah > blah…and
search for . . .” and they reply “What is YaST? Where do I get that?”

then, answer the next poster the SAME way, and they comes back with:
What do you think i am, an idiot? “You do NOT have to tell me how to
use YaST like i am an idiot! …huff…”

my point: we (unless you are LOT smarter than me) usually don’t have
one clue about the following kinds of things about a poster’s
situation (unless s/he knows to include ALL of these things in their
question):

• capable/experienced at the command line (KNOWS what “a terminal”
  is, and how to launch one)

– knows that the root password will not show as typed

– knows if we say “become root” that that does not mean log into a
NEW GUI session as root and . . .

– knows how to copy/paste to “report the output back to this forum
thread”

– etc

• is a KDE X.x user (or GNOME, or . . . )

• is now on openSUSE 1X.x

• has nvidia/intel/ati/other graphics

• is using a notebook or . . .

• is well versed in Windows, and is an Admin with one or two headless
  Linux servers in his farm of 300 WinTel desktops and just needs . . .

and, maybe a few dozen other tidbits of USER INFORMATION that could
cut down on missed communications, overly simple (or complex) answers
(as seen from the users end) and generally reduce the need for the
folks with the answers having to go through the drill of: “What DE
you using? Which version of openSUSE? Is that a laptop? etc etc etc”

sorry for taking so long to get my suggestion: wouldn’t it be nice if
there were a new user sign questionnaire that could capture all those
kinds of USEFUL information and log it into the poster’s profile??

AND, when a poster begins a new thread, when s/he pushes “Post”
(Send?) s/he gets shown the technical profile and asked if anything
needs to be changed for THIS posted problem…

ok…so, maybe it is easier to guess that everyone is using openSUSE
11.1, KDE4.2 on a Nvidia based laptop with a successfully installed
driver, understands CLI . . . .

i can tell you this: i’m about tired of having fun by GUESSING what
the asker’s question is all about…

–
have fun

Hey have fun:

> wouldn’t it be nice if
> there were a new user sign questionnaire that could capture all those
> kinds of USEFUL information and log it into the poster’s profile??

Sure it would. The problem is the system isn’t set up to do that. We
use the openSUSE (Novell) login system which would require an extensive
rework in order to gather that information. Then we would have to
modify vBulletin to accept and show that data. In short…don’t hold
your breath.

> then, answer the next poster the SAME way, and they comes back with:
> What do you think i am, an idiot? "You do NOT have to tell me how to
> use YaST like i am an idiot! …huff…

Hopefully people are a bit thicker skinned than that, especially when
someone is making an effort to help them.

One thing available today to give you SOME sort of indication is the
user reputation and title that show up on their messages. If you see a
question from someone that has 1000+ posts on the forums, you have a
pretty good idea they have some clue about what they are doing (well,
one would hope…). If they only have 5 posts, it’s possible they are
a newbie or they could be an expert…you don’t know.

We encourage everyone, newbie and expert alike, to post as much
information about their setup, hardware, what they’ve tried, etc. etc.
when they post a question so the back and forth info gathering messages
are reduced to a minimum saving everyone time and effort.

One thing that is being worked on right now is the ability to “notify”
certain users when they login (new user, haven’t visited the forums for
a while, etc.) where we could remind them to post as much information
as possible in their posts.

Thanks for the comments.

–
Kim (2/12/2009 9:53:08 AM Mountain)

> We encourage everyone, newbie and expert alike, to post as much
> information about their setup, hardware, what they’ve tried, etc. etc.

i guess that encouragement is not in place often visited…or read.

–
have fun

Hey have fun:

> i guess that encouragement is not in place often visited…or read.

I say it every chance I get.

–
Kim (2/12/2009 12:48:54 PM Mountain)

> I say it every chance I get.

so, are you saying that it is not a problem we don’t have a info
collection mechanism BECAUSE a new person here knows how to ask
questions if they are already smart enough to have read all your
advice/comments…

OR what?

–
have fun