Now I remember! Got here, surfed around a bit and found the door to the FAQ room. What's that stand for? Frigging Awful Qreapy? It was traumatic and left. Damn place needs some major redecorating if you know what I mean. Seriously, as a newbie, It was helpful but it could be much better. Not that I know anything about room decorations but the room is missing something that makes you want to stay and learn the ropes. Why not give credit for time spent there or someplace designed to help new members? Ya gotta put dumb-ass monkeys like me in a funnel so we come out more educated. BTW...Where's my frigging diploma?
care to be specific about what you found so awful?... or make any specific suggestions for improvement? or are you happiest just griping 'n grumbling?
I found it hard to navigate. But I was looking for specific things. I had to hunt all over to find the BB Code page. I never did find how one gets the label of contributor and I wasn't clear at first how it differed from supporter. A quick link to site support (as in give Daniel money) would be nice to see on the top or bottom menu bar. And it took me a while to find, since it only shows up on the forum table of contents page. I don't go to that page very often. Those are just a couple things. I'd also like a link to the member list, forum names, not real names. Some forums have lists with join dates and number of posts. It's not a critical thing though if there's some reason not to have one.
There used to be a member list, but for some reason that feature was removed. It would be nice to have it back.
ginger... i was awarded a 'contributor' tag before i made a donation and became a 'supporter'... i think it was because i've 'contributed' several 'stickies' and did a 'word of the week' thread for a while, plus possibly for having been here longer than everyone but daniel...
It's not hard to guess what 'contributor' means. But if you don't know and want to look it up, you can't. The question was, what's so awful? It's hard to find things. I'm just describing my experience with the FAQs and Noobie information. I didn't ask anyone to change it. I wasted a bit of time finding things, but it was minor and it's water under the bridge now.
I was a contributor before becoming a supporter. I think you just have to make a certain number of posts to be contributor. Generally, I've stayed away from the FAQ page. I would have used it to look up BB codes, but I was already familiar with them from being a member of other forums. One thing I do wish is that every newbie read the rules. We keeping getting people wanting critique on their very first post, and sometimes when you tell them they can't do that, they get snippy.
You need 500 posts and 200 rep points. You also need to be a member for at least 6 months, though I'm not 100% sure about this part.
Humm -- I have all of those, but am not deemed a "Contributor." Is it connected to contributing money? That I have not done. Are you a Contributor if you give any money ever, but a Supporter if you give a certain amount?
While obviously there are always going to be people who don't read the FAQs before they start asking them, the FAQs' user friendliness can contribute to the problem. As for knowing the BB codes, I know them from other forums as well but not all the codes are the same which is why I wanted to find the page. For example [strike] on some boards is on this one. [Hilite] elsewhere is [highlight] here. And there are other ways to post [noparse].
No, it has nothing to do with money. It's based purely on your posts/reputation. There used to be an error where senior members would not automatically become contributors even after they had satisfied the requirements. I talked to Daniel about this problem, and he said he fixed it, but I guess not. You may have to PM him about it.
I think Mammamaia had it right, it's people who have contributed some work, like a sticky page or in info blog piece, something like that. Then again, Thirdwind seems to know what he's talking about.:redface: Except, why does Mammamaia not still have "contributor" designation?
But then again...I've not contributed to a sticky or anything and I'm still a contributor.. And I think Mammamia's one got replaced with Supporter because she donated some money, me thinks.
Is there any real benefit to it -- of course, aside from the facts that my posts would then all receive automatic deference and respect, and I would impress all of the members who don't have such a designation? I'm not so sure I want to inspire that much jealousy.
The mystery continues. I've seen both, supporter and contributor together, same person, that's what sent me looking for the meaning in the first place. Dunno, there's nothing about it in the FAQs.
it does seem a bit erratic... yes, i got the 'supporter' designation when i became a subscriber to the site with an annual donation to help keep it going... till then, i was a 'contributor'... but now i see i no longer have a 'title' that reflects the number of posts i've made, since where that should be, it now only repeats the 'supporter' label... it does seem odd that youniquee and thirdwind have fancy 'contributor' labels while liz doesn't... and that thirdwind also has a 'senior member' tag and youniquee doesn't, but has something weird under her name, instead... seems to me the system needs an overhaul by daniel, though i don't really care if i have a 'label' or not... or what it is, as long as it's not anything derogatory...
FAQ, of course, stands for Frequently Asked Questions. But - point taken! The FAQ is, like Cogito said, basically the stock Q&A about how to use the site. It really could be improved upon. It's one of those things that's way down on the to-do list; it'd be nice, but there are a lot of other priorities above it. I'm willing to work on the FAQ if you guys want to help compile some of the questions. What Q's do you think belong there but aren't? Help compile a list and I'll add the questions and answers. There actually is a link in the footer for supporters/donating. It's titled Premium Membership. I suppose it could be more prevalent though. I wasn't aware anyone actually used the memberlist. Would you guys, and what for? I removed it because it used server resources and I thought it wasn't really used much. To get the Contributing member you need 500 posts, 200 rep points, and you need to be registered for one year. You can also potentially get this label if you're selected due to contributing to the site evening if you don't get the criteria. For Senior Member status you need 50 points, 250 posts, and to be registred for 180 days. The system should work automatically. Could you elaborate a little? I'm not sure I follow. When you say title that reflects the number of posts, are you referring to what previously went in the spot where you have the text of "Supporter"? I admit, that is redundant, and the other titles could be more creative - but unless I'm mistaken, Supporting members can change that title to whatever they want in the UserCP. It's one of the small bonus features of becoming a site Supporter.
I never really used it, so I guess we (or rather, I) don't need it after all, especially if it's taking up resources. Ah, OK. Good to know. This is a minor issue, but I have a "Contributor" label and a "Senior Member" tag right below that. Except for supporters, who can customize it, this tag is redundant (and incorrect in my case). So perhaps it might to be better to stick to either one or the other for non-supporters.
Give me a day or so and I'll 'contribute' my unqualified opinion. That's for "supporter" but we were asking about "contributor", which you answered below. I use it occasionally to find someone's profile page. The alternative is to find a thread they've posted in. The list is nice but by no means a priority.
I'm that sure anyone can customise that title below their name because even before I was a 'contributing' member, I edited my to 'gimme a beat' for a very long time. And I changed it again very recently (And I'm not a supporting member) Hmm, strange.
i had no idea i could change it... thanks for the info... yes, i was referring to the lower 'supporter' title... where it used to say 'contributor' before i signed up for an annual donation... so, how do i go about changing that second 'supporter'?
I thought that was only for contributors and supports too! Sweet! Also, I don't think you're a nit picker Maia... you're like this forum's mom
