PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ID your Distro !!!!!
 

If a mod feels this would be better placed - be my guest.

To all new and not so new posters/members.
It would be incredibly helpful to you and anyone wishing to help you if you traveled back to your user cp and entered the name of your distro. Even if there are more than one.

Different distros can do things in different ways and put things in different places. Some of us who wish to help have chosen one distro to be the main squeeze so to speak, and thus have more knowledge regarding how to fix things in one distro than another. Sometimes you may forget to include this information in your post and if it is listed under your user name then you never have to worry about it.

Then you'll be sure that all those super knowledgeable, super busy people who use your distro (because it's the best one :D) will zero in on your post so they can prove how smart they are.

Just a thot.

good thought :)

And when you ask a "desktop" question, you might want to say if you are running GNOME, KDE, or whatever.

Steve

all good ideas, however the chance of people actually reading this thread is pretty small. we do try to point people in the right dfirection... you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it dance the tango....

Depends what's in the water....:cool:


Not to knock speter's post which certainly is correct, my point about the distro name was made because you enter it once in user cp and forget about it ... it will automatically be there with every post.

I wondered if maybe people incorrectly feel that this information will limit the members who try to help them. I just wanted to point out to those who might have issues, that this information will only increase the quality of the answers that they receive.

That's all

I agree - it definitely would make answering questions easier. Too often someone asks a question, doesn't id their distro and then complains that no one will help.

Is it possible to make it a mandatory answer whn setting up an account?

Extremely true, perhaps a dropdown box could be added in the posting section to automatically add other technical info such as Desktop, server version etc.

I totally agree with the idea that both the Distro should be mandatory, although given the total number of distros and versions, the potential list of choices in a drop-down would be seriously long. Since the distro (and location) fields are both free-text, would it be possible to default them to a neutral value (such as "Not provided" or "Unknown") with a nearby comment encouraging people to provide more specific information? Personally, not knowing what distro someone is running definitely "dilutes" how specific your response can be, which to me has the effect of putting a cap on how useful a thread might be. Like Franklin indicated, that runs contrary to the whole purpose of the LQ board (at least in my opinion anyway)

This particular thread probably should be moved to the Website Suggestions forum. It's a great idea -- J.W.

While I'm pleased that you think this is a valid request, I think some of you may miss the point. I don't believe that anything needs to be changed in regard to the forum. I just think that new members (hence the placement in the newbie forum) need to be informed of the potential benefit to including this information in their user cp. I started this thread because I have noticed what seems to be a trend in not listing this info and wanted to stem the tide.

As far as making this manditory, again I would disagree. No need to dumb down the forum any more than there is a need to dumb down linux ;). I just feel that new members do what every one else does and if everyone started listing this info so that it showed up on the left column under you name and location, then the problem would eventually take care of itself.

As far as moving this thread is concerned, I would leave it where it is for reasons stated above. Plus, website questions and suggestions are for issues directed at Jeremy or the mods, which this isn't. Plus few people who would benefit from this suggestion would visit there and thus would not see it.

I am content with an occasion bump for a period of time. If enough people start to do it, the problem will take care of itself. If you agree with me on this, perhaps a small reminder in you sigs for the month of October - whatever.

I think I've said enough on this. I'll just bump if it drops off the front page for a while.

Later

I think the problem is that people dont see what should be put in the profile. it is very easy to just register and miss out the profile section. If it were made more prominent and a reason given for its prominence then i am sure more people would be inclined to put that information if they new that it would help them in their quest for an answer.

Franklin - you make a valid point, but I'm confused about how making the distro mandatory would "dumb down" the forum. How would capturing the distro be dumbing anything down? I just don't see your point. If anything, since the distro does have an impact on how specific an answer could be, knowing which one somebody is running could only "smarten up" the forum, right? -- J.W.

All I mean is that the option is there, people just need to use it.

By dumbing down I simply mean doing something for someone that they can easily do for themselves simply because you don't have the faith in people's ability to figure it out on their own.

There is no need to send Jeremy on a pointless errand when the answer is for people to use what's already there.