Senior Member means nothing...but it should

PhilL

PhilL

Joined
Oct 1, 1999
Messages
6,490
When any Yutz, can post 100 “Right On!” s and become a Senior Member, and people like Gary Levine, Stab1, and Tim Herman, just to name a few aren’t Senior Members, then there’s something wrong with the System. I mean Gary Levine has forgotten more about knives then I’ll ever know. He should have been giving Senior status, by the powers that be upon sign up.

Who are, “The Powers that Be?” Well it’s Mike, Spark, and the Moderators, plus the Makers, Dealers, Company Owners, and people that really know there stuff and have the respect of all, Kodiak Pa comes to mind. These people know Who’s Who, and what’s what. My suggestion is to put together a Senior Membership Committee, and let them vote on who should be given Senior Membership status. Then the title would mean something.

What criteria should it be based on? Well, someone that brings something to the table. Primarily a love of Knives, general knife knowledge, but more than that, intelligent, open minded, friendly, helpful. Basically someone you would want to sit down with and chew the fat, about knives and other topics. If you wouldn’t invite them over your house, or want to spend some time with them, than IMHO they shouldn’t even be considered.

Now, if that means I’m no longer a Senior Member, that’s fine. I could provide you with a list of Members that I would gladly turn my title over to. I also have a list of Senior Members that need to be straightened out, that are adding nothing to this place. This isn’t my house, but if it were, some of these Senior Members would be sitting at the “Kiddie table” until they learn how to behave.

I love knives, and I love this place, it’s the first place I come to when I’m online. I’ve learned a lot in the short time I’ve been here. I’ve met some great people, made some friends and had a lot of laughs. I know I can come off as a clown at times, but I’m just having fun, and so far nobody has slapped my wrist. Two years ago I didn’t know that any of this Knife World existed. I’ve had knives my whole life, but I don’t have a huge collection, I’ve given away more knives than I currently own. If I hit the Lottery I couldn’t buy all the knives that I want. This is the place that fills the void.

Would this place be better without any titles? No, if Senior Membership really meant something, then someone who came here to check it out, would know the caliber of members this place offers. People that really set the standard.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but there’s a bunch of Senior Members I wouldn’t want representing me.

Whew! I’m glad I got that out. I feel better. Now, who wants to change that?
 
It's just a feature of UBB that makes it easier to spot hit-and-run trolls. Now that we have the number of posts visible without hitting the profile button, the member statuses are completely useless. In fact, the moderator status isn't particulary useful, etiher. A moderator only has special powers in their own forum. Since everyone knows who the administrators are, that's not particulary useful, either.

I, for one, am not interested in having a committee of elders passing judgement. I have a feeling the elders aren't, either.
wink.gif


------------------
Protect your Right to Keep and Bear Arms!
There are two kinds of people in the world;
those who need closure
 
Phil,

For better or worse Senior Member Status is a measure of Quantity not Quality in most Forums. Unfortunately, I don't believe that there is any accurate and fair way to assign Senior Member Status based on Quality. The method that you have proposed would probably result in a level of Politics and Alienation that IMHO would not be good for the site.

I have not played with the Search Feature but if it lets you search based on Member then more posts give you more potential information to weigh the Quality of a Senior Member's Opinions.

------------------
AKTI Member No. A000370
 
I'm tempted to get rid of the whole Senior member thing altogether anyhow, too many garbage posts out there that don't contribute anything.

Spark

------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
I second the vote to remove the member/senior member status, unless it REALLY means something.

------------------
"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
 
I'm not sure what the options are, but one simple thing to do is make the levels "junior member" and "member", instead of "member" and "senior member". Then make the number necessary to make "member" something low, like 10.

------------------
Protect your Right to Keep and Bear Arms!
There are two kinds of people in the world;
those who need closure
 
Leave it as it is and don't sweat the small stuff.
It means you have made a comment, hopefully helpful, or a post at least 100 times.
When I have a concern about someone's post, or better, if I wnat to know about them before I buy or sale to them, I immediately know that this person has posted at least enough times to be called a senior member and I can search his posts and determine more accurately if I want to deal with them.
smile.gif
 
For those members who have been on for a while I think they already know who contributes something meaningful.The status is irrelevant.
 
I agree that Senior Member status is NOT a judge of quality.

When I enter a topic I dont look at the # of posts to see what the quality is going to be like, I look at the posters name and then overtime you find out who the good posters are.

JD

[This message has been edited by Llamedos (edited 02-11-2000).]
 
It means NOTHING anyhow.
It's all semantics.
Who cares?
As long as I'm learning every time I come here and can help someone else along and have a load of laughs, I say, Senior-Schmenior!
tongue.gif


Spark,
If it's turning into a big deal, why not inform the newbies in the registration process that posting idly just to get Senior Status is frowned upon and be done with it?

From what I've experienced here, this is the most cooperative body of people (over 5000!) I have ever had the pleasure of interacting with in any way, shape or form. Tell'em outright idle posting is verbotten and they'll see it's silly to make "Senior", and they will not do it. The vast majority anyway. There's always gonna be those 1-10% who just don't get it. Maybe my thinking on this is wrong, but then again, maybe not. Should it be tried?

BTW, about idle posting. I'm as guilty as the next guy, because I'll agree with someone else's statements and not add anything of any significance to the post.
Don't lie, all of us have done this at one time or another.
You there! I see you shaking your head "NO!". Self deceit is not a pretty thing. Wise up...
biggrin.gif


------------------
My new bumper sticker:

Let me tell you about my SIFU!

[This message has been edited by misque (edited 02-11-2000).]
 
I'd like to see the Senior status somehow reflect successful, timely dealings on the for-sale forums. I've had really good experiences for the most part with every purchase I've made via the forum; the few that weren't were with members who were not Seniors. I made the deals against my better judgement and ended up waiting weeks for the outcome, sometimes with returned, "unsendable" email correspondence in which I inquired about the status of orders. If anything, Senior status should reflect a sort of service standard when it comes to our interforum business dealings. I would gladly forfeit my status to start from scratch and somehow be part of such a system. There may be no way to achieve this; I'm not really sure. In the meantime, the current system, at least for me, provides a system of identifying the "regulars;" those who's opinions I know and trust. Not at all to say that newcomers don't have something to offer; we've all got to start somewhere. It is nice to see, however, members who have been around for a year and longer who contribute regularly and at the same time welcome and "nurture" the newcomers. I've probably offered nothing contributory here myself, but I am in agreement that we need to reassess the definition of the Senior status. Professor.
 
The only thing we can change is the number of posts it takes to get a title. We can not assign specific titles to specific members.

So I just changed it so everyone is just a "Member"

------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW RIGHT NOW! YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!
www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001202.html
 
Look, people don't even bother to read the rules and FAQ's when they sign up... if they did we wouldn't get so many "Why is Hotmail banned? I need to change my Username... How do I make a post..." email's.

Mike and I have decided to do away with the Senior Member completely. It's pointless to have, so it's gone.

Hopefully this will eliminate some of the "I just need X to make Senior Member!!!!" posts...

We don't want to come down on people without a good reason, and this isn't a good reason. It's easier just to make everyone equal and eliminate the cause for this problem.

Spark

------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
Well now, is that service or what?!
Everyone is equal now.
Long live Senior member status!
tongue.gif

Good solution, fellas.

------------------
My new bumper sticker:

Let me tell you about my SIFU!

[This message has been edited by misque (edited 02-11-2000).]
 
Well, at least we can still see the date someone was registered. That should be useful on occasion I would imagine.

As far as "garbage posts", though, that seems like a tough thing to eliminate, I mean you're always going to have some of that. Some of it's ok in my opinion, as it lends a personality to our online family. And how do you define "garbage posts"? We certainly don't want to bust anyone's chops for chiming in with a quick post of agreement or to say hello to another forumite.

I guess there's a fine line there somewhere...

clip
 
Everyone is responsible for their own reputation. That goes for here, online in general and LIFE in general. The nice part about forums like this is it tends to cement one's rep faster than usual.

Even then, it's possible to reform one's rep. One gent who shall remain nameless is doing fairly well in that department, to my surprise.

Jim
 
Could we have the members that are knife makers listed as "Maker", especially those that advertise on BF? I would be more inclined to look at a knife by a maker that I knew was a member of this forum and I could find discussion on his/her knives. I also like having access to this person for question if and when they arise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top