Silly Questions!

[dewey-1]

I have been a long time believer in that there is are no dumb questions!

If members would at least fill out their profile with their location, it would reduce the redundancy of back and forth messages that have no relevancy to the original question or posting statements.

The location does not have to be a town or city, but at least a state or province in some country. At minimum a country or continent would be helpful!

When ever questions are posted I refer to the profile of the person to give me clues how to answer the question/statement but I find that 99% of the time it is blank.

If active members and new members could do that, it would help immensely!

Granted a few may want to be anonymous, but not almost everyone?

[Ragnarok]

I have been a long time believer in that there is are no dumb questions!

I always preferred: "There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

I very much agree with the sentiment of this topic. It's much easier to help if you know where who you're talking to is from, at least as precisely as a country or State.
I go to look to know what advice to give... and then no answer.

As I write this, of our 7444 members, only 545 have a location in their profile (less than 1 in 14) - and some of those are joke locations.

[mark.f]

I have found that every now and then somebody will ask a simple question, then I'll check their username and profile for clues as to their whereabouts, and upon answering the question assuming they are residing in the US (after all, most of our members are from there, according to the "Where are you from?" poll), I get a condescending answer from a snide European or Australian, Canadian, etc.

I agree that it's wrong to assume people are from the same country as you with no basis at all, or without checking usernames/profiles, but if you want helpful information specific to your region, then you should really put where you reside in your profile. Also, don't rely on former posts to provide this information. People are not going to read all of your previous posts just to find out where you live when it'll take you 3 seconds to fill out what region you come from in your profile.

[dewey-1]

That is exactly why not to assume.
The most recognized members on the forum have their location designated.

Even jsr's secret bat cave at least has an approximate location.

The location replies always show up after several suggestions to the question/problem.

Most that do not indicate their location in their profile, reveal it any way on their posting!

You can usually find someone's location just by looking at all there postings like Mark stated previously. So much for being anonymous.

Just a friendly reminder PLEASE;
If you are reading this posting, take a few seconds and update your profile location!

It will help every one in the long run.

[Ragnarok]

Ever heard of the 90/10 Rule?

Indeed, but there's also the pessimistic version:
"90% of a project takes the first 90% of the time, and the last 10% of a project takes the other 90% of the time."

This seems to be the problem with most of my projects.

Most that do not indicate their location in their profile, reveal it any way on their posting!

When I did a check on the locations of the Top 100 posters, although most of the Top 30 have a location in their profile, I found that it got less common with less posts.
However, almost every single one of those people's locations could be found with a search for posts they had made with the word "live" in them.

[jimmy101]

[quote="Ragnarok"]
Indeed, but there's also the pessimistic version:
"90% of a project takes the first 90% of the time, and the last 10% of a project takes the other 90% of the time."[quote]
And the realistic version "90% of everything is crap"

Back on topic, sure would be nice if a person's location showed up with their post count and name in the forum.

To help get people to actually enter a location perhaps the default location could be set to something like "I'm an idiot and didn't enter a location".

[jeepkahn]

Indeed, but there's also the pessimistic version:
"90% of a project takes the first 90% of the time, and the last 10% of a project takes the other 90% of the time."

And the realistic version "90% of everything is crap"

Back on topic, sure would be nice if a person's location showed up with their post count and name in the forum.

To help get people to actually enter a location perhaps the default location could be set to something like "I'm an idiot and didn't enter a location".

I'll second that motion...