So now I'm officially a newbie!

[hazel]

I hope I'm not being immodest but I don't exactly consider myself a newbie, not any more. On the other hand I've been "Just joined" for three years, which is even odder. When I was growing up, "just" meant "very recently" and 2004 isn't very recent in my book.

The problem is your wizards don't allow for intermittent visitors. When I started out with Linux, I didn't even have a home internet connection. Frankly I couldn't afford one (US readers please note: we have to pay even for local calls in the UK). I used to go online once a week at the local public library and I only visited the forum when I really needed to make a post. Then my pension came in and I began to feel affluent so I got a dial-up connection. But because it was metered, I used it mainly to browse for information. So I posted more often but still only once a week or so. I didn't start racking up the posts till I got broadband.

I'm not quarrelling with grading people by the number of posts they've made. It's obviously the fairest way to do it. But couldn't you find some names that don't assume an automatic match with the amount of Linux experience?

[fingal]

I know what you mean about the number of posts. I've seen people say stuff like, 'Could some guru answer this for me?' Someone could join this site with 12 years of experience and be classed as a 'newbie'. If I finally reach 'guru' status I won't know any more than I currently do... Food for thought.

[Roxoff]

I disagree, Fingal. When you reach guru status, you'll have learned something new. I've frequently learned new stuff just by trying to answer other users questions. I've sometimes had to look stuff up, or read up on something that I thought I knew and ended up knowing it better. It's all about the journey, after all.

In my opinion, you don't even get to be 'Linux Engineer' on here unless you've learned more than you knew at 'newbie', you just cant post enough questions to do do it, you have to answer questions to get your post count that high. And being a guru isn't about knowing all about Linux; it's really about knowing where to look for the right answers

And Hazel, if you're still paying for local calls, then you should consider changing your phone provider.

[fingal]

I disagree, Fingal.

I knew someone would. The journey you mention is just a perception, not a reality. Anyway, I don't really care one way or the other...

Not long before I reach Nirvana then.

You might be interested to learn that I only answer posts I already know something about. Then I supplement this with a search if I feel I need to. I don't touch anything I have no experience with because:

* information you find online is frequently wrong or misleading (and)
* I prefer to do it that way.

[techieMoe]

I'm not quarrelling with grading people by the number of posts they've made. It's obviously the fairest way to do it. But couldn't you find some names that don't assume an automatic match with the amount of Linux experience?

We've tossed around ideas on renaming the rankings more than once in the past. I'm not sure where that stands right now, but I'll mention it to the other mods.

[bigtomrodney]

Well Hazel, for what it's worth I've never considered you a Newbie so seeing it now makes me laugh a little. Anyway congrats!

[peteh]

Shakespeare wrote "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". On the other hand, as I've said before, it does seem a long way to go just to become a 'newbie'.
And I notice lately, there are people who really have just joined but have actually passed 'newbie' stage.
Still, to paraphrase the bard, "What's in a name?"

[oz]

I wish we had some small icons (maybe little penguins) to go under our user names rather than verbal titles to indicate our forum activity. Maybe something like this:

100 posts = 1 icon
500 posts = 2 icons
1,000 posts = 3 icons
5,000 posts = 4 icons
10,000 posts = 5 icons

[fingal]

I wish we had some small icons (maybe little penguins) to go under our user names rather than verbal titles to indicate our forum activity. Maybe something like this:

100 posts = 1 icon
500 posts = 2 icons
1,000 posts = 3 icons
5,000 posts = 4 icons
10,000 posts = 5 icons

I think we had a similar system when we used the old board? I can hardly remember it for some reason.

[techieMoe]

I think we had a similar system when we used the old board? I can hardly remember it for some reason.

We did. It was a series of penguins. You gained a penguin each time you reached a certain number of posts. Mods and other special ranks had all the penguins filled regardless of post count. I used those same penguin images as my ratings on my rants, actually.