There have been lots of posts lately with people asking for advice but not saying relevant things about their situation. Sometimes that makes it feel like a gardening site rather than permaculture. Given this a permaculture site, is there any way to require people to put something in their account settings, or ask them to give the information when they ask a question, so we know basic things like what part of the world they live in, their climate, soil etc. I know we talked about this ages ago, but am not sure what is possible with the new forum.
I'll see with Craig whether we can require some location etc info on joining. Apart from that - just keep asking them to describe their set up.
Thanks eco. I'm getting sick of having to ask all the time, and to be honest it's starting to put me off. This is a permaculture forum, I think it's reasonable to have an expectation of that level of information. As I understand it, new people go into moderation for the first handful of posts. Can there be something in that that prompts them to (a) fill in the location bit of their settings (and give them an explanation of why this is useful), and (b) show them how to write basic information when they ask a question? I'd be willing to put some energy into writing a blurb that could be given to newbies etc. Myself, I'd prefer we didn't shorthand to the US zoning system. No-one I know in RL uses it, and it just means I have to go look something up before responding.
Looks like finding the settings is not that straight forward: https://forums.permaculturenews.org...existing-roses&p=115929&viewfull=1#post115929
It's taken me 3-4 days to find the settings to be able to include info in my profile. I'm pretty IT literate, having been on the net since the late 1990's and early 2000's and moderating social media part time as part of my income. If I found it difficult, I'd hate to think how others are finding it. I had no idea where to go for help in getting it done either.
Pebble - can you have a go at writing it up - post it here and either Bill or I can stick it somewhere appropriate permanently? Thanks in advance.
Doesn't help having the "Settings" link hidden in the clouds about the same colour in the top corner making it more visible should help .
Depends on your resolution Terra, my button is well out of the clouds and in the black. There are 2 places you can adjust your settings too, two links in two different places. "Settings" and under "Forum Actions".
I'm similar and I find navigating the various options confusing. At the moment it's the search function, drives me crazy each time I use it.
also, it would be really nice if people put how large an area it is in question as we'd make different recommendations. for the general PRI site itself it would be great to have an acreage or hectare field so that we could keep a running tally of permie land.
Hi Guys. Unfortunately there's no way to have a custom field on registration - at least not where the info input into that custom field would be subsequently visible to other forum members. I can only suggest you guys create a sticky in the appropriate place, advising people to put the info you want into either their profile or into a signature. Sorry I can't help further with this...
They do, but we've intentionally made it so that brand new users can't edit their signature file and profile until they've had a few successfully moderated posts go through. This is to prevent spammers from taking advantage of the system. If I put in the welcome message that they should put their climate zone info, etc., into their signature file or profile page, then they will find they can't - at least not until they've made a few posts first. So, we are then in the position of needing to remove those initial restrictions, and I'm not sure I'm keen to do that. And, from my experience, few people take the time to read automated welcome messages anyway...