Year, Make, Model Requirement For Posting

[pmckechnie]

I think that requiring that the YEAR,MAKE AND MODEL should be a REQUIREMENT. I spend a lot of time reading a post only to find that I know nothing about the car.

 

[EdP]

I think that requiring that the YEAR,MAKE AND MODEL should be a REQUIREMENT. I spend a lot of time reading a post only to find that I know nothing about the car.

Yes, and your country too.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Sal, I think every thing now is fine. But I just think that requiring that the YEAR,MAKE AND MODEL should be a REQUIREMENT. I spend a lot of time reading a post only to find that I know nothing about the car.

I wish more people would fill out their car information in their profile. That would be great. I guess the only thing we really don't have is model year as we know which make they have - as well as the model, as long as they're posting in the correct forum... We just need to know the year/generation... But how would we enforce a rule where topics must have the model year in the subject title or message?

 

[Mcc]

Yes, and your country too.

I think that requiring that the YEAR,MAKE AND MODEL should be a REQUIREMENT. I spend a lot of time reading a post only to find that I know nothing about the car.

100% agree. I have been asking for this for years. Country, year, make, model all should be REQUIRED. So frustrating to help others out and get frequently confused because the poster does not include all the info needed.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

100% agree. I have been asking for this for years. Country, year, make, model all should be REQUIRED. So frustrating to help others out and get frequently confused because the poster does not include all the info needed.

How do we enforce this? And what is the punishment for offenders?

 

[EdP]

How do we enforce this? And what is the punishment for offenders?

For punishment, you contact their dealer and when they need a loaner, it will be a 10 year old Dodge.

I don't know if you can make some fields required to register when joining. Seems that may be a function of the software developer to make available.

 

[Mcc]

How do we enforce this? And what is the punishment for offenders?

Can’t you just make them required fields when users sign up? For users that have already signed up, point them back to their profile when they post. No complete profile, no,post. Or we can continue to waste people’s time continually asking “ where are you from?”, “what year do you have?” etc.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I can have a "country flag" listed, but it may not always be accurate if/when somebody is using a VPN. Let me know your thoughts on that.

Things are crazy, these days, and every little TINY addition to something is considered "challenging". Requiring people to submit information at signup is a turn-off to a lot of people. Don't shoot the messenger. I've been running forums since the mid 80s and I have watched the landscape change...

There used to be two software plug-ins that reminded people to complete their profile. When a field wasn't filled in, there'd be a progress bar that showed "incomplete". That encouraged people to add the information, but the plug-ins haven't been updated in years due to lack of interest. That would have probably worked well for us here...

What if we answered every question by a poster without this information filled in to "go here" and add their model and year:

https://genesisowners.com/genesis-forum/account/account-details

https://genesisowners.com/genesis-forum/account/account-details

 

[TinsleyC]

I prefer that people put their car information in the signature line, that way it shows up below a post when I read it on my cell phone. 99% of reading & posting on forums (for me) is via my cell phone.

On a phone, in order to see what they filled in to the car spec fields, I have to touch their profile, touch their photo, move down to the scrolling information row and scroll it left, and touch About.

 

[TinsleyC]

This is what my profile looks like on my phone, after drilling down into the screen that shows the car info fields.

______________________________

Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[Mcc]

There used to be two software plug-ins that reminded people to complete their profile. When a field wasn't filled in, there'd be a progress bar that showed "incomplete". That encouraged people to add the information, but the plug-ins haven't been updated in years due to lack of interest.

Lack of interest by whom?
Will the plug-ins work now?

I have a feeling this is going to go nowhere because “Requiring people to submit information at signup is a turn-off to a lot of people. ” Really?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I prefer that people put their car information in the signature line, that way it shows up below a post when I read it on my cell phone. 99% of reading & posting on forums (for me) is via my cell phone.

On a phone, in order to see what they filled in to the car spec fields, I have to touch their profile, touch their photo, move down to the scrolling information row and scroll it left, and touch About.

I see what you mean and that does make sense... It's probably easier getting people to fill out profile fields but signatures would work better as most people move to mobile...

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Lack of interest by whom?
Will the plug-ins work now?

I have a feeling this is going to go nowhere because “Requiring people to submit information at signup is a turn-off to a lot of people. ” Really?

The plug-ins will not work now as they have not been updated in years due to a lack of interest from people who use the software. There are many thousands of people who run forums like this, using this software, and there hasn't been enough interest from the people who use the software for anyone to update or create new versions of something that'll nudge people to complete their profile.

Regarding "Requiring people to submit information at signup is a turn-off to a lot of people". Yes. Really. The more fields people need to fill out, the less likely they are to complete a registration. This is something you can verify with research if you choose to. I have this weird feeling that you think this is something I'm either making up - or have experienced "uniquely". In other words, only I feel this way or have experienced this.

 

[Jhon]

I don't think you need to require it, but it sure is nice when your reading about a problem with a car and you want to know if it is your engine or drivetrain. And when someone has a problem, you then have to ask them to say what engine they have.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I don't think you need to require it, but it sure is nice when your reading about a problem with a car and you want to know if it is your engine or drivetrain. And when someone has a problem, you then have to ask them to say what engine they have.

I agree. It's important and very useful information... I can add data fields to the registration process, but they'd be voluntary. Even at that, as mentioned by TinsleyC above, as more and more people move to mobile, those "fields" aren't visible without doing some clicking around to find it. Though at least in that case if could be found... Ultimately, it would be nice if people placed this information into their signature...

All that being said, I don't think it would be a good idea to have the community run in such a way where if you don't include this information in a post, it gets deleted, closed or the member faces some type of disciplinary action.