Changing Member/User Status Run Around...

[Chaotic Mix]

Here is the question that I posed to the ADMINISTRATOR. Keep in mind as you read this, that this is my 1st time on this website, and I am trying to get a little direction.

Web Master,

Are we able to change our own status title? Or must we be branded as "Newbies", if we are new Members. It probably shouldn't matter, but I have been going to parties, longer than most of these kids have been in high school and I don't care for the stereotyping that will go along with the title "newbie".

-Chaotic Mix

[Chaotic Mix]

What I received from GroovinKim/Administrator -


you can read the answer to this in the questions&comments forum.

[Chaotic Mix]

Groovin Kim,
I think there has been a misunderstanding. I do not want to change my name. I want to change my status, which for me comes up as "newbie", the only other status (besides yours of course) seems to be "100% Vibe". I am unsure of what I am supposed to do at this point, with you having me go to this forum.
So I will also PM you with my request, since that is what is asked of me in Questions and Comments. Sorry for the confusion, thanks for help.

[Chaotic Mix]

Again, from Kim...

hello! no, i understood exactly what you meant and it is answered in the
forum. you just need to read further back in the questions and comments
forum until you come to the answer i am referring to. you can change the
amount of time answers are displayed - the default is 20 days.

[Chaotic Mix]

Here's what I don't understand...I am obviously new to using your board. I had a simple question, that it seems like a lot of people have. Instead of just answering my question, with a simple response, you took more of your time to try to make me feel stupid.
# 1 reply from you - your answers are in Q&C
So I go to where you TOLD me to. There are 2 threads listed there, 1 was about name change. I opened up the that thread and read the 2 postings. Since it was only about name change, I assumed that there was a misunderstanding. Which I then apologized for in my next e-mail, while again stating my question.
I even stated that I was unsure on how you wanted me to go about finding the information, so I would send you PM, just in case that is the procedure in which things must be handled on your board.
#2 reply from you - you tell me to read further back and that the default is 20 days (Just to let you know, the default is the last 5 days).
So again, I go to where you TOLD me to go. I set the the threads back to "The Beginning", went into search, asked for status change, and the response..."sorry no matches".
So instead of bothering you again, since you were so obviously irritated, I decided to just go through the titles of the threads, looking for a topic that might be on the same track as the question I was asking you. Found one, titled user status, different guy, same question. He was told that the FAQ answered this, it doesn't! He never did get an answer. He just kept posting that day until 100% vibe replaced the ever-hated NEWBIE. Everywhere I searched, there were people (especially moderators) going out of there way to put people down for not having this information or at least knowing where to find it. I finally found it under Just a quick, stupid question that was dated over
3 1/2 months ago. How do expect people to find information when they are not given proper direction. Yes, I am sure you can find it, in a matter of seconds. But the fact remains, you and your moderators are not helping the people who are trying to support your website. It would have taken you less time to type..."You must have 30 posts before you shed yourself of the branding of being a newbie." Instead you spent more of your time putting me down and run me around in circles. Yes, it was my decision to take, all the time, to find the answer to my question. But it had become more of a mission, due to the lack of help from you and your moderators, for everyone throughout the entire forum. Shouldn't it the responsibility of the administrator and the moderators to help guide it's users to the information they need? If you are unwilling to assist your members with their questions, maybe you should design a layout that is more user friendly.

[HexRei]

It looks to me like kim was nothing but polite to you. There's a saying... give a man a fish, you have fed him for today, but if you teach a man to fish blah blah blah you know the deal. The point is that she was directing you toward this forum, where there are answers to many questions commonly asked by new users, including yours (http://www.nwtekno.org/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41881).

Now keeping in mind that neither she nor any other of the nwtekno staff are paid, and this is a free service, and kim deals with a lot of these (we have some 9000 users)... is it that terrible that you should go back and read through, perhaps familiarizing yourself with the site layout at the same time? Had you considered that Kim might even have been busy at her job when you contacted her, and that she perhaps doesn't have time to give individual replies to every question a new person has, and that a better solution is to do exactly what she did- direct you toward the area best equipped to answer a new users' questions?

I don't know why you're so obsessed with changing that title, it is simply a reference to the number of posts made from your account, and is not a measure of your "old skoolness" or anything like that. You are not less or more cool because you have a certain title. And I think it's pretty sad that you've devoted this much time to complaining about someone's free service when you could have solved the problem yourself, had you been willing to look around a bit more.

[endquote]

Another valid answer to this would have been simply "no."

This should probably be added to the FAQ (seeing as how it's the most frequently asked question - a certain former administrator probably should have done that a long time ago), or at the very least posted here and made sticky.

Mr. Mix, your status changes from "newbie" to "100% Vibe" after a certain number of posts. I forget how many exactly, but since you just posted five times, you're that much closer.

[groovinkim]

the reason i was being pissy was because i think it's wack to need your message board posts to indicate that you "have been going to parties since most of these kids were in high school"

many other boardmembers have been involved for a decade or longer. none of them email me asking me how to change their board title to indicate that they are better.

it is definitely a valid point that the faq should have this in it. and i'll add it when i get a chance.