Criteria in Signatures on forums
 

What are peoples feelings about signatures and what they include?

With many not actually knowing each other apart from just a name on a forum, should there be a criteria where there is a part in everyone's signature to state for example ability (like F1-2-3 etc)
Should some say for example, 1 years experience and so on?

Your thoughts.......and a pole

Anything you like :-)

Tricky as f grading doesn't always count for ability (you're f1 and I'm f5 yet we've finished inches apart). Likewise someone can have 20 years experience and be rubbish.

Shying away from wanting sponsors as with my job(s) and young family I can't commit to racing at all events (I entered 6 regionals last year and only got to two of them) I put my work websites in my signature instead.

I don't know how to change the polling
It should really include - name and past achievements after re-thinking about it
BUT
As for a F5 and a current F1 being inches apart - not sure about that

All about opinion i guess

Real name, don't know half of who I talk to at meetings

I don't like the extra long sigs, not many about on here.

Real Names and clubs raced at are useful.

Ps I voted I don't care!

Thing is quite a lot of valuable contributors on here aren't high level racers at all, but do run clubs, series etc. Without them there would be no racing, so an F rating does them no justice at all.

And then you've got the likes of Bigred - who isn't an F1 but pits for someone who is.

F-ratings tell people how good you are at controlling your car, but nothing else.

Agreed with this one, however people will still "abuse" it.. Joe Bloggs, Jimmy Carter, Jim Morrison, David Beckham and so on.

Someone has too much free bloody time on his hands. This is the most pointless thread I've seen for a while.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/photos/dat...gay_thread.jpg

Thanks

AC

I don't really care but I have always thought if people want free speech or to disagree with someone etc they should have the balls to put their name in your sig or somewhere. Plus its handy for when you meet people in person!

Seems to be a winner!

Absolutely agree, some of us have decades of experience, are very perfectionist on their cars, can set a car up well, understand how the hobby works, understand tech/engineering issues and will happily help others with advice... but are not high F graded drivers.

Driving ability does not necessarily mean ability to set a car up or understand how they work!

On the other hand, the good old t'internet doesn't filter the clueless kids and newbies that post horrendous advice which could lead to others wasting money as well as time.

oOple is fantastic being a high level of experienced enthusiasts on here helping out.

The name thing is a funny one, agree with James really, shouldn't be an issue as none of us should have anything to hide (apart from minging faces!)

real name yes
years racing/pitting lol yes, years in the sport may be ?
clubs raced at or use good idea
and may be some kinda race /job description IE race controller / pit bitch etc

The other point...

who is going to police it?

could write any old rubbish, like those that have a shopping list of every type of nut and bolt they use :p

I'm sorry but i agree with AC199

This is useless,

Rc is a toy car hobby,this forum is great fun. Lets not ruin it by putting annoying rules here and there,and the Mods can't monitor EVERY single persons signature,they have enough work as it is.

I enjoy reading the funny signatures or whatever it is.

I agree with some of these points. However, if you wish to include for example F grade, this will, in some people's eyes discredit what someone is saying. As said, there are some extremely knowledgeable and intelligent people on here who have useless thumbs. Similarly there are good drivers who don't know their arse from their elbow!

I do agree about real name though, there are a lot of keyboard warriors on here who maybe wouldn't write so aggressively if people knew who they were.

Erm, your sig, as long as it don't offend, whatever you like, so if you wish to promote yourself, carry on, if your sponsored and you wish to promote them, carry on, in jokes with club mates, really up to you to be honest.

I think some are getting the wrong idea to the debate.

A grading clearly state the caliber of driver making a comment

Dads, mechanics and so on of course have knowledge but is it not fair identifying that knowledge and us racer acknowledging it too!!

Its not about gradings, its about identification of who is making a comment or a statement, hence the signature question.

Its also doesn't have to be policed or anything like that but more of a thing to do rather than have to scenario.

And my the way the reason for the thread is if you look back 2 years ago there were far more comments and help from lets say talented drivers than I see these days.....

I personally like to I know who i am talking to which the majority of the time is not disclosed

I can't see what Tony's getting at, I have seen some people answer questions and question if they are the best people to answer.

What I will say is I don't think this is the most pointless thread, that is reserved for the "New AMB" thread IMHO!

Personally, I just have my name and sponsors (well, they were accurate when I did it 2-3 years ago!)

Tony you and I had a good couple of scraps when I used to race a mad monkey at torch. Maybe you'll remember us trading places twice in the last 15 feet of an a
A final a couple of years ago :-) battleing for 3rd iirc.

With the suggestions above my sig could be along the following:

Ben Elliott, multiple tamiya euro cup champion and former kyosho works BRCA touring car driver. 5th in 1999 touring car euros.

To be frank though I don't thinks its necessary and Whilst the euros trophy still sits proudly on my office shelf I don't think it needs to be displayed under every post I put on here.

I think on a forum, you earn authority and respect from your conduct and the quality of your responses.

However, I would love to know who are the top drivers as I have not been around long enough to know the names or nicks.

Ultimately IMO you can put what you like in a sig as long as it is not rude or libelous

TBH, being a talented driver is one thing, knowing what you are talking about is something else altogether.

Fr'instance, I used to work as a mechanic for one of the UKs top road cyclists, to this day i wouldn't trust him to pump up a pair of tyres (ok, i *probably* would now, took me 2 years to train him up though). He had utterly no idea about bike set up or technology.

If its not in the sigs then have some extra stuff where you have
Join Date
Location
Posts

so if dave spashett, drescher grainger came on here and have no ranking (f5) you would doubt thier answer? a real name would sort it out...

EXACT my point Ben...I know who you are but I would bet a hell of a lot of money 98% of the people on here don't know your ability or your past achievements, therefore, when you decide to give someone a small bit of advice, something you clearly have experience in, he might dismiss it as he or she feels it hasn't come from some known source to give that advice.
Then of course you get a opposite scenario.


Mark that is the point, if Craig comes here and says something, as an 11 time European champion and his name in his sig, it is very unlikely in my opinion someone would listen to his advice rather than if his name was lets say, 'money=grows-on-trees' and no signature with his name, then no one will actually listen, care and so on.

You are all actually saying the very same thing as i am.....surely!!

In other words Tony is saying the high calibre techincal based driver input has ceased to be put on oople, and there are more knobbers commentating on all issues they might not have the history or experience off!!!! (My tale!)

Oople I'm guessing has grown shed loads in that time frame, hits and users, so it's the way of all forums. Forums ebb and flow, like the flotsam and jetsam, people come and go but the bigger they get, the more they can get diluted.

IMPORTANT - Please read
 

It has been brought to my attention that some people may have been offended by my thread/post here.

It is far from meant to be anything of the sort.
The thread is suppose to open debate to whether we require/need some sort of identification when giving advice to people.
This does NOT mean that a F1 driver can give better advise than a Dad or a mechanic or anyone else. Its just a matter of recognising who is giving advice rather than the 11 year old that has been racing 2 weeks and thinks he is better than Neil Cragg.

The signature is of course a choice and I am far from saying it is mandatory either.......

We all have opinions and all come from different backgrounds and obviously have different knowledge and experiences but when giving advice on set ups and so on, that some people are desperate for, then surely we need to be giving the person reading that advice the source of where its coming from

And please before anyone shoots me down........its only my opinion

I can understand the reason for this thread and mi not opposed to it, but my profile is my profile. We can choose what info we wish to show on it, or not. Most of the time I sign off new thread's with my actual name, but to be fair alot of people know me already (be it in a good or bad way..meh).

Perhaps the actual profile itself could have some detail in it, but keep the signature for what the user wants to do with it, to personalise it their own way. If you have sponsors it's great to show in it if you want to, likewise if you have achieved something and want to share it, do so.

It really is simply a personal thing.

Tony I know what you mean, I answer questions, many prob think I talk bollocks :lol: because they have no idea of my past and what I have done.

Chris Doughty answers questions on here as does Adam Skelding. Lee Martin answers questions on here. There are plenty of top drivers here - some say not much. I'm not sure JQ has ever posted but he's a member. A lot of top drivers don't want to get into forums.

Anyway - I'm going to mix things up when I've made alterations to the website to reward those professional / top drivers that do help and do post by promoting them (and their sponsors) more highly.

I think the sig should have your real name instead of hiding behind user names other than that not to fussed if people want to take your advice when posting comments fair enough if they don't they don't aleast you know who it's come from

£10 says it's not Pamela Anderson :p

Sorry Mark, couldn't resist and you know we enjoy your talking bollocks really!

If people put their real names in that would be helpful especially in the club forums when people say they are coming out to race but have no idea who they really are... :)

The rest is just fluff..

maybe a 'thanked' rating that you see on other forums?

Does the extra characters on sig's warrant the extra space required on the backend SQL server for the forum? Would this increase the running costs for the forum over time?

Might not seem much, but effectivly it would be as if everyone was double posting with their reply then the sig. Just a thought though.

[QUOTE=MatJohnson;739645]Does the extra characters on sig's warrant the extra space required on the backend SQL server for the forum? Would this increase the running costs for the forum over time?
QUOTE]

Most geek answer ever!

All you need is a lol catz picture and your king of the nerds!

And I've just thought, its actually incorrect :) It wouldn't make a difference to the size of the database per post because they are stored seperatly :)

Cheers Aidan :)

I fully agree with having your real name displayed either in the sig or as your username, thats why my name is there, which has been said helps newbies find you at club meets or events etc. :)

as for gradings, that doesnt really help, ive been an F4 for 3yrs and racing for 6yrs, fixing and setting up customers rtr vehicles for 7yrs and a general dogs body mechanic since i was 13 :lol:

Full name and age

I'd just like to point out that Tony's sig is 700x101 yet:

:D:D:D

I stand by my original post, this thread is absolutely pointless. Its impossible to police any kind of signature requirements, and due to my job, it would mean that I'd have to stop posting on oOple. I cannot have my real name associated with forums.

No, I'm not a spy.

Forums are designed to have a level of anonymity, they are supposed to allow the dissemination/discussion of ideas, and to a certain extent, arguments and disagreements. The whole point is that the anonymity allows people to discuss things in a blame free, fault free environment, and its the job of the moderators to moderate that which exceeds the boundaries of the designated "fight lines"

Why in the name of all Zeus's big fat hairy arsehole would I want to put my real name on one? You might get my first name, but surname? Not a bloody chance.

If you dont like what someone has posted, tell them so, if you disagree, tell them, 1 race or 1 million races, doesnt matter, you can still be wrong. Oh and the point about Craggy's knowledge being worth more than mine? No it isnt, I'm from the correct side of the Pennines... :P But, as is usual, I digress...

I put my real name in as my forum name, I have nothing to hide!