Profiles

[fenwoman]

Why don't people fill in their profiles? It seems a bit rude to me to post asking for advice without letting people know a little bit about yourself, like where you live for instance. It's a bit like phoning someone but witholding your number.
Does anyone else find anonymous posters a bit of a niggle?

 

[my fat fish]

i think some pple dont understand how to do this profile thing i mean yeah some of us have had a bit of experience with forums some are proberly new to forums but i think we could do with a pinned topic telling pple how 2 sort profiles sigs all the basics ...

 

[SuperColey1]

i think some pple dont understand how to do this profile thing i mean yeah some of us have had a bit of experience with forums some are proberly new to forums but i think we could do with a pinned topic telling pple how 2 sort profiles sigs all the basics ...

I think it should be an automatic thing that comes up when you register, where you have to fill it all in and then it registers you.

If I remember rightly you register, then verify via the email, and it just goes to your control page, where most people will just then go straight to the forum.

I know when I started I did that and have filled in bit by bit profile, avatar, signature etc.

 

[Birdie]

I look forward to the day when I've got something significant - other than my extreme old age - to put in my profile. I do know what you mean though.

 

[faithless1294]

i think they should have to do it before being aloud on the forums like coley said.

 

[GoldfishAttentionSpan]

I sometimes have trouble navigating this forum, as far as the user info goes. I think I got most of it figured out, but I read a thread about tank info in the profile, which I didn't even know there was a place for. I think I found it, but even now I'm not sure if I'm missing something.

I also know that some people aren't too crazy about sharing personal information, which I can understand. There have been problems with crazy people on another forum that I go to, and now I try to be careful about what personal information I post, and I never put my location until I have been on the forum for awhile and get a feel for the place. You might be suprised at what a person can find out about you from just a little information and the internet.

 

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

I also know that some people aren't too crazy about sharing personal information, which I can understand. There have been problems with crazy people on another forum that I go to, and now I try to be careful about what personal information I post, and I never put my location until I have been on the forum for awhile and get a feel for the place. You might be suprised at what a person can find out about you from just a little information and the internet.

and for some younger kids, it could be a parental thing too

 

[SuperColey1]

I think we're a little paranoid here. The only thing that is being asked for is if you put your county/state and country, and details of your tank(s) sizes and inhabitants.

We're not saying you must put names, addresses, Date of Births, Phone Numbers and Bank accounts.

Just some basic details that allow people to help you out, and also people can see someone in their area and help each other out, info and swaps wise sometimes.

 

[GoldfishAttentionSpan]

I think we're a little paranoid here. The only thing that is being asked for is if you put your county/state and country, and details of your tank(s) sizes and inhabitants.

You know, thats what we thougth on the other forum. The person had her state listed in her profile, and just in a thread here and there on the forum she had mentioned other things, such as living by a river, walking to the mall one day, etc., and one thing lead to another, and they ended up being able to locate her.

Certainly there is nothing wrong with listing tank info, though.

 

[Rhiannon]

I dont find it rude at all.

I have my info down, not all of it but some, but I was very hesistant due to past harassment and stalking on the internet from trolls on a parenting website. It was so extreme the police got involved.

So if people want to remain annonymous, thats their buisness. Alot of people do it for protection as well.

 

[stang1]

I can understand it being frustrating at times especially when people are asking for advice but not everyone wants to list all their details. I think it's up to each individual to choose what they want people to know.

 

[Erised]

I honestly do not see how it is rude, at all. I come here to talk about fish, ask for help or give help about *fish*. So why would I have to tell everyone on the forums that am quite interested in drawing and that I work with children? Or why does it matter if I live in England or Holland? I come to talk about fish, anything else I'd go to msn for or some other chat applet, heck ... even the fishforums chat would do! Talking about things not related to fish aren't even accepted unless you visit the general hobbies section, so really don't see any point in filling in my profile information.

The only thing that I can understand is filling in your location, but unless you're willing to specify exactly where you live this isn't going to be a lot of help to most people. And I don't recommend to anyone that they fill in exactly where they live, simply because you *do* get freaks on forums that will try their very best to track you down, and often manage.

As to why I haven't got the aquariums and fish section filled in, that's because it simply changes too often and with me not being all that frequent to the forums anymore I'd have to log in to my settings every time I'd visit to alter the fish I'm keeping. Not to mention that 8 tanks simply looks messy. If I need help and people need to know what fish I keep and in what size aquarium I'll be sure to mention it to them. If people have a general interest and ask me in a topic, I won't mind answering them. But putting it in the profile to give people, most likely, outdated information I don't find necessary.

Heck, I take it to the extreme and dont like people knowing I'm browsing a certain thread because I know some people do take offence if you read but don't respond. Especially in the picture sections of the forum people can get quite annoyed with it. For this reason I log in as an 'Anonymous User' as well. I do understand a lot of people find this over-reacting and being too much of a 'hidden person who simply shouldn't be online if you don't want to give out any info or people to see you'. Up to them, I simply prefer using the forums the way I do. Not giving out too much information and not being seen and questioned.

 

[Tolak]

The important things, the only ones that matter as far as aquatics is concerned, are your country, and your tank specs.

Medication availability differs from country to country, obviously knowing your tank size and fish being kept is needed if you are having a problem. I can tell someone in the UK meds that will help their fish, but they won't be able to get them. I can tell you to use copper sulfate for velvet, but if I don't know you also have your prized snail in the tank there is going to be a problem.

Country & tank specs, beyond that I don't care about the rest, and don't even notice it if someone is having a problem.

 

[Gazoo]

The important things, the only ones that matter as far as aquatics is concerned, are your country, and your tank specs.

I'm with Tolak on this.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Me too with Tolak. Clearly we don't want people to take any risks or youngsters of falling foul of parental safeguards, but it is VERY annoying when you've spent ages advising somebody on treating their fish and then find out they are keeping their shark in a 10 ltr tank or live somewhere where your own medications aren't available. It holds things up when every thread has to wait while we ask the OP all the basic questions that could quite safely have been put in the thread.