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Listing Kit in Profiles/Signatures

A

AndyCC72

pfm Member
Something that I have always liked about the Steve Hoffman forum is that nearly all the members list their kit in their profile or signature.

It’s great for providing context when people refer to ‘my speaker, amp, etc’. I’ve noticed both on here and previously on The WAM that very few members do it.

Every day when I’m reading a thread someone will refer to their gear in a comparison or to sing its virtues and won’t name what the kit is, therefore, the post is meaningless to most people reading it unless you’re familiar with the posters kit. Not great for new members or casual users.

I can’t see any downside to people listing their kit and whilst I’m not suggesting it should be mandatory, I believe it should be encouraged.

Would be interested to hear what other people think on this subject.
 
hifinutt said:
the current system seems cleaner and less cluttered as its not bogged down by signatures
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Aesthetically yes, but that doesn't take away from my point that the majority of the posts are rendered meaningless as you have no idea what the poster is referring to.

I have seen forum's where the signatures are so large it ruins the user experience. You could always limit the character number for signatures to avoid that.
 
serendipitydawg said:
I think we should follow the SHF maxim, always fill out your PROFILE. I think systems in SIGNATURES can come across as showing off. YMMV as always
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Agreed on the profile bit. That's a very English POV re signatures and one that I understand as I have seen people use it for that reason. But for the majority, I think it's just a tool so that others can understand what we're talking about when we refer to our kit in posts.

The signatures on the Art of Sound forum are a joke, some of them are so long it takes a minute to scroll past them.
 
AndyCC72 said:
Something that I have always liked about the Steve Hoffman forum is that nearly all the members list their kit in their profile or signature.

It’s great for providing context when people refer to ‘my speaker, amp, etc’. I’ve noticed both on here and previously on The WAM that very few members do it.

Every day when I’m reading a thread someone will refer to their gear in a comparison or to sing its virtues and won’t name what the kit is, therefore, the post is meaningless to most people reading it unless you’re familiar with the posters kit. Not great for new members or casual users.

I can’t see any downside to people listing their kit and whilst I’m not suggesting it should be mandatory, I believe it should be encouraged.

Would be interested to hear what other people think on this subject.
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100% agree.

Most posts and comments relate to the posters own gear and experiences, in some way. So their gear is typically highly relevant.

Or at very least, displaying their gear gives the reader a bit of insight as to where the poster is coming from.

I also think it is a bit weird when members post questions - seeking help - and then expect others to chase around hunting-down the OP's system components, in order to assist them.
(Like that's gonna happen... 😂 )

Displaying at least one of each member's chosen system components gets away from all that.
 
On another forum I occasionally visit, specialising in IT, there is an option to fill in the "system" (PC configuration) in the profile, and it is then shown on the left, right under the avatar photo. It is less obtrusive than a signature, but provides context.
 
InSides said:
On another forum I occasionally visit, specialising in IT, there is an option to fill in the "system" (PC configuration) in the profile, and it is then shown on the left, right under the avatar photo. It is less obtrusive than a signature, but provides context.
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If there is a demand I could add a field visible in the user’s profile ‘about’ page if folk want it (like a simplified version of the Hoffman forum). I’m very reluctant to add any further screen clutter visible on normal posts on threads. I’ve always tried to keep pfm as clean and light as possible visually.
 
Tony L said:
If there is a demand I could add a field visible in the user’s profile ‘about’ page if folk want it (like a simplified version of the Hoffman forum). I’m very reluctant to add any further screen clutter visible on normal posts on threads. I’ve always tried to keep pfm as clean and light as possible visually.
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Totally understand the 'screen clutter issue'. You've definitely achieved your goal in terms of keeping it visibly 'clean & light'. I for one would fill out the form and find it useful as a reference tool to understand what kit users are referring to.
 
AndyCC72 said:
Something that I have always liked about the Steve Hoffman forum is that nearly all the members list their kit in their profile or signature.

It’s great for providing context when people refer to ‘my speaker, amp, etc’. I’ve noticed both on here and previously on The WAM that very few members do it.

Every day when I’m reading a thread someone will refer to their gear in a comparison or to sing its virtues and won’t name what the kit is, therefore, the post is meaningless to most people reading it unless you’re familiar with the posters kit. Not great for new members or casual users.

I can’t see any downside to people listing their kit and whilst I’m not suggesting it should be mandatory, I believe it should be encouraged.

Would be interested to hear what other people think on this subject.
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I’m not sure that kit lists are that useful. How many of us are familiar with all the items in someone’s list for it to be really useful. Perhaps more relevant would be a description of the room, the type of music someone listens to and at what volume, not to mention their attitude to objectivism/subjectivism and all the shades and balances between. That would give a better idea of where they are coming from. Even so I wouldn’t want to see the forum cluttered up by it being repeated under every one of their posts.

I have a number of systems here and given that they sound very different depending on what room I have them in how would listing them give anyone an idea of where I am coming from?
 
camverton said:
I’m not sure that kit lists are that useful. How many of us are familiar with all the items in someone’s list for it to be really useful. Perhaps more relevant would be a description of the room, the type of music someone listens to and at what volume, not to mention their attitude to objectivism/subjectivism and all the shades and balances between. That would give a better idea of where they are coming from. Even so I wouldn’t want to see the forum cluttered up by it being repeated under every one of their posts.

I have a number of systems here and given that they sound very different depending on what room I have them in how would listing them give anyone an idea of where I am coming from?
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In hindsight I agree about the clutter etc, especially after having another look at 'The Art of Sound' forum today. But definitely think a form on profiles would be useful.
 
And anyone can state they have this or that and have nothing like! It could well be their dream system!
 
I’ve added a simple 300 character text field named ‘Hi-fi system’ that can be viewed by clicking a member’s profile and then ‘about’.

Here’s mine as an example (link).

I’ve deliberately kept it to one simple field unlike over on Steve Hoffman’s site as it should be enough to get the gist across without listing every cable or whatever. 300 characters should encourage brevity! It isn’t enough for me to list all three of my systems, and that’s fine. If needed I can make it bigger, but I like the idea of simplicity. It is obviously a non-mandatory field. Use/don’t use to taste.
 
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