It has come to my attention that a common reason that newbies to these furums (forae?) do not edit their profile is because they don't know how. When I have suggested they use the user CP I am often asked "what is that? "Current Program?" or similar guesses.

Maybe if the "user CP" label could become, I don't know and I'm guessing it wants to be short, "profile"?

I know it goes to the "user control panel" and not directly to the "profile" but if this helps newbies find their way around would it be a nuisance? Maybe members could think of another name? <braces self>

How best would you describe the user panel at LQ in the context of a normal user's point of view (someone who has no prior exposure to web forums in general)?

Very difficult to find a short, yet understandable word to describe the User CP. The best would be User Options, but that wouldn't cover all the functionalities of the CP.

better of the users read some document before working on the site

i am sure that there might be some whcih tells them all about the site working

regards

And lo, it came to pass

thanks for that thread

i too went through that for the first time

XavierP: Timely link. Note how it comes as a surprise to even senior members.

Harishankar: This isn't about the how best to describe the control panel, but how to label the hyperlink so that newbies know it's there.

It is tough to come up with one-word discriptions that are 100% (or even 70%) accurate. Don't try.

If "profile" dosn't appeal - how about "settings". "my settings" may be too long and a little microsoftesque.

So if a newbie is wondering "how do I alter my setting?" they see the link.

Hmmm... perhaps: "config" as a very familiar word to linux users and one newbies will be especially attuned to.

In all reality, the title Senior Member means jack... It simply means you have > 1000 posts and has no real bearing on status within LQ.

In the context of Linux knowledge, it doesn't mean a thing. However, in this issue (how to use the website) I guess a person who's posted > 1000 messages would *surely* know how to use the User CP? No?

And would, presumably, be expected to have seen the tutorial on how to use LQ . . .

God forbid before posting someone clicks "Linux Answers" or *gasp* "Tutorials"

Well that's what I did ... but then I've been on the internet since before it was public and in those days it was trial by flamethrower.

You can all be excused from not knowing about the tutorial, I only wrote it a few days ago and it was only posted within a couple of days. But now it's there ........

Admin's see "Admin CP" and moderators see "Mod(something) CP" because vbulletin software puts up the appropriate "* CP" depending upon the user permission level.







You can go to the vbulletin website and download a demo version of their software.

There is also a manual you can download but it's for Microsoft as it's in the MS Help File format.

I don't see any Mod CP..

Must be that newer version or something thingymajigger that might cause this..

We don't use a lot of what vb came with (I ripped it out) and we have a ton that was added. The real question here is whether we need to change the UserCP anchor text to something else. I'd be interested to hear more opinions on this.

--jeremy