Meet the new Mod

[solar pete]

Hi All,

It is with great pleasure I announce to the members of this fine forum, our newest Mod, drum roll please........................SunEagle,

After years of service to this forum I know that SunEagle will be a great addition to the ranks of the mods. Welcome aboard mate

In other general news, we are looking into a way where people will be able to post a technical question perhaps in a new section like " ask a solar pro" or something like that, this section will only be able to be answered by mods, or admins, or other yet to be defined positions, we into the early stages of looking at how this might work, cheers all.

[SunEagle]

solar pete

Thanks for the demotion ... I mean promotion.

I will do my best supporting this Forum and anyone coming here looking for understanding and clarification concerning solar technology.

Cheers back at ya.

[J.P.M.]

SunEagle: Meant in a positive way:

This has the feeling of a battlefield promotion.

Congratulations.

Now, forget all those nice things I said about you.

[Ian S]

Kind of a Sunking without the drama!

[Sunny Solar]

Speaking about Sunking.. What happened to the threads about Sunking "im out of here" and those wanting him to return?

[DanKegel]

I for one welcome our new moderator overlord

Congrats and thanks in advance for helping keep the forum running!

[J.P.M.]

Speaking about Sunking.. What happened to the threads about Sunking "im out of here" and those wanting him to return?

Sometimes it's just better to move on and not look back. Where's the gain for solar information/discussion or the concept of renewable energy ? Does anyone benefit from looking back at a bunch of B.S. ? I vote for moving on.

Besides, this is not a democracy. Participation is voluntary as SK demonstrated. Also, the owners can do as they please. Facts of life seem to apply.

[SunEagle]

Close this thread please

solar pete

Now that I have been introduced as a moderator you might as well close this thread before it gets out of hand with too much humor and clutter.

[SunEagle]

Kind of a Sunking without the drama!

I will never be able to fill Sunking's shoes concerning knowledge and hands on experience with solar & battery technology.

With reference to not having any Drama. Look Out.

To paraphrase someone else; "take what you want and leave the rest".

[sensij]

Congrats SunEagle... hopefully the title (and the ability to close threads as you see fit) aren't far behind. Seems like it is a thankless job, but the way in which a forum is moderated can have far reaching consequences, and I'm glad to see your contributions recognized in this way.

With respect to the "ask a pro" section... I'm thinking that you would probably want some kind of vetting on the questions, not just on who has the ability to answer. I'm sure even the pros get tired of explaining the difference between PWM and MPPT.

If you are open to brainstorming, some other ideas come to mind...

1) Have a "greatest hits" section of the forum, where threads with especially well written explanations or revealing answers can be collected. It is sort of like a sticky, except that if you have more than a few stickies, the UI suffers because first page becomes filled with threads that may not have any activity. By putting those threads in their own section, you can be a little less selective about whether a thread qualifies as "worth saving", while new members still get a section to go to where they can be more confident they are looking at relatively high value posts.

2) Create another tag for forum members who establish credibility. The "Solar Fanatic" tag comes quick for those who post a lot, but quantity does not assure quality. Nobody bats 1.000, but if you want to make a way to distinguish answers from "pros" from those of the masses, it allows those pros to contribute (and be recognized) outside of the fenced in area you might try to create.

[SunEagle]

Congrats SunEagle... hopefully the title (and the ability to close threads as you see fit) aren't far behind. Seems like it is a thankless job, but the way in which a forum is moderated can have far reaching consequences, and I'm glad to see your contributions recognized in this way.

With respect to the "ask a pro" section... I'm thinking that you would probably want some kind of vetting on the questions, not just on who has the ability to answer. I'm sure even the pros get tired of explaining the difference between PWM and MPPT.

If you are open to brainstorming, some other ideas come to mind...

1) Have a "greatest hits" section of the forum, where threads with especially well written explanations or revealing answers can be collected. It is sort of like a sticky, except that if you have more than a few stickies, the UI suffers because first page becomes filled with threads that may not have any activity. By putting those threads in their own section, you can be a little less selective about whether a thread qualifies as "worth saving", while new members still get a section to go to where they can be more confident they are looking at relatively high value posts.

2) Create another tag for forum members who establish credibility. The "Solar Fanatic" tag comes quick for those who post a lot, but quantity does not assure quality. Nobody bats 1.000, but if you want to make a way to distinguish answers from "pros" from those of the masses, it allows those pros to contribute (and be recognized) outside of the fenced in area you might try to create.

We definitely need the "ask a pro" section although not sure yet who should answer based on how some of those questions from new members are sometimes misleading. Even some of the "experts" provide different answers based on how they interpret the question and needs of the poster.

The idea of "greatest hits" sound pretty good and should enhance the ability to get new members to learn faster by reading some of the "good stuff" before they jump in and ask a worn out question.

I also like the idea of a new tag(s) to identify members instead of the existing based on the "number of posts".

PM me if you need my input.

[inetdog]

I also like the idea of a new tag(s) to identify members instead of the existing based on the "number of posts".

PM me if you need my input.

Unfortunately reputation-based ranking on a Forum like this would involve adding a whole structure of accepting or rejecting answers/advice and liking or disliking posts. Or else the status upgrade would be a manual task for the staff, and I do not want to come anywhere near that responsibility.

[SunEagle]

Unfortunately reputation-based ranking on a Forum like this would involve adding a whole structure of accepting or rejecting answers/advice and liking or disliking posts. Or else the status upgrade would be a manual task for the staff, and I do not want to come anywhere near that responsibility.

Me too. Hard enough to just read all the new posts let alone keep track of who is providing what quality and how to label that person.

I just thought having the ability to assign a "new" tag to someone might be useful for some new & old members to identify with.

[sensij]

Unfortunately reputation-based ranking on a Forum like this would involve adding a whole structure of accepting or rejecting answers/advice and liking or disliking posts. Or else the status upgrade would be a manual task for the staff, and I do not want to come anywhere near that responsibility.

Yes... I was thinking more that if you are going to go to the trouble to determine who is qualified to answer in an "Ask a Pro" section, you might as well give those qualified people a different tag so their answers can be recognized in the other sections of the forum.

[inetdog]

Yes... I was thinking more that if you are going to go to the trouble to determine who is qualified to answer in the "Ask a Pro" section, you might as well give those qualified people a different tag so their answers can be recognized in the other sections of the forum.

That I could support.

BTW, the Other Forum makes a point of having a prominent disclaimer from time to time that the staff (i.e. Moderators and Admins) do not necessarily by virtue of that status give more accurate or more valuable advice to users. (We know that is not really true, but modesty is nice.)
It is true that some "ordinary" members can in any given situation give better responses than some or all Mods, so not being a Mod should not be a negative thing.