Not sure I deserve the title 'Hero Member' :-/

[Rajahal]

I was afraid this might happen - I passed 500 posts and was auto-promoted to 'Hero Member'.  On most forums I would take this as a matter of pride, but on this one I have some reservations, primarily:

 

Having a post count of 500+ just means that I talk a lot, not necessarily that I know what I'm talking about.  

 

When I first joined these forums a bit over a year ago, I was as 'newb' as they come.  I had built desktop computers before, but the number of days that I had dabbled in Linux could be counted on one hand.  For posterity's sake, here is my first post.

 

During this past year I have certainly learned a lot, and I do consider myself at least proficient in the unRAID world.  However, my experience and expertise is far removed from the other 'Hero' members on these forums.  For example:

 

1) I do not know how to read or interpret syslogs (though I would be interested to learn)

2) I do not know Linux syntax or any commands that can be typed into the unRAID console

3) I do not know how to program nor have I ever contributed any scripts or add-ons to unRAID

 

Where I do consider myself sufficiently experienced to help others in the 'new to unRAID' arena.  I know hardware fairly well, and I feel comfortable offering advice to new unRAID users in terms of hardware compatibility and the 'please check my parts list' kind of posts.  I also feel comfortable in explaining the basics of how unRAID works and answering various user-experience kind of questions (avoid the 'restore' button, etc.).  These are the areas in which I attempt to confine my outgoing advice.

 

My passing the 500 post count mark is mostly a function of having a gov't job with a very strict firewall and a lot of downtime.  While I love being a part of this community and I learn from it every day, I hardly consider myself to be one of its 'leaders' (which is my view of the Hero Members in general).

 

In my mind, a 'Hero Member' should be able to do at least one of the three items I listed above.  As I can't (at least not yet), I don't feel I deserve the title at the moment.

 

I understand that what I'm about to propose may be too complicated, and I certainly don't intend to dump any more work on Tom.  However, the ideal solution to this in my mind would be:

 

• Either make 'Hero Member' an assigned title, not an automatic promotion
  
• OR add a new assigned member class above 'Hero Member' and below 'Administrator' (Tom), perhaps something like 'unRAID Guru'.
  

 

Of course the natural followup question is 'who should assign members into this exaulted position?'  Tom?  Probably not, since he is already too busy (though he should certainly have that ability).  The current Hero Members?  In my opinion, yes.  I believe the current Hero Members (myself excluded) should have the ability to pick and choose members to join their ranks in offering unofficial tech support, advice, and assistance to the unRAID community.

 

I would also like to suggest that all Hero Members have categorical 'specialties,' such as syslog interpretation, add-ons, hardware troubleshooting, etc.  Perhaps there could even be a page in the wiki that lists each Hero Member along with a short blurb about their interest in unRAID and areas of expertise.  This might help guide users to seek help from the appropriate person.

[prostuff1]

No worries man, you will be able to do some of the stuff you listed some day.  We all have our strong points and weaknesses.

 

JoeL, WeeboTech, bubbaQ, RobJ, and many others I am leaving out are very good at what they do.  JoeL comes up with some of the best coding stuff (unmenu) I have seen.  He may say different, but the work he has done with that has made it much easier for noob on the forum.  RobJ is probably one of the best at reading through syslogs.  While not overly hard to read, it takes a lot of patience to read through the whole thing and comprehend what it is saying.  WeeboTech and BubbaQ have both provided great addons for unRAID.

[boof]

It's the contributing members of this forum (which includes you by your post count ) that add value to unraid.

 

Be it on the more technical side from many people, with special mention to those prostuff1 has already isolated.

 

Or from the 'softer' side of answering questions, helping people, asking pointy questions of the community and generally engaging and driving discussion around the platform.

 

You seem to prefer to call the latter 'talking alot' but it's equally valuable 

 

Without the input on these forums from everyone - at any level - unraid would be a shadow of the product it is today.

[monza]

i first started on the unraid journey a few months ago and spent AGES reading the forum posts. The other Hero Members you mention no doubt assisted with all their posts and knowledge, however on many occassions your posts were invaluable.

 

It is obviously great that there are those members who can code and produce fantastic add-ons, but also remember that there are a vast majority of people who need to get to grips with the basics and need that guidance. Your replies to my n00b questions really helped me get going, so once again thanks 

[Rajahal]

Thanks, there must be a lot of dust in the air today.... :'(

[Rajahal]

Wow....deep.  You are right, I hadn't considered that option.  The only problem I see with that is losing my post history - when I repeat something that I've read on the forums elsewhere, I always at least make an attempt to find the original source.  Usually I can find it through the search, but sometimes I can't remember the appropriate search terms...in those cases, I start digging through my post history, and I usually find it that way.

 

Still, I'll take your suggestion into deep consideration.  I've been thinking about changing my name on here anyway...

 

BTW, what does your 'to do list' mean?

[MrLeek]

Or/and, introduce a "thank you" rating (as opposed to "that's crap" rating) of individual posts.

 

 

This method works rather well on sites like http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/index.php - no need to register to access many of the boards, but you have to be registered to "thank" a poster.