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What's the deal with empty profiles?! — Parallax Forums

What's the deal with empty profiles?!

frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
edited 2013-01-30 11:02 in General Discussion
You think about responding to a question, and maybe you just do, or sometimes you look to see what the profile shows, and it's perfectly useless. Granted, mine may be overkill; 12 years Navy, and you never again meet a form you don't fill in all the blanks for, but too many times there is nothing, how do you know at what level you can respond; or worse if the poster is light years ahead of you (maybe they will get a chuckle out of the reply)?

Just curious why most profiles seem to be blank.......


Frank

Comments

  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2013-01-29 19:30
    I think my profiles has more info about me than the people that I've worked with for 25 years know. I'm a pretty blank person!
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-01-29 19:37
    frank freedman wrote: »
    ...sometimes you look to see what the profile shows, and it's perfectly useless....

    Frank,
    didn't you replace your photo with a shot from an oscilloscope screen? :)

    I like to keep a low profile because I'm sure if the people I work for ever found out how little I know (based on all the questions I ask here), I'll get canned for sure.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2013-01-29 20:09
    Who cares about profiles? I'd like to think that my posts reveal more about me -- and more honestly -- than a self-written puff piece ever could. IOW, a profile is who you want people to think you are; your posts reflect your real identity -- for better or worse -- given enough of them.

    -Phil
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-01-29 20:16
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    ..your posts reflect your real identity -- for better or worse given enough of them.

    -Phil

    You're as good as your word, Mr. 16K Posts! :)
  • whickerwhicker Posts: 749
    edited 2013-01-29 20:18
    I guess I never notice the profile stuff anymore.
    Plus it seems whenever I do fill something out, the forum software gets switched and it goes away, along with my avatar.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2013-01-29 20:25
    erco wrote:
    You're as good as your word, Mr. 16K Posts!
    Yeah, well, the problem with that is that a bad impression takes much longer to undo -- kinda like a lower-than-expected average speed near the end of a long bike ride. :)

    -Phil
  • NWCCTVNWCCTV Posts: 3,629
    edited 2013-01-29 21:43
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    Who cares about profiles? I'd like to think that my posts reveal more about me -- and more honestly -- than a self-written puff piece ever could. IOW, a profile is who you want people to think you are; your posts reflect your real identity -- for better or worse -- given enough of them.

    -Phil

    I agree. I think you can pretty much figure out someones knowledge level by what and how they post.
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    edited 2013-01-29 21:51
    ElectricAye wrote: »
    Frank,
    didn't you replace your photo with a shot from an oscilloscope screen? :)

    Seemed more interesting than the business end of a neuro C-arm.....

    Did the profile when I first joined. Guess it can get pruned a bit .......
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-01-29 22:29
    frank freedman wrote: »
    You think about responding to a question, and maybe you just do, or sometimes you look to see what the profile shows, and it's perfectly useless. Granted, mine may be overkill; 12 years Navy, and you never again meet a form you don't fill in all the blanks for, but too many times there is nothing, how do you know at what level you can respond; or worse if the poster is light years ahead of you (maybe they will get a chuckle out of the reply)?

    Just curious why most profiles seem to be blank.......


    Frank

    Authoritarianism owes a lot to Pavlov. Someone provides a form, you feel that you have to fill in all the blanks, market research questionnaires stand guard at logging into web sites.

    At some point, one might ask, "Why am I shooting myself in the foot?"

    These days, I don't even fill in all the blanks on my annual Form 1040. After all, every zero you put in is an opportunity for the IRS to claim fraud while every blank you provide is an opportunity to claim 'error by omission'. Accountants, at least the good ones, have known this for ages - but the average person tediously feels that every blank must be resolved.

    We have the right to remain silent.
  • graffixgraffix Posts: 389
    edited 2013-01-29 22:36
    There's about the same number of forum members as there was five yrs ago. Seems mostly the same people posting.
  • skylightskylight Posts: 1,915
    edited 2013-01-30 05:43
    I feel the same way about form filling I can't stand it, but I must admit I do like a certain person's profile on here who shall remain anonymous but visits occassionally, I think we know whom i'm talking about :smile::smile:
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2013-01-30 08:09
    I moderate another forum.. one sure way to identify spammers is to look at their profile, if the profile includes the age, interests, etc. etc. it's 99% certain to be a spammer. The legit posters seem to limit the info to, at best, the location (country). So there you have it - I won't start to fill out my profile in a hurry! :)

    -Tor
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2013-01-30 08:35
    Tor wrote: »
    I moderate another forum.. one sure way to identify spammers is to look at their profile, if the profile includes the age, interests, etc. etc. it's 99% certain to be a spammer.
    -Tor

    I'm in the remaining 1%!

    As this is a friendly place, I had no issues with posting said information.

    Other sites...mmmmmm, not so much.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-01-30 09:30
    Some years ago this whole social web craze took off big time. All of a sudden every place you sign up at wants you to introduce yourself, make a profile, post a picture, make friends bla bla bla. Yuk.

    It all went nuts with FaceBook and such.

    This forum is just one of many that does not get any of that stuff out of me. Why should it? We are here to discuss Parallax and it's products and interesting stuff we do with them. What on earth has my inside leg measurement or any other personal junk got to do with it?

    I have been hoping this fad would die out but it does not seem to be happening so fast.
  • JordanCClarkJordanCClark Posts: 198
    edited 2013-01-30 10:25
    I'm not sure a "resume-style" profile is really necessary. I'd think a "short-synopsis-style" should be sufficient. I won't make excuses for what I know or what I don't, but I'd hope that you guys reading my profile, along with my brilliant writing style (did I mention modest, too?) would give an excellent insight into where I'm coming from. Otherwise, ask, and I'll tell you what I think! :lol:

    Now that it's been mentioned, though, I may have to go back and edit in my inside leg measurement.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2013-01-30 11:02
    The only thing I will say about profiles, speaking more of things on my own website, is that I am for having a completed profile for the reasons of others trying to connect with like-minded people perhaps to collaborate on projects. When answering someone's post you might change the way you approach the answer knowing what things they know and/or don't.

    I worked at Parallax for a while without anyone knowing I was a musician until the day we had a talent show. Some people had wished they knew earlier citing some related stuff I could have been involved with. But also having run my own website I know some people don't like to share anything (profile picture, location, age/dob, etc.) and I respect that.
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