# Sticky  Please be sure to fill out you AT Registered User - Public Profile - ?About me?



## jmvargas

+1!!...

......i find it specially interesting and helpful to know where the poster is from...there seems to also be more posters from other countries than when i first joined..


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## archeryal

ArcheryInterchange-uk has another listing on the profile for "Declaration of Interest," asking you to declare commercial ties - i.e. sponsored by a bow manufacturer, etc. Most list as "no commercial interest", but it would be nice to know, especially when they rave about some piece of equipment. However, they might be more "in the know" about new items or features, etc.

Also, you often see questions about "scopes" for instance. Being a recurver, I assumed they were talking about spotting scope, but the person was a compounder looking for a scope on their sight. A little background in their profile would clarify this.


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## Flint Hills Tex

I do think that some members might be hesitant to fill in personal details for fear of identity theft or similar privacy issues.


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## Jim C

Flint Hills Tex said:


> I do think that some members might be hesitant to fill in personal details for fear of identity theft or similar privacy issues.


I doubt that-I note there are a few snipers or trolls in this forum and they always have almost completely blank profiles. There is one poster who has had several different handles and is well known for his bashing of the NAA.


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## Warbow

Well, I certainly agree that people should fill in their profiles if they want to. And they should feel free not to.



> Disclosure helps greatly with credibility.


Indeed it can. I think your profile demonstrates that. It is just true that some poster's posts are often worth more than many other poster's posts. Rick, Vittorio, Jim C, you, Limbwalker and many others all have experience and insights that can make for some great posts. And yet even people at the highest level can disagree with one another, so just being "credible" doesn't mean there isn't room for disagreement, and it doesn't mean they are always right, and it doesn't mean that somebody with a blank profile can't get something right that "credible" people may have missed, and it doesn't mean that somebody with a blank profile can't have valid opinions and contribute effectively to the thread.

Bob, when people ask for help in this forum, you often tell them "fill out your profile." Well, I think the profile is often completely irrelevant to their questions. Sure, we may need some specifics to give a relevant answer, but in the context of answering a person's questions about FITA archery I don't really care if a person is married, smokes, has children or what movies they like, the kind of stuff that dominates AT profiles. Often times the details one needs to answer their query are specific things that will not be in their profile, even if they do have some of their archery stuff in their profile, and I think it would be useful for people to post the **pertinent** details in their post with their question rather than try and stuff them into their profiles.

Even knowing people's backgrounds, we still have to judge them on what they say and how they say it. People can judge me and others who choose to remain anonymous and/or semi anonymous based on the content of their posts.


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## Warbow

archeryal said:


> Also, you often see questions about "scopes" for instance. Being a recurver, I assumed they were talking about spotting scope, but the person was a compounder looking for a scope on their sight. A little background in their profile would clarify this.


Well, except that compounders do also use spotting scopes, so knowing the poster to be a compounder wouldn't have told you which they meant, though knowing you might at least had have a better chance at spotting a possible equivalency. And, of course, some people shoot compound and recurve. So, again, profiles are not a panacea, and they certainly aren't a replacement for the *pertinent* details of a question or issue being included in a post.


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## toptox

Just updated my profile - just so you know


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## caspian

Serious Fun said:


> For some reason, anonymous posters are treated more aggressively as if being anonymous indicates that a person has something hide and is not being forthright.


just personally, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks of my choice to fill out a few fields in my profile or not. I'm happy to be judged on the basis of what I post, but if someone wants to form an opinion over something so irrelevant as profile details then as far as I'm concerned that's simply a sad commentary on them.


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## Serious Fun

To those new to AT, May I suggest to fill out you AT Registered User - Public Profile - “About me”

It helps the AT forum viewers to understand your perspective when asking questions and commenting. It helps the process of clear communications. Disclosure helps greatly with credibility. Those that post, please take a moment and fill out the “About Me” information.
I have found that folks are much more open and even friendlier when posting to a person that has a name, is somewhere recognizable and offers some information about themselves. 

(For some reason, anonymous posters are treated more aggressively as if being anonymous indicates that a person has something hide and is not being forthright. As if “I will be open with you if you are open with me” or “Since you are hiding, you must be concealing something and afraid to stand up for your opinions”. I suspect that most just dont know to take a moment and fill our their profiles.)

There are those that will never fill out their profiles because they need to hide because of some "extra ordinary" posts in the past. But for the new folks and the vast majority… Please be sure to fill out your AT Registered User - Public Profile - “About me”, profile. It does help and I beleive will make your use of AT a pleasureable experience. Good luck and happy posting!


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## Warbow

What is up with pretty much copying and pasting your **entire** OP and reposting it? Just repeating what you have said earlier in the thread almost verbatim doesn't advance the conversation at all. If you have some specific response to my post why not tell us about it specifically?

I'd say that rather than telling people that they'll be treated badly here in this forum if they don't do as you tell them that perhaps we should encourage people in the forum to be more friendly in general.

I'd also say that people here aren't generally treated badly for being anonymous but rather people are sometimes viewed with suspicion if their comments seem to have an underhanded agenda, a condition that may or may not be assuaged by revealing their identity.


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## Serious Fun

Warbow said:


> What is up with pretty much copying and pasting your **entire** OP and reposting it? Just repeating what you have said earlier in the thread almost verbatim doesn't advance the conversation at all. If you have some specific response to my post why not tell us about it specifically?
> 
> I'd say that rather than telling people that they'll be treated badly here in this forum if they don't do as you tell them that perhaps we should encourage people in the forum to be more friendly in general.
> 
> I'd also say that people here aren't generally treated badly for being anonymous but rather people are sometimes viewed with suspicion if their comments seem to have an underhanded agenda, a condition that may or may not be assuaged by revealing their identity.


I added "To those new to AT" at the beginning of the posting. I don't intent to change the behavior of those that are familar with AT. My goal is to inform interested AT newbies on how they might consider maximizing their AT forum experience.


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## Warbow

Serious Fun said:


> I added "To those new to AT" at the beginning of the posting. I don't intent to change the behavior of those that are familar with AT. My goal is to inform interested AT newbies on how they might consider maximizing their AT forum experience.


I see, but by that token you *are* trying to change the behavior of people *new* to AT. We only disagree in a matter of degrees. I think you are right that a profile can be helpful to get a better picture of people. But I also think that isn't necessarily necessary. Knowing a person's name, how many children or any of a number of profile details about a person isn't necessarily germane to any particular thread.

Some people are comfortable with this new fanged internet thing where not everybody knows if you are a dog, some people are not and wish the internet to conform to the social constructs of meeting and talking in person, with everybody wearing a name badge that says "Hello, I'm Bob!" or whatnot. I think people should fill out profiles if they want to, but should not feel pressured to do so by insinuations that they will be treated badly by you or others if they don't, insinuations that you state in the passive voice but omit whether you agree or disagree with:



Serious Fun said:


> For some reason, anonymous posters are treated more aggressively as if being anonymous indicates that a person has something hide and is not being forthright. As if “I will be open with you if you are open with me” or “Since you are hiding, you must be concealing something and afraid to stand up for your opinions”.


SF, is the above representative of how *you* feel? Are you asking people to fill out their profiles to appease your feelings about anonymous posters? Or are you asking people to fill out profiles to appease those who's prejudice against anonymous posters is something you disagree with?


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## CLASSICHUNTER

warbow you just confirmed why we should fill out bios... right away you attack the previous posters by saying if you have a problem with my post say so... just a bit aggressive and who says we are talking about you in particular.. Seems you have fought this for a while but with 14k worth of posts maybe it would be nice to put a name to or location to some one of such knowledge maybe..... Just a thought .... seems like your real name might be in your local phone book then what???? time to get it out of there .... credibility comes with a name ....I`m sure some of the usa`s famous documents would not be in existence if they did not have names applied to them right


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## Warbow

CLASSICHUNTER said:


> but with 14k worth of posts maybe it would be nice to put a name to or location to some one of such knowledge maybe.....


If you don't think 14,000+ posts is sufficient to establish a reputation then I don't think merely adding a name or location is going to add anything to your ability to make an informed opinion of me or the quality of my posts. My posts, for good or ill, speak for themselves, and, in the aggregate, give you a much better idea of who I am, what I believe and about my ability to think and write honestly, if sometimes contentiously, than a a few words in a profile ever would or could tell you about me.


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## Jim C

I don't have much use for those who criticize others and don't have the courage to have an identifiable profile. I received a snarky PM from someone without a profile whining about my comments noting that its really hard to claim one of our youth archers at the current WYC's is better than others. The person who sent this comment doesn't have a profile. In other words, they don't count If you want to be respected at least have the stones to identify yourself.


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## Warbow

Jim C said:


> I don't have much use for those who criticize others and don't have the courage to have an identifiable profile. I received a snarky PM from someone without a profile whining about my comments noting that its really hard to claim one of our youth archers at the current WYC's is better than others. The person who sent this comment doesn't have a profile. In other words, they don't count If you want to be respected at least have the stones to identify yourself.


Key point: "a snarky PM".

I don't think for a second that if that person's profile was filled out you'd suddenly respect them or think they "count". It is the snark and the apparently unfounded criticism you disagree with. You wouldn't even know that person's profile wasn't filled out if it weren't for that. If the *content* of the comment wasn't off you'd never have even looked the profile up, so the profile thing is a total red herring. It was the *content,* not the profile or lack thereof that initially got your goat.

I think this sticky thread should be un-stickied. I think all archers who follow the rules and post good posts should be welcomed, both those with filled profiles and those without. And I don't think that there should be a sticky post criticizing one or the other, so this isn't a good thread to have stuck at the top of the FITA forum. JMO.


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## wanemann

I believe the essence of man is defined by his actions when he thinks no one is looking.
Having your info public means you must be on your best behaviour, for you can be found are known and could be held accountable for your chosen words.
Could be why it seems some of anonymous tend to say not so nice things revealing their true ways
Further having the info public allows others to form opinions based on part of world you are from, possible religion form last name, etc, and not having the info public means you must form your opinion solely based on the in black and white words chosen to communicate. 
I agree with warbows thinking on this issue, just my 2 cents


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## swbuckmaster

*Re: Please be sure to fill out you AT Registered User - Public Profile - “About me”*

Identity theft is a scary problem to have to deal with.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


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## Serious Fun

swbuckmaster said:


> Identity theft is a scary problem to have to deal with.
> 
> Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2


Below is an "example" of profile info. A name, interest in target archery, involvements in archery and some website involvements. No - SS number, age, birthday, address, and the such. Just enough to give an idea of The Profiler’s perspective and on archery. 

The idea is that when a person looks at comment about rules from The Profiler, the person can see that there is a judges influence involved. Or when a person sees that “The Profiler” just loves a Arizona tourney, one can see that there is a home state bias and can understand that there is a different meaning and perspective when an endorsement comes from an archer from Ireland. The idea is to be helpful to others by communicating clearly, effectively and efficiently. 

Example AT Profile
About: The Profiler
What type of archery are you into?: Target Archery
Location: Archery, USA
Interests: Travel
Signature: The Profiler
Bob Pian, Judge, Archery events and promotion
www.arizonacup.com - www.azarchery.com - www.azjoad.com


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## Warbow

Serious Fun said:


> The idea is to be helpful to others by communicating clearly, effectively and efficiently.


None of which requires filling out a profile.

If any information is needed for others to answer a question then the clear, effective and efficient thing to do is to include that information in the post with the querry, such as:



> "I'm a 25 year-old female, 5'6 archer currently shooting a medium riser with short T-Rex 30# limbs, with the tiller bolts set half-way between full out and full in. I have a 25" AMO Draw length and 2 years of experience shooting BEST/NTS FITA Recurve, 100 arrows per day, 3 days a week. I'm looking to buy stronger limbs. How much is a reasonable amount to increase poundage and what are some good limbs to consider."


Almost none of that relevant information would be found in a typical AT profile. Maybe the brand of riser and limbs, but not the size. So filling out a profile isn't necessarily all that helpful to answering people's questions on AT. I'm certainly not seeing how knowing that someone is into "Traveling", for example, is relevant to answering archery questions.

That being said, I do think people should fill out their profile if they wish to.


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## TER

A few weeks ago "Name" was removed from everyone's profiles. I believe other items were also removed, but I can't remember what they were. So apparently those who run this site have decided that less personal information for all users is better or perhaps safer? There is a thread in the Canadian Forum asking the moderator why this change has happened. The mod there first claimed there was no change, users spelled out clear evidence of the change and then the mod said he'd ask around. 
http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2017240

In the ArcheryTalk Help FAQ forum a member made a thread asking why the change. The answer he got was that's just how it is these days.
http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2027042


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## Jim C

I guess we won't know who the poster Rick McKinney is now:mg:


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## Warbow

TER said:


> A few weeks ago "Name" was removed from everyone's profiles. I believe other items were also removed, but I can't remember what they were. So apparently those who run this site have decided that less personal information for all users is better or perhaps safer? There is a thread in the Canadian Forum asking the moderator why this change has happened. The mod there first claimed there was no change, users spelled out clear evidence of the change and then the mod said he'd ask around.
> http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2017240
> 
> In the ArcheryTalk Help FAQ forum a member made a thread asking why the change. The answer he got was that's just how it is these days.
> http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2027042


If this is now policy and not just some glitch then this sticky thread is obsolete and should be removed from being a sticky.


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## Serious Fun

A great place to add information about yourself is in the AT forum posters signature block. Having the info right at the bottom of the post is readily accessible which is very helpful.


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## PlanB Mike

Updated mine today...........


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