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Daily Tildes discussion - should we have an "about" section on user pages?
Fairly straightforward question today - do you think it's useful/interesting for people to be able to write a small "about me" section on their userpage?
There are definitely good uses for these, but they also have the potential to be used in spammy or otherwise bad ways too, so I'm not totally sure if it's something I want to do.
Any thoughts or strong feelings about why this would be a good or bad feature?
(P.S. Sorry, this is later than I'd usually like to make these posts)
I’m pretty indifferent about it myself but I also don’t see a problem with a section for 'about me' in the user profile if people want to use it. Most other community sites have a section for that so there is really no reason not to allow it here. And TBH if people use that section for spam or other nefarious purposes then that’s actually a good thing since it makes identifying such bad faith users far easier. :P
Same. I have no strong feelings about it one way or another. My only concern is that if it's complicated to implement, it might be more trouble than it's worth. Otherwise, indifferent!
It's probably a nice to have.
The ability to do some personal branding is a pretty potent psychological tool in that it will encourages regulars to continue using the site (defining and helping establish reputation), and for users that view others' profiles it helps establish a predictable or more comfortable environment by creating a perceived familiarity with regular contributors. Or maybe I made that all up. I don't have a profile so you'll never know!
I like the idea, assuming it was optional. Like, you could choose to have an about section, but otherwise it would not be shown.
This nicely sums up my thoughts on it as well.
I know it would be (more than likely) universally hated, but I have always had a soft spot for gif avatars. I love gaming message boards from the days of old.
It depends on whether you're trying to get people to know each other or not on the site. On reddit you're only really known if you basically spend your entire life on reddit and being ever-present in some way. I suspect it'd be the same on Tildes but for features like this. But that might not be a priority in the first place...
I hesitate to make tildes about the individual. This seems like a feature shoehorned into every website nowadays whether it's appropriate or not.
I can see your point. However, people always enjoy the little bits where they can add individual flavor to their online presence. Individuality, even the illusion of individuality, has always helped keep users engaged and interested.
Good point. I’d still say it’s a much lower priority (right now at least) in the grand scheme of necessary features. We don’t even have notifications for comment/post replies yet, so I have to individually check on certain threads to see if there’s been a response. Like right now!
One of the reasons I‘m preparing to leave reddit is their redesign focus on „personal“ (instagram style) user pages. Then again, I think it’s rather helpful to know where people are coming from. Like science subreddits giving people flair with their academic titles.
I guess it’s a reasonable idea but it should be kept minimal.
Sure.
I agree that it should be kept minimal, but perhaps contrary to the above comments the entire purpose of those things is personal branding. Whether it's for an overtly commercial purpose, or a simple 'look at me' purpose I don't think is distinguishable.
My IG, for example, links to my law practice in the bio and tells people I'm an attorney. The content I post is mostly family and gardening photos though. If someone hypothetically pops up here and is posting their own art and it's amazing, I don't think they should be prohibited from linking to where to purchase it in their bio and that's much better than people thinking they have to shoehorn self-promotion into their normal posts.