Phone information mandatory on registration?

[TheLoz]

I've noticed that a lot of the time, questions from newbies are met with an identikit "update your profile with your phone and firmware version, then we'll talk" response. Would it be worth making the Phone info field appear on the registration form, and making it mandatory. It could be accompanied by something like:

Please enter your phone's model and firmware version. To find out your firmware version, dial *#0000# at the standby screen.

Maybe it could have a couple of examples as well. I hope this hasn't been suggested before, and I hope this is the right place to suggest stuff!

~Loz

[pseudofinn]

Thanks for the suggestion. While I agree, we've discussed this in the past and have decided it better that we don't *force* anyone to enter any more information than they want. It may seem like a small issue- but many people are really turned off at the idea of various sorts of information being demanded of them upon registration.

That being said- yes, it would absolutely help out if members would offer this information in their profile.

[TheLoz]

You have a point there. So many forums are guilty of giving you several screens full of sign-up form. No worries then :)

[Homer]

Originally Posted by TheLoz

I've noticed that a lot of the time, questions from newbies are met with an identikit "update your profile with your phone and firmware version, then we'll talk" response.

And quite often it's irrelevant.

[93tid]

Originally Posted by Homer

And quite often it's irrelevant.

I have to disagree - instead of getting straight to the point too often it takes 3-4 messages to extract the required information, which tends to be crucial for the solution. I can give so many examples it would be a pointless exercise, my personal favourite is a two-page thread by a frantic neurotic who drove us up the wall about not having ASR on his N95 until someone finally asked the question and it turned out he has a N95-4. It was worse than pulling teeth.

That doesn't mean I want the phone information to be mandatory when registering, but it saves so much time and hassle I almost want to hug every newbie who has bothered to do it. If possible I would somehow make reading the Tips and FAQs section mandatory before posting, which I understand is clearly impossible.

Maybe it be worth mentioning the bit about entering the phone information in a member's profile in the forum rules as a recommendation.

[Geoffers]

It'd be very difficult to strike the right balance.
When I first came here I wasn't aware that there was more than one version of the N95! Even when I realised that there was other versions I still was not aware that there were different firmware versions.

On top of that though, the first thing I needed to know was "Is this the right forum for me?".

[j-o-n-j-o-n]

What would be more helpful is updating the tips section, and perhaps a sort of glossary, there are so many technical names and confusing things for a newbie (like my self) to understand.

For example my first question here was about the active standby, although I'd seen this on my phone I hadn't bothered to touch it incase i buggered my settings. So perhaps some small definitions like 'the little icons that appear on your main screen' would be pretty useful?

[gavinguinness]

I think I posted something similar in the past and indeed got similar response to pseudofinn's post above - which is a good point in fairness.

But I still think it's a good idea, I mean, c'mon Micky, how many times do I see you nudge a noobie into adding their Phone data...