Members' Mac and OS Specs

I'm almost certain I've seen this topic raised elsewhere in M-F, but I've gone back nearly two years in this particular section and cannot find it, so .......

Administrators & Mods - is there some feasible way to ensure that members are required compulsorily to provide their Mac and OS specs when they sign up for M-F membership; and that those details appear in the member's profile by default?

I don't need to remind the more experienced members of M-F what a nuisance it is to have to ask a member for her/his Mac specs after a question has been posted.

Creating two fields for Mac model and OS version in the sign up page would not be a major task. The details could be updated as required by the member from time to time.

I'd also like to suggest a sticky in News and Community Announcements asking existing M-F members to insert their Mac and OS specs in their profiles or signatures - if they haven't already done so.

Ha! I WISH!!!

That would be a very welcomed addition to the forums. If they current don't have a Mac yet then they can just fill something like no Mac yet or something like that.

Or perhaps as a type of Key that unlocks the ability to Post - ad the specs then u can post.

Yes, this is a good idea indeed. Not sure it's feasible though, and many posters don't have a clue what specs they have either!

One thing to consider. Some users here on Mac-Forums have more than one Macintosh that they use on a regular basis...so listing the specs for multiple computers could get complicated.

- Nick

For sure hughvane is not suggesting you list all 33 Nick, in fact if one has more than one the likelihood of needing assistance diminishes so the need for the correct spec reduces as well. The only one i recall reading recently where the spec would be superfluous was the one that was run over by the car.

Administrators & Mods - is there some feasible way to ensure that members are required compulsorily to provide their Mac and OS specs when they sign up for M-F membership; and that those details appear in the member's profile by default?

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I imagine it would be something that would have to be incorporated into the forum software. (vBulletin) Otherwise, it can easily be overlooked by new members. We also have to consider that lots of folks join just to find out if they really want to switch to the Mac platform from Windows or whatever. Or they post for the first time and say: "I'm going to buy a new Mac, could you help me to decide which one I should buy?"

(Also, let's not forget there are folks who join that do not own a Mac but instead just have an iPad, iPod, or iPhone.)

I do think your suggestion has merit though. I don't know how many times I've had to ask an OP to please respond with his\her machine specs and which version of OS X they were running. However, as I mentioned above it would probably be something that would have to be done programmatically with the forum software. Whether or not that is a practical solution, we'll have to leave to the Admins.

Thanks for your suggestion Hugh.

Regards.

Kevriano said:

Yes, this is a good idea indeed. Not sure it's feasible though, and many posters don't have a clue what specs they have either!

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Very good point. It would appear that those who are the most clueless as to how to solve a problem are the ones who have the hardest time understanding the specs of their machines. While asking for the specs is nice, perhaps we need to create a sticky that includes instructions on how to get information that we need. Better yet, a sticky with a list of conventions that should be followed when posting. I realize that this could be tricky as most new members won't read all of the stickies but if enough regulars push for it, it could help to alleviate the fact that a solution may only come 5 posts into a thread after we finally gather all the info we need. Some examples for a list of conventions or a "template" could include OS X version, RAM, HD space (maybe), processor and application (it's amazing how often people exclude this).

I'm sure many of you have seen help forums, mailing lists or bug tracking software that require specific info. For example, take a look at this issue report sample for GWT. I realize that this is something completely unrelated but it demonstrates what I'm referring to. That requires people to follow a template when reporting issues, something which is more than feasible here. I know you can't force people to follow this but it can help to expedite the process of providing a solution.