Validate users and admins?

[marccss]

I'm a newly joined member, but I've been using TH as a resource for many years...

I was wondering if it makes sense to have a certification program whereby users with adequate experience and knowledge could be tested and the results scored and be given a "PRO" rating or similar to enhance their credibility on the forums...?

In other words, have a certain "cadre" of expert users readily available to weigh in/answer questions, so it's less of a free for all with opinions from people who may not have much real-world or practical experience in certain subject matters...

Think it would increase the traffic if users, esp newbies, knew there were experts who had been through a rigorous training/testing process.....

 

[kanewolf]

The badge system that this board uses does give some level of credibility to each answer.

Under my avatar, it says "Storage Master" -- that says that my answers have been chosen as best answers many times when it comes to storage related questions. But I have many other badges which identify my level of expertise.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

In other words, have a certain "cadre" of expert users readily available to weigh in/answer questions, so it's less of a free for all with opinions from people who may not have much real-world or practical experience in certain subject matters...

The issue with this is that you're making it less likely for new users to post answers, if they're simply ignored or can't post in certain areas. We're trying to raise user retention as it is; this would hardly help.

 

[ssddx]

agreed, such a system would be very unwelcoming for any new users be they experts or not. also, its a free community and not a job so why would anyone want to take a test?

i would advise doing some research and verification on anything anyone says be it me, a verified expert, a person with 50,000 posts or a newbie with 1. double check everything all the time.

the best answer / total posts / badge systems can give a clue as to what a person is capable of however you can also tell usually based on how they answer questions.