Sorry, but I'm a mother first and a DR1'er second....
Now, you, on the other hand, are what I call a "Part-Time Member" (and there are a WHOLE BUNCH here).
A "Part-Time Member" is someone who logs-in, post something, dissapears for a while, comes and post again and disappears again.......
To me (NOTE: TO ME), even if a member registered in 1920 and only has 100 posts, that member is not only a newbie, but also a "Part-Time Member". of the worse kind, I may add!.
So, let's get this straight - basically you have to post on DR1 pretty much every other day to be considered a full time member.... That just doesn't make sense to me. I didn't come to live in the DR in order to sit using my pc constantly and it makes the 'HALO' suggestion from JackieBoo about having a life offline even more apt....
What if the 'hypothetical' member who registered in 1920 had moved to the DR in that year, logged in everyday and read every post but had only made 100 posts because they were the only subjects he or she felt interested in or qualified enough to comment on? Or what if they were the only questions he had, the others being answered on the board already. Then he'd still be considered a 'part-time newbie'? Isn't that ridiculous? It's drummed into the 'newbies' enough on here that we shouldn't ask 'stupid' questions or questions which have already been answered on previous threads, and yet now we're being told that if we log in but don't post on a regular basis that we're considered to be 'part-time'......that's just asking for a load of inane posts isn't it?
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I've only had internet at home in DR the past 2 months. Before that I used the internet cafe which was limiting. I'm an insomniac and spend a lot of time on my own in the evenings when the children are in bed so that's often when I log in to DR1. However I also email my friends around the world and do my internet banking which can take up a lot of time, so I just don't have the time to post on DR1 all the time. Even if I do want to post, more often than not, I'll get interrupted or my 2yr old will wake up wanting a cuddle and the post will never get sent anyway. Also, sometimes, I just want to play some games in the Arcade and not get bogged down in every subject that's mentioned on the forums. I don't always have much time during the day because I'm out and about walking everywhere, shopping, picking children up from school at different times etc. I like to use DR1 to find out what's going on, ask questions, read through the new posts because I find them interesting, and see if anyone new is moving to my area. If I can take the opportunity to answer any questions for new people moving here then I help in any way that I can if I have the time. I know how lost I felt when I was in the UK and thinking about moving here and DR1 was a great source of information for me then, and still is. I've had a a fair few private messages asking questions about the area that I live in, the schools, the contacts that I've made etc and I've spent a lot of time and effort answering them in great detail. However, I only answer questions that I feel qualified to answer. I'm not pretending to know more than I do or to be as 'clued up' and knowledgeable as Hillbilly, Lambada, Bushbaby, Rocky et al. My intentions are good and I realise I have a long way to go, but I'm not going to learn half of what I need to sitting here at the computer all day, plus it wouldn't make me a very good mother. If that makes me a 'part-time' member, then so be it....
In answer to my original question which was about alternatives, I quite like 'rookie' although it's not a word we really used in the UK where I came from. I know that in the USA its used to refer to 'trainee' police officers amongst other things. It just sounds less patronising than 'newbie'. I don't think the bronze, silver and gold works in terms of gauging the experience of a poster because there have been some posters who have 'bashed' out hundreds of questions, sometimes on multiple forums, in a very short space of time. Also, sometimes it's quality not quantity that counts. I always look at the date that people registered and the content of their previous posts if I'm not familiar with the poster and I have any doubts about their experience or integrity.
Anyway, got to go as my 5yr old will be awaiting my arrival at the school gate......