(What) Level are you / is the question

[Haborix]

It seems somewhat common that a poster marks the level of their thread "I" or "A" but their knowledge of the relevant subject is lower than what's needed to understand the selected level. Setting aside feasibility with the forums architecture, what do people think about language that would make it clear the level being asked is the poster's knowledge? That way, for example, if someone would otherwise ask "Why does a neutron decay into a proton?" and mark it "A" for an advanced question, they would now select "B" because they only have a high school level for background.

I'm imagining the text would be appear on the page where the post gets drafted or even in the drop-down menu for selecting a level. Maybe something like: "Your knowledge," "Your educational background," or... suggestions? Also, I think the current system works well for the vast majority of cases, so a change could just muddle things up.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Sorry, I missed this suggestion! It's definitely a bit confusing. Anyone else agree we could improve the language?

 

[Ibix]

"Your background in this field" instead of "Level" in the dropdown?

 

[Tom.G]

"Your background in this field" instead of "Level" in the dropdown?

Sounds good on initial impression... however
Egos being what they are, would OPs be inclined to step up a notch?

Maybe "Preferred level of responses"

 

[Nugatory]

Maybe "Preferred level of responses"

I like that way of understanding the prefixes much more. It’s also consistent with what we’ve said in the past, for example
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/whats-the-deal-with-the-forced-prefix.827372/

 

[pinball1970]

If this was just a UK site and I was a newcomer I would suggest:

"Education level"

1.GCSE, 16 and below
2.A level, 16-18
3.University, 18-21
4.Post Graduate, 21+

That would tie in age and or education. Here....

Not a million miles from the US in terms of age and level but I would not know how to pitch a happy medium for a global community.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

If this was just a UK site and I was a newcomer I would suggest:

"Education level"

1.GCSE, 16 and below
2.A level, 16-18
3.University, 18-21
4.Post Graduate, 21+

Without those age groups mentioned, as a person from SE Asia, I would have no idea what GCSE or A-level means. Typically, we have 18-21 college and 21-23 university, below that, just school (could be subdivided into middle and high school).

 

[Frabjous]

I like desired response level. I do not always want a response at my education level.

 

[pinball1970]

Without those age groups mentioned, as a person from SE Asia, I would have no idea what GCSE or A-level means. Typically, we have 18-21 college and 21-23 university, below that, just school (could be subdivided into middle and high school).

Yes that's why I mentioned difficulty with a global pitch.

How about stating the US stages but putting (USA) in brackets? It is then up to the poster to do a little work to see where they would fit into a US system and select accordingly.
Greg is American so I do not think that system would be unreasonable to us non US people.

 

[phinds]

If this was just a UK site and I was a newcomer I would suggest:

"Education level"

1.GCSE, 16 and below
2.A level, 16-18
3.University, 18-21
4.Post Graduate, 21+

That would tie in age and or education. Here....

Not a million miles from the US in terms of age and level but I would not know how to pitch a happy medium for a global community.

I think "education level" is a bad idea since it can be VERY misleading UNLESS it includes "in the subject matter".

It's not hard to think of someone with a PhD in Mech Eng. asking a question about Quantum Mechanics for which he has no understanding at all.

 

[phinds]

I like desired response level. I do not always want a response at my education level.

 

[pinball1970]

View attachment 333612

How about "knowledge and/ or education of subject matter?"

 

[phinds]

How about "knowledge and/ or education of subject matter?"

No, "desired RESPONSE in terms of your knowledge/education". Unless it is explicitly stated, some people will invariably interpret it as their level, not the level of the answer they want. See post #10

 

[topsquark]

Sounds good on initial impression... however
Egos being what they are, would OPs be inclined to step up a notch?

Maybe "Preferred level of responses"

I like this idea. However, and I want to add that I'm not trying to start (or continue) an argument, consider this recent thread where the OP did just that and caught some "heck" for it.

Clearly, not everyone is going to be on-board with this idea.

-Dan

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

There is a design UX component to this as well. Consider how it displays in the new thread menu. It's already a rather large prefix selector box. What about in mobile too?

 

[Ibix]

Can you separate the selector box from the title? So it looks like:

Response level (i): <dropdown>
<Title textbox>

Then you could make the dropdown just Basic/Intermediate/Advanced or B/I/A and make the (i) an "information" link to an Insights page or something similar to the LaTeX guide, which explains in a bit more detail.

 

[Frabjous]

I like this idea. However, and I want to add that I'm not trying to start (or continue) an argument, consider this recent thread where the OP did just that and caught some "heck" for it.

Clearly, not everyone is going to be on-board with this idea.

-Dan

I would argue that people answering the question that they want to be asked is a different issue.

 

[Frabjous]

There is a design UX component to this as well. Consider how it displays in the new thread menu. It's already a rather large prefix selector box. What about in mobile too?

I would suggest Requested {Basic, Intermediate, Advanced} which is about the size of what is already there.

 

[Tom.G]

I would suggest Requested {Basic, Intermediate, Advanced} which is about the size of what is already there.

Or if the UX has priority over clarity,

the "Requested Response..." or "Preferred Response" could be "Desired Response..." (2 fewer ltrs.), with the word "Level" being implied as suggested by @Frabjous.

Or even "Wanted Level" (3 fewer ltrs.). But that seems to be stretching the cognitive load of the poster. (and sounds rather, umm... unprofessional)