Updating Profiles.

[KirinMan]

If this is in the "wrong" location I apologize, it isn't a support request from the admin or mod's here but rather an open comment to all members as well.

I happened to be reading a post today from a new member, it was their first post on this board, I went and took a look at their profile and here is what was written there;

Country/State of residence:
Japan

Length of stay in Japan:
Never been to Japan

Gender:
Female

Would someone care to explain to me how a member can be residing in Japan, and never been to Japan at the same time? Before anyone answers that rhetorical question, yeah I know people don't update their profiles and I am willing to bet that some don't want people to know how long they have been living here either, newbies or otherwise.

I don't know about others here but I often find it helpful to get an understanding of members and their posts to know how long that they have been here in Japan, if they live here, or for members that don't live here how long if ever that they spent here in Japan.

It usually helps in getting a bit of background and understanding about where people are at.

Please update your profiles as necessary, it would be nice. Thanks for "listening".

I forgot to add, This isn't the first time this has occured either, I see it rather frequently, hence this thread.

 

[nice gaijin]

I hear that it's surprising how many people simply lie in their profiles about their location. This is the internet, the land of anonymity. There's little point in sweating the small stuff.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

The hunter............

I hear that it's surprising how many people simply lie in their profiles about their location. This is the internet, the land of anonymity. There's little point in sweating the small stuff.

Uncle frank will hunt them down, LOL. My new hobby is checking IP addresses. First I run them to see if they have more then 1 account, then I run them to check location. Sure isn't fool proof though, but fun to look at.
Uncle Frank


PS - It seems 80% of the members living in Japan have the comment, "Never been to Japan".

 

[KirinMan]

I hear that it's surprising how many people simply lie in their profiles about their location. This is the internet, the land of anonymity. There's little point in sweating the small stuff.

Quite true, it is just a request, what particularly "motivated" me this time is the member that I looked at made a rather off the wall first post, digging up a relatively old thread that had no posts on it for over 6 months. Even before making an introduction in the new members area.

 

[lunanueva]

I don't know about others here but I often find it helpful to get an understanding of members and their posts to know how long that they have been here in Japan, if they live here, or for members that don't live here how long if ever that they spent here in Japan.
It usually helps in getting a bit of background and understanding about where people are at.

Hi, here's an honest opinion from a newbie:

There are people who just come here to get information, enquire and give their comments, that's it, no interest in deeply socializing with other members, or putting up a full profile for everyone to see. Sometimes it's because their time is limited, like in my case. Not all people who sign up will be active every day and connected all the time. I think that the administrators have to respect that choice instead of requesting the full profile of every new person.

Today I found it a bit annoying that the first message I saw when entering my login details was "there are empty fields in your profile, please update it" (or sth like that). While I don't mind giving out my own information, I don't really care whether others see it or not, or what people think. So I only chose items from 2 drop-down menus and finished up my "profile". That person you're talking about might have done the same (?) well, who knows, I'm not speaking for them, it's just an assumption.

Now, the self-introduction, I agree, it is polite and desirable to say hello first to others in the forum.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

When I first joined, my profile read, "residing in Japan" but "never been to Japan". I agree with the sentiment that comparing length of stay in Japan is like comparing lengths of certain other *ahem* things. Therefore I will never publicly decree my length of stay in my profile or elsewhere, either.

I agree that such information is nice in helping us get to know each other, but a lot of people seem to use such information to establish some kind of informal pecking order, if you will. This I oppose.

The length of stay field should remain optional, as should all the other information in the profile that is currently optional.

Of course, inviting others to share more information as Obeika has done is perfectly fine, too. Just don't be too disappointed when there is not much of a change.