Ignore the original topic. Discuss how great wine + seltzer is.

This post is meant to be a companion to Kaubel's excellent compilation of "all-star" posts.

What I'd like to do here is compile a list (sorted alphabetically by name) of posters who the EJ forum community considers to be "experts" in their specific realm(s) of knowledge.

As an example:

Lactose: hunter theorycraft, spreadsheets, rotation calculations, gear/weapon analysis.
Praetorian: raid encounter strategy, guild management, theorycraft on WoW game mechanics, etc, etc.

Why do this? Two reasons:

1. So people can search by author using the search tool. So people can save time (and unnecessary posts) by simply sending PMs to the "experts" as needed.

2. So the community can better recognize respected voices, and the topics they represent best.

I'll edit my list as people respond to this post.

A List of Experts (by category):

Lactose: hunter theorycraft, spreadsheets, rotation calculations, gear/weapon analysis.
Praetorian: raid encounter strategy, guild management, theorycraft on WoW game mechanics, etc, etc.

am I the only person to whom this seems like a bad idea?

A highly respected individual, is not always correct. And a noname begger, talking on the side of the street for pennies, it not necessarily incorrect. What people say should be judged based on the merits of the text, not who says them (this is a problem irl as well).

I hope not. I know that I've developed my own list of people I directly type into the search tool (search by author) in order to see what they've posted on a particular topic. Kalman, Arawethion, Kaubel, Lactose, Nurru...etc come to mind. Would be good to better organize who typically posts on what.

This is pretty much wholly correct, in my opinion. If you create a list of posters who are then officially recognized as authorities on a given subject, it gives undue weight to what they're saying which may not be deserved in the text.

Pretty much. While the people mentioned are worth listening to, I prefer that they continue to be worth listening to by posting reasoned opinions and solid theory rather than "because the post says so".

Even the smartest among us are occasionally wrong.

That's all fine and dandy but the point of discussion forums is for people to participate. If you just want to PM the experts with questions then you can do that already, but a) I don't believe that they would relish having to answer everything, and b) non-famous people sometimes have something worthwhile to say too! Giving some posters official "MVP status" would just lead to a situation like you see on the WoW forums where everyone says "blue plz."

A more productive approach would be to attempt to combine the posts by these authors that you frequently reference into some kind of wiki. Or perhaps update the already existing one (wowwiki).

:unsure:

Well, good to see you have lots of confidence in your thread, haha.

Anyway, no, this isn't useful. I'd rather people who are new to the boards read broadly and come to their own conclusions. And just because someone released an amazing spreadsheet eight months ago doesn't mean that they are automatically correct today. Let's let people's posts continue to stand on their own merit. A topical search index is handy. A poster-based one, less so.

Okie-dokie. I suppose due to the overall "timeliness" of most posts that all of the board regulars will simply continue to carry around in their heads a "virtual list" of those who post, and of those who post, what they generally seem to have expertise in.

A tie-in between topics and those who post on them was largely what I was thinking of rather than some artificial designation of coolness.

i'm smrt. s-m-r-t smrt.

I see your poop and raise you a :toot:
While the mention is nice, I'd prefer people think to themselves "This person has good input" rather than "That thread says they're popular".

:blink: Wow, I think I've been spending too much time around here . . .

More seriously--this is, to some extent, the function of forum ranks, although that's probably about as far as it should go.

Did anything ever come of that project to come up with some meaningful forum ranks?

I fully endorse this idea.

Many, many PMs. Double copies. Thrice as often as needed. Just in case.

I will endorse this thread only if we can make Kaubel the official expert on banhammers and beer.

His role as beer expert would be to drink what he was told to and report if it was good or not.

(Actually, I'm starting to think he might support this plan....)

Hmm.....

I had a friend once combine a Coors Light and Apple Pucker.

Let us know how it tastes, Kaubel!

I had a friend make a Guiness float. As in, Guiness and ice cream.

Then she drank it.

:(

this seems like a good thread to wonder about why searching for Praetorian as an author returns no posts :spooky:

Hmm? http://forums.elitistjerks.com/searc...user&user_id=4 works fine for me.

I'll see your friend's Guinness float and raise her a Special Brew and Coke. We were already rather drunk, so luckily I don't remember just how bad it was.

I had a friend make me a mix of Parrot Bay and Peppermint Schnapps. He honestly thought it would be good. It was, bar none, the most vile thing I've ever experienced in my life.