How to VASTLY increase your credibility on the Warrior Forum!

Mark,

Most of those questions are answered in the 'stickies' above, which unfortunately most people don't read

Di

If I may address a few of the points you make in your step 3.

I tried to put myself in the mindset of being a complete newbie. If I were brand new and came to the Warrior Forum with anticipation and excitement because a friend recommended it to me, saying it was the most helpful IM community in existence, then I read number three, I would be totally deflated and frustrated!

I would think how can I learn if I'm not allowed to ask questions? How can I offer help and tips if I don't know anything or have any experience?

I agree that countless repeated questions can become annoying, but I would much rather answer a question I can help with or supply some links to on the subject as well as gently mentioning the search function, rather than see new members trying to offer something they have no knowledge in and either making a fool of themselves or giving generic one line answers.

I think that it's important to remember some where back in time, we were a newbie too and if it hadn't been for helpful members answering questions and giving guidance, we perhaps wouldn't be where we are today.

With all due respect, it's not fair to ask newbies to offer help or opinions but at the same time tell them not to ask for any, IMHO.

Terra

Maybe i should look into getting an Avatar. After all, people are missing out on my good looks

Let me address some of the misconceptions in the above diatribe...

While there is no doubt a faction here that could wear the label you just branded them with, there is also a huge number of real people here, with real businesses who don't subscribe to what you just accused them of participating in.

All this "get an avatar - get a sig - increase your credibility" talk sadly misses one of the real reasons people have credibility on this board. And that is "networking".

Here's the deal...many of the usernames you see on this forum are nameless entities who have no interaction with other Warriors outside of this forum. To them, this place is the 'do all/end all' of internet marketing. They have no idea that this forum is just "a good place to make an introduction" and that the internet marketing universe is HUGE compared to this forum.

So they come here and drop bombs on gurus thinking it makes them look like they know what's up, they bitch and complain about this autoresponder or that payment processor, and a host of other useless tripe.

Meanwhile, business is going on as usual for many of the Warriors here who have actual working business models and don't have time for that nonsense.

The point being...labeling the entire userbase here on the Warrior Forum as a a group of folks who are just out to "protect the scum bags at all costs" shows an incredible lack of understanding of what this forum is really about.

Here's a little tip...a lot of us on the forum know and interact with others here completely outside the scope of this forum. That could be on Skype groups, at seminars, online talk shows, and host of other venues where people get to interact one-on one or with others present and they "keep it real" because they understand the power of networking.

So the bottom line is...

Your post count means didly squat. Same with your avatar, and the same with your sig. Will those things help give you credibility? Yes with some. Not so much with others who are the real players that can help your business succeed if you're fortunate enough to be able to network with them..

~Bill

I have seen on rare occasion someone come into this forum with very few posts and run a highly successful WSO. I think that boils down more to the demand for the product and the potential buyer sensing from the sales copy that the vendor knows what he is doing.

You can have all the posts and thanks in the world - but if your offer is crap I don't think it's going to make much difference in the end.

My guess from your experiment would be that this works for a different reasons than you might be thinking. It's not enough to just have those numbers appear in the WSO forum next to your name. Someone who posts a lot is also (most likely) going to have a sig file pointing to their offer - thus pushing more traffic. And someone who is getting a lot of thanks could very well be getting those by replying in threads which suit their area of expertise - and guess what? Their sig file is there too and they are not just directing traffic but directing targeted traffic.

In most cases, those numbers are earned. But I am guilty myself of some thanks given based on personality and not expertise - and that is why I can't say all cases.

For the most part all good comments.

The one thing that I've seen over the years that frustrates me is this.

Once some people get a little success under their belts they become the expert.
They're not. They're just someone who has had a little success.

But... real people who share real, useful information and echo the same are the ones
that do the most good here.

I love original thoughts and new ideas, but if people don't realize what the basics
are and how they work, nothing else does.

Especially newbies. They can have all kinds of things tossed at them, but they won't
be successful and actually make any money until they learn those.