The importance of filling out your profile
Hola!
I really hope I don't sound mean here, je je 
Sometimes, I notice that some members [mostly ones who have just joined] do not have the most important part of the profile filled out --- their English level and their Spanish level.
I, personally, find knowing someone's English level and someone's Spanish level to be crucial information when answering their question. Otherwise, I don't know how to answer your question. Do I answer it Spanish? Do I explain why it is what it is in Spanish? Or, do I answer in English?
Then, sometimes, we have some posters who spell words incorrectly in their titles and posts. However, they don't have their language information filled out entirely on their profile. So now, I'm left wondering whether this person honestly doesn't know better because they're learning English...or maybe they are native English speakers using "text lingo" 
.
Again, I don't want to sound mean or anything! 
But, please, amigos! For those of you who don't currently have that part of their profile filled out...can you fill it out? It'd be so helpful. I'm sure once you do so, your questions will be answered in a much more helpful way.
¡Muchas gracias!
10 Answers
Haha, I'm new here and I updated my profile after seeing this. Guess that means it was a good post!
This is not the first time we've had this discussion on the forum. The outcome before appears to have been that the site can attract new members best (very important to advertisers!) by keeping the sign-up info very brief. Of course that means leaving out a couple of vital bits of info. I sometimes remind the member to edit their profile, to become aware of how that would help them.
Sometimes we dismiss confusing questions by ignoring them, but usually we try to guess what the member wants, and guess at their first language. I've seen more than a few members learning both English and Spanish as beginners.
On a related topic, I wonder if novice posters ever come back to read the responses and comments, sometimes. And when they notice that their post has problems, rather than click the Edit link, they post a correction comment.
So many times I've seen questions misinterpreted and answered the wrong way around in the wrong language for this very reason. Good post.
Another important point in filling out your profile is to indicate where in the world you are. That helps identify the variations in the language, and makes your question easier to answer.
Words and phrases can have different meanings and uses depending on the Spanish speaking country.
So add in you profile that you are from Mexico or Venezuela, or that Colombia is where you learned Spanish, It helps a lot.
If all the newbies ie new members joining were to do this, like Cyradis, as requested what a Big difference this would make!
When we looked in their profile we would be able to see immediately what their level of Spanish and English was and so we could tailor our responses to the information and give them answers that they could understand and that would prove most helpful to them!
All we can do at the moment is provide answers based on guess-work as to their level of ability.
I would recommend that certain information be required as mandatory:
1 Name: this could be either a user name like Musicman or dancer etc or a real name if so desired but not obligatory
2 Level of ability eg English native Spanish intermediate
or Spanish; Native English beginner
Any combination of these would be acceptable as long as the information given in the profile is true/accurate
3 Place of birth/location Either could be given so long as the level of ability were also given whether the person is a native speaker but living somewhere else
4 Gender: It also helps to know if the person you are talking to or making reference to is male or female
I would be interested in reciveing feed-back on these suggestions even if you don't agree just give me good/valid reasons why not lol '
I promise not to flag anyone (who disagrees with me) , edit their post or threaten to leave if people do not agree with me 
I would just like to bring this thread back to the top
This is still a recurring problem.
When I see a question on the forum with no avatar, no learning points, and no language information, I automatically think that they're going to be a one-timer (meaning, they'll ask one question for homework and then never log in again 
)
I just wish there was another level of expertise to choose from.
I live in the USA and I'm a native English language speaking person. However, I am not sure if that makes me "fluent" in English. Especially since I didn't have a very good grammar education. However, the "intermediate" level doesn't seem quite right for me either.
Am I being too picky?
cool
You know, I agree with you Sonrisa.
I mean look at this idiot's first post. I'll give him credit for filling out the information, but geez, it took him 2 months to realize that he had set his "native language" to the language he was learning. Everyone, please, don't be stupid like that guy, fill out your profile and be meticulous about making sure the languages are set appropriately.
delete please
