Hi deesee, mike & russ
deesee said:
I suspect that one's status is not age-dependent
I have the opposite situation: agewise my status should be middle/junior, and I feel to have been prematurely promoted to senior
It's a minor matter I think, but I agree with Russ that we could use alternative classifications; could be fun too!
I've never been a fan of the term "newbie", sorry mike! I think some others may find it unappealing & possibly offputting: I suppose that may encourage some to quickly make 100+ posts for promotion to the next level, but that could result in many uninformative posts!
The only alternative springs to mind is "novice", but I think many may join who have plenty of experience of ebikes already, so that's out too in my mind.
I suppose the only widely applicable & fair criterion by which to classify would have to avoid reference to age & experience of ebikes, but be purely based on length of experience on pedelecs itself: new & existing members can easily see how established others are by the extent of their membership & number of posts, and indeed members are classified by number of posts so being labelled junior/senior is currently just a verbal indicator of that.
I like your idea mike of members choosing a name to reflect their type of cycling: maybe this could apply to all members from the start, not just "seniors" and is helpful to see people's usage at a glance; what about those of us who don't fall easily into categories or boxes though? - special categories for those?
How about simply "new member" up to so many posts (less than 100 if possible) or a specified length of membership, then "established" or "longstanding member" or somesuch better term for beyond that time/no. of posts with the addition of the option to choose cycling type for all - including a "prospective ebiker" type category for members looking to buy their first electric bike?