Yet another request: free-format space for "User-FAQ" profile comments

[Nords]

As I reply to yet another new user's comments & questions, it occurs to me that they may wonder "Who the heck is this guy and how does he think he can get away with that?"

The "additional info" section on our profiles is a good start but we could (at our discretion) provide more user-FAQ info. Especially now that signatures are throttled to two lines, however, it would be helpful to have a free-format (text) space that could hold a couple paragraphs. I'm not sure how much text we could fit in those "additional info" blocks but the one-line view makes it a bit difficult to check the format.

I'd use that to list the date I retired, pension & healthcare info, our asset allocation, rental property, our spending, our SWR, our family situation, best books, best financial-management software, and other details. Then a poster wondering "WTF?" could click on my profile, look at that paragraph, and realize why I'd rather invest a mortgage or have a high-equity portfolio.

Sure, that data could be placed on our own websites. But I'm keenly aware that users rarely bother to click more than one or two links off a post, let alone search or wait for another website to come up, and this could make it easier for us to customize our info.

[Andy R]

I think this is a good idea. Let's add this when we upgrade to v3.7 of the forum software which has enhanced profile pages.

Do you only want a text box or would you like to have some drop down menus with things like retirement status, a date box for the date of retirement (could be used for a countdown or for total time since ER, monthly cost of living (could be used in reports to see how much everyone is spending), etc.

I am fine with whatever you all want. Maybe just the free text field to start and then over time we can review the info posted by members and come up with more fitting specific fields. It would be cool to see how many retirees we have by state and how many are planning to retire in the next year, 3 years and 5 years.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Andy R

Do you only want a text box or would you like to have some drop down menus with things like retirement status, a date box for the date of retirement (could be used for a countdown or for total time since ER, monthly cost of living (could be used in reports to see how much everyone is spending), etc.

Thanks and since you asked, let's do both.

Dropdown menus build a database with fewer errors and easier searches (for example, posters who've been ER'd at least five years).

A free text box at the end of the dropdown menus would allow people to add whatever they felt was missing.