I think it would be good if a user’s summary page contained a free-text field in which they could optionally write a bit about themselves.
I think it is technically possible to add such a field, if people generally want to have it. See Creating User Profile Page - support - Discourse Meta.
lemme have a look!
I’ll be back.
ok - got it. What would you like to see there?
“bio” ?
“about me” ?
something else?
On sites in the Stack Exchange network, I think it’s just called a user’s “profile”.
You can see some examples here: Leagues - Top Stack Exchange users per week, month, quarter, and year.
I don’t know if the term profile, which is what I would choose (if only because I’m a SE user), might clash with some technical use of that term in the documentation for Discourse.
I’m not too keen on “bio”, which seems to be pushing for the story of one’s life, or “about me”, which seems a bit twee, somehow. But I don’t strongly object to either of those titles, and indeed they were the only two alternatives to “profile” that had occurred to me.
I’m happy to go with what people generally prefer.
Well I have no problem with “profile”. I’ll wait a day or so and if no-one else jumps in with something better then profile it is.
cheers T. By the way, feel free to jump in with any comments you might have on the reply topic I created
Sorry, it’s me again; and I’m confused, as usual!
Fortunately, none of this stuff is urgent. I’ve liked this new site, and found it easy and natural to use, from the start; no serious problems have appeared since then; and none of my many confusions has seriously impeded communication.
I’m afraid this is going to be a poorly organised post, as my mental energy has been low today; but it seems wise to note down the things that are confusing me before I forget them, even if it just has to be in the form of a randomly ordered list.
Discourse documentation (which I have only been dipping into, not studying systematically) does already seem to use the term profile in a particular sense. Here is one example of its use:
Missing “about me” in Profile - support - Discourse Meta
As that post also shows, all Discourse sites already seem to have an “About me” field, as part of each user’s “Profile”. I’m sorry I missed that, thus confusing things from the start.
My first question for @admin is: am I right in thinking that the “About me” field I see when I visit Twirlip | Preferences | Profile was already there, i.e., you did not create it?
My second question is: am I also right in thinking that you did create the field named “Profile”, on the same page?
If so, it’s probably unnecessary, and I’m sorry to have started you off on a wild goose chase!
A minor point is that this field doesn’t seem to allow paragraph breaks; but as it doesn’t seem as if we’ll need to use the extra “Profile” field, this problem (if it is a problem, rather than a design feature) doesn’t need fixing.
Here is a second example of the use of the terms “profile” and “About me” (but I don’t think it adds anything to what we already know):
Quotes are broken in the “About Me” section of your profile - bug
Another thing I’m unsure of is whether the term homepage has a special meaning in Discourse documentation. From a couple of Google searches, I have a vague impression that this is the term for the page you get to when you click on a user’s avatar. On the other hand, however, at least one page of official-looking documentation seems to say that the term profile is also used to mean that same page:
What are user cards? - howto / faq
If you click on the avatar or username on someone’s user card, it takes you straight to their profile, where you can see further information about that user like their recent activity, list of badges, and summary page.
The same post also gives us another technical term to get to grips with: user card.
Excuse me, I think it’s time for me to go and lie down again.
Evening @Twirlip!
Yes it was. I didn’t create it. In fact I should probably write something in there!
2 for 2. After our last discussion I had a look and created that. I forgot to get back to you about it, but you found it anyway! I wonder if there’s a badge for “detective”?
Truth is I’ve no idea! I’m still learning my way around this platform. But you are currently giving me loads of gentle encouragement to get more familiar fast! I’ll take a look at the links and try and learn something.
The idea of this place was to be a cooperatively owned, moderated and run space, so these discussions are crucial. I love that you’re taking the time and being the effort to learn these things.
Cheers my friend. Really appreciate these posts. (And the ever increasing sequence of drummers!)
Don’t tempt me - I got really obsessed with watching drumming videos for a time last year! Come to think of it, I might go and watch one in a few minutes - it’s a great way to relax.
Hahaha! Feel free to post 
Hey @Twirlip
So I went to have a look based on your investigations and err… monkeyed around (sorry) a bit with my user card. There’s a few things you can do…
Have a look at my card for an idea.
I added a lengthy “About me” this morning. (I did end up telling the story of my stupid life!)
Inspired by your jungle scene, I’ve experimentally uploaded a couple of photos, just to see how the automatic image cropping works. I’ll see if I can get things to fit better later.
When I visit my own home page [if that’s the term], I see nothing new, unless I click on the rectangular button labelled Expand, at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then the image and the potted autobiography appear.
What I want to know is: what does somebody else see when they visit my home page?
I think it should be an image of two waves (nothing to do with COVID-19, I assure you!), and the first two lines of my “About me”, containing my self-description as a natural Grauniad reader, who is disgusted with the Grauniad. At least, that’s how much of it appears on my “user card”, but perhaps a longer extract appears on my home page.
When I visit @PontiusPrimate’s home page, I see a jungle scene at dusk, or dawn, plus the words “Hi there. I’m just a regular human ape” (presumably constituting the “About me” field), as well as “Profile: Ook ook ook ook” (presumably coming from the now-redundant Profile field).
Hi @Twirlip
Here is what I see if I first click your icon
If I click on your icon a second time I get a full page of you as follows
Hope that helps
