User personas

JustHalf

Sorry about the delay on this. Extremely busy, and also sick.

This is one of the things Kevin and I worked on at our meeting. It's a list of imaginary Boards users which the redesign will target. We reckon this list is fairly representative, but if anyone disagrees we'd like to hear it, so we can update the list accordingly.

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John
20 years old
College Student (Computer Science)
Using Boards for the last two years

Quite tech savvy. Plays Quake and other online games. He reads the gaming and tech boards, and sometimes users the "For Sale" board. Knows some otf the people on Boards and would read and post on "Feedback / Suggestions". Reads Politics occasionally, but is only mildly interested.
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Elaine
16 years old
In 5th year in secondary school

Mainly uses CTYI board. Looks at other threads if one appears on the front page that catches her eye. Posts on "Personal Issues" trying to help people with their problems.
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Andy
12 years old
In school

Gamer. Uses Boards primarily to get information about games. Big into XBox Live, looks for cheats, hints and game reviews. Reads movie board.
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Seamus
35 years old
No college
Married with two kids, ages 6 and 8

Reads the "For Sale" boards. Reads the "Audio Video Editing" and "Home Entertainment" boards. Doesn't read anything else and is happy with that.
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Phil
16 years old

Absolute muppet. Plays Counterstrike. Talks Counterstrike speak on Boards. Trolls, talks crap about AMD. Annoys a lot of people, fellow muppets regard him as a hero.
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Carl
24 years old
Moderator

Using Boards for a couple of years. Moderates "Politics" and "After Hours". In the "in" crowd. Has been using Boards since the time of Cloud boards. Goes to Boards events. Has scored at a Boards event. Reads as many forums as possible. 2000+ posts to his name
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I took out "Looks for LANs" from Andy's description as I realised that a 12 year old would probably be scarred for life going along to one of them.