Please rate how knowledgable you feel you are as a computer user. If you wish, you can also leave a comment on how you arrived at your rating.

Use this as a guide ...

Guru: I know everything about computers and can figure out everything on my own. I never have to ask anyone for help. I can learn anything on my own.

Expert: I know a lot, and can figure out most things on my own. I seldom have to ask anyone for help. I can learn most things on my own, but occassionally need to seek clarification from others.

Power User: I know more than most users, but still have a lot to learn. I can solve most problems on my own, but occassionally have to ask for help. I can learn most things on my own, but sometimes need to get a little help from others.

Experienced User: I know enough for my purpose, and will pick up new skills when I need to. I can fix common problems on my own, and know where to find answers for problems that are not common. I can learn most things on my own, and will seek assistance when required.

Beginner: I don't know a lot yet, but I am learning more each day. I can fix simple problems on my own, but need assistance for problems that are not obvious. I can learn some things on my own, but won't tackle things that are too technical, and will seek assistance when required.

Dumb ***: I know absolutely nothing about computers and need to ask for help very often. Other's get frustrated at my lack of understanding.

One Power User here! I seldom ask for help, but that's not enough to make me an Expert; got a while until I get there !

Interesting thread Nic, it will be interesting to see what others' think of their skills on computers.

I chose expert. 95% of the time I can figure it out on my own, but like all levels of users (other than those that are too good for help) I do need to ask questions at times. Lots of times if I think asking a questions will get the answer to me quicker I'll do that instead of waiting on myself to figure something out hehe. If knowledge is abundant and easily accessible as it seems to be here, I find myself asking a LOT of questions. I'm pretty hungry for knowledge. After all, the more questions you ask, the quicker you become smarter

I am A Power Dumb ***

Power user.

with some modesty looks at some people around ...

Somewhere between power user and experienced user! Thats what i think.

hehe, follows the normal gaussian distribution so far all seems correct

I voted for Dumb ***.

The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know.

I am ashamed that I don't know more about cisco networking, various types of programming like bash shell scripting, python, perl, etc. I should know more about relational database managment systems like Oracle, and it goes without saying that I should know MUCH MORE about UNIX.

There's so much I want to know and I reckon I will be spending my whole life learning it. So therefore, dubbing myself anything other than a ******* is wrong. Because I am a *******.

Oh, and if ANYONE calls themselves a guru, I will torment you until the end of time!

so the normal progression should be ******* > beginner > experienced > power user > back to *******

Probably power user, although sometimes feel like a dumb ***. All I want is for my puter to do as I ask it all the time, is that too much to ask?

I guess once you're getting close to becoming a Guru, you reach that moment of enlightenment/realisation, and make a sharp drop back down to the bottom, and start all over again (looks like some members will be making their first iteration/loop pretty soon).

Just like P66 said, the more you learn, the less you feel you know, and that probably comes with a growing awareness of all the things you didn't realise you didn't know.

Again, if we look at the votes so far, we can see that even God doesn't know everything.

Something I noticed, and that DigitAlex pointed out, is the Guassian distribution (bell curve) of the votes so far. Seeing as this is kind of a technical forum, we can see that most users are distributed towards the more experienced end of the curve. Surprisingly, we have no Gurus yet. Thats right, not even me. After P66's comment, I feel we are unlikely to see any Gurus (or large egos that think they are Gurus) here at Techspot.

I beleive we call those 15 year olds :grinthumb

still follows gaussian

I had to choose Guru because when people call me to fix their computer....all I have to do is lay my hands on it and it's fixed.

I can figure out most anything and what I can't, I can find by searching so I've never had to ask.

Google is your friend.

Hehe Tarkus let's just now wait for Phant to read your Guru explanation hehehhee