Idea on how to keep "noobs" away from the forum

[LewisJ]

You know you've got a real community, when you've got elitists. What a proud day for cubing.

I must disagree - there is a difference between elitism and frustration with noobs. I've not seen anybody here who is simply elitist - everybody will be helpful if the person asking for help asks reasonable questions and constructs their post well. If the person is asking what OLL stands for, or creating a thread about their great new idea that someone already created, then the people you think of as elitists will get frustrated because that person failed to search before posting.

 

[Zarxrax]

Well, I've been here for less than a year, but I can honestly say I haven't seen a whole lot of noobish posts, in my opinion. This forum seems much better than many others that I frequent.

 

[Muesli]

Bungie.net has a similar setup. I think there is a 2 day chillout period before you are able to make a thread, but you can still make posts on the forum. I disagree with the post restriction but the thread idea could work.

I personally didn't feel the need to make a thread until well after I had joined.

 

[mcciff2112]

I think there should be a limit on the number of posts "beginners" are permitted to have per week/month or some other period of time. This would keep them from posting mindless crap (for lack of a better word) if they know they only have a few posts to get what they want to say across or ask questions. This could also reduce the amount of repeated threads. Admins and Mods could raise or lower this limit depending on the quality of their posts. Just a thought.

 

[dbax0999]

I think there should be a limit on the number of posts "beginners" are permitted to have per week/month or some other period of time. This would keep them from posting mindless crap (for lack of a better word) if they know they only have a few posts to get what they want to say across or ask questions. This could also reduce the amount of repeated threads. Admins and Mods could raise or lower this limit depending on the quality of their posts. Just a thought.

While that is a good idea, I could see that becoming a lot of work for the mods.

 

[mcciff2112]

I think there should be a limit on the number of posts "beginners" are permitted to have per week/month or some other period of time. This would keep them from posting mindless crap (for lack of a better word) if they know they only have a few posts to get what they want to say across or ask questions. This could also reduce the amount of repeated threads. Admins and Mods could raise or lower this limit depending on the quality of their posts. Just a thought.

While that is a good idea, I could see that becoming a lot of work for the mods.

This can be closely related to the rating system Stefan introduced or it could just be used with the report button that we already use. If a post gets reported for being too "nooby," then a mod could reduce the number of posts the user is allowed. Or if a mod is just reading through a thread and see a really bad post, then they could take appropriate action very easily. I'm not saying that the mods would need to read every post from every new user to make sure it's not garbage.

 

[brunson]

There are several good ideas here. Who's going to start coding?

 

[EmersonHerrmann]

You know you've got a real community, when you've got elitists. What a proud day for cubing.

+1 hahahaha

 

[Dirk BerGuRK]

I say we just ban everyone who has joined Oct 2009 or later. They are all pretty much noobs anyway.

 

[iasimp1997]

I'm sure you have all noticed some "noobs" get into the forums and start making some stupid threads/posts. Usually this gets dealt with by people flaming the "noob" until they learn better or get offended & leave the forum. I don't think this is the best approach. So I propose that instead, after someone creates an account, they have a 1-2 week period in which they can't post or make a thread. This will lead to them lurking the forums & they will get an idea of what to do & what not to do on the forums.

wait, are you talking about me when i made my post today?¿?¿? and, why block noobs from coming to these forums? its how they learn.

 

[iasimp1997]

that doesnt sound very cool :fp

 

[BeautifullyDecayed.]

Umm, also to stop double posting I'm sure the site could actually just make it impossible to post again when you were already the last person to have posted on a certain thread.
I know that we have a time limit set between posts on the same thread but couldn't we just ban it all together? Say a thing pops up saying "Sorry there have been no replies since your last post, if you have something to add, click "edit" on your previous post."
Just an idea as I know many people get annoyed with double posters. However I think most people after being told that it is frowned upon do stop doing it.

 

[lilkdub503]

The thing that has been going around about noobs is that "they poison the threads." We all know there are some people who post incessantly, use words like "pwn," and then say they aren't noobs. I think we all know who these people are. But it's not right to discriminate a member because his post count is below x, or he hasn't been here for long (you see where I'm going with this-just look to the left). Many times, you can also have an intelligent member, who asks relevant questions, discusses advanced and new stuff, and contributes positively. If we use the PM function to alert the new members, we can do something.

 

[FatBoyXPC]

Does that rating system Stefan showed actually limit posts by a user's rating? If not, what do you guys think of that setup? Your post count availability goes up and down with your rating.

 

[PatrickJameson]

Umm, also to stop double posting I'm sure the site could actually just make it impossible to post again when you were already the last person to have posted on a certain thread.
I know that we have a time limit set between posts on the same thread but couldn't we just ban it all together? Say a thing pops up saying "Sorry there have been no replies since your last post, if you have something to add, click "edit" on your previous post."
Just an idea as I know many people get annoyed with double posters. However I think most people after being told that it is frowned upon do stop doing it.

Double posting can be used correctly. For example, if you posted in a thread you started advertising your competition, and you wanted to bring the competition thread up a few weeks after you last posted, to remind people about it. Of course that's just one of many many correct uses of it. The only reason double posting and many other things(using search function, etc) are so frowned upon is because people suck at finding a balance of good and bad forum etiquette.

As for this idea of keeping, 'noobs' away, this has already been shot down quite a few times. I haven't gone back to look at the reasons from previous threads, but my reason before was; if someone was lurking around for a while, without creating an account, and they wanted to comment on something recent that was happening, by the time they create an account and wait the lurking period, the thread will already be outdated and commenting on it then would be a waste.

 

[nlCuber22]

The thing that has been going around about noobs is that "they poison the threads." We all know there are some people who post incessantly, use words like "pwn," and then say they aren't noobs. I think we all know who these people are. But it's not right to discriminate a member because his post count is below x, or he hasn't been here for long (you see where I'm going with this-just look to the left). Many times, you can also have an intelligent member, who asks relevant questions, discusses advanced and new stuff, and contributes positively. If we use the PM function to alert the new members, we can do something.

You receive a private message upon confirming your registration entitled "Welcome to Speedsolving.com!"
This contains everything a "noob" needs to know before posting.
I wish there was some way to force new members to read the whole thing before posting...
but that's useless because there isn't any way to do that.
I wish that everyone would just read that message though.

 

[Ethan Rosen]

Does that rating system Stefan showed actually limit posts by a user's rating? If not, what do you guys think of that setup? Your post count availability goes up and down with your rating.

Nah I don't think that people's post counts should be limited. I think the idea is that people may not necessarily want to actually come out and tell someone that the user's posts are low quality, but this would really allow the poster to see that there is a problem, and hopefully make changes based on this.

 

[cincyaviation]

i dont think this would be fair, as i crated my account specifically to ask a question via thread...

 

[Muesli]

The report button is there for a reason. There is no need for a rating system.

 

[Stefan]

The report button is there for a reason. There is no need for a rating system.

Very different things. For starters, the report button causes work for the moderators.