How to deal with the Newbie problem

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-12-23 11:15am

I see you having a long and uneventful stay here.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2002-12-23 01:17pm

Flames to all idiot newbies!

God Emperor · Post by **God Emperor** » 2002-12-23 05:09pm

you people have good ideas for clearing up the problem and they should work. one nitpick of mine Why do people say the link is on the left? to me it's on the right to get to the main sight

Specialist · Post by **Specialist** » 2002-12-23 06:24pm

Darth Servo wrote:Flames to all idiot newbies!

You know it as well as I do without these "newbies" you despise this site would begin to disintegrate. This site needs new blood and flaming every newbie that comes along isn't helping.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2002-12-23 06:29pm

God Emperor wrote:you people have good ideas for clearing up the problem and they should work. one nitpick of mine Why do people say the link is on the left? to me it's on the right to get to the main sight

Then you're computer's screwed.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2002-12-24 04:48pm

There's an Announcements forum?

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-12-24 08:17pm

Slartibartfast wrote:There's an Announcements forum?

*thwap*

Baka Slartiblartfast.

*pauses*

Wait, that's OOC for me. Spanky?

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2002-12-24 11:46pm

Slartibartfast wrote:There's an Announcements forum?

Anata baka?! Of course there is! It's right by the testing forum.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2002-12-26 11:56am

When I came on here as a newbie I must admit I was treated fairly well by most people, so I havent really had the problems of being flamed thankfully.

I agree that forums are mostly kept alive by the introduction of new blood and ideas. Granted some of those ideas are, well, silly and possibly not thought out too well ( Im guilty of it

). However I dont think a person should be attacked with some of the venom I have seen on here for expressing their thoughts, no matter how lame.

If its lame, show them the evidence to educate them, so that next time they will be a little better informed and perhaps turn out to be a decent member of the board. I think a little patience, education and politeness would go a long way to keeping the flow of decent newbies to this board.

If these people continue in a bone-headed fashion, then by all means blow them away. But not for their first offence, that just creates trolls and spreads more venom.

But I definately agree that all newbies should be made to read Mikes SWvST in 5 minutes page. Easy to read, and not that hard to understand

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2002-12-27 03:41pm

pellaeons_scion wrote:When I came on here as a newbie I must admit I was treated fairly well by most people, so I havent really had the problems of being flamed thankfully.
I agree that forums are mostly kept alive by the introduction of new blood and ideas. Granted some of those ideas are, well, silly and possibly not thought out too well ( Im guilty of it ). However I dont think a person should be attacked with some of the venom I have seen on here for expressing their thoughts, no matter how lame.

Most newbies get an easy first round. It's only when they are mind-boggingly stupid that everyone pounces on them.

If its lame, show them the evidence to educate them, so that next time they will be a little better informed and perhaps turn out to be a decent member of the board. I think a little patience, education and politeness would go a long way to keeping the flow of decent newbies to this board.

Most of the time that is precisely what happens.

If these people continue in a bone-headed fashion, then by all means blow them away. But not for their first offence, that just creates trolls and spreads more venom.

Standard operating procedure.

But I definately agree that all newbies should be made to read Mikes SWvST in 5 minutes page. Easy to read, and not that hard to understand

The trouble is most of the boneheadded ones don't read it.

The Enterpriser · Post by **The Enterpriser** » 2002-12-27 04:03pm

Newbies should be stabbed, drawn and quartered (but that would be me too then

)

I think that the main problem is that newbies (of the wrong sort) were basically with an opinion set in stone. The 5 minute ST vs SW thread would still be useless for the wacko types anyway.

(And yes, I've been reading this site for years

)

Dodge · Post by **Dodge** » 2003-01-02 10:15am

The "newbie problem" is not just one which appears in forums. This is a normal and natural phenomenon, and also appears on the road, for example (for learner drivers).

Imagine how the problem would be if people weren't allowed to drive on the public highway until they could handle a vehicle. They would learn to drive in a mechanical fashion, and once they were competent (i.e. fast drivers) they would be released onto the roads, where their ignorance of the existence of other drivers etc would cost them their cars/lives.

I think they should come in "at the deep end" and be ridiculed (if necessary). That's the way to learn a system - from trial and error.

Obviously, some people are more intelligent/wise/lucky/gregarious/interested than others, and they will get less or no flak.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-02 02:51pm

The Enterpriser wrote:Newbies should be stabbed, drawn and quartered (but that would be me too then )

I think that the main problem is that newbies (of the wrong sort) were basically with an opinion set in stone. The 5 minute ST vs SW thread would still be useless for the wacko types anyway.

(And yes, I've been reading this site for years )

If you've been reading this site for years why do u still ignore what is written here when u are debating u silly bastard.

On a more serrious note every one here was a newbie at one point or another so try and treat them the way you'd have wanted to be treated, It's not that hard.

Isolder74 · Post by **Isolder74** » 2003-01-02 05:08pm

Alyeska wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Also, I really doubt that having a message in the confirmation e-mail would do much to help, as a lot of morons would seriously ignore it.
A lot? Whens the last time you read through registration stuff when joining a forum? Its just like when people agree to the terms for software. NO ONE reads it.

Dilbert had a good joke about that. look it up its funny. It has to do with windows registration and i don't want to spoil the joke.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2003-01-03 04:58pm

I read the entire site and even lurked for awhile, until boredom goaded me to post a few things.

Still, it's good to know that there's people who would feel superior, based on post count alone.

Hey, I've got my own forums and there's tons of people around like that. It's a common disease...

; )

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2003-01-03 05:00pm

About all you can really do is post a well-written and easy to find FAQ for the forums. Other than that, maybe encourage people to be more helpful and tolerant.

But, given the title of the forum(s) (ie: the "mockery of stupid people" clause) I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2003-01-03 06:46pm

Take a look at this noobie and tell me he doesn't deserve to be BBQd.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-01-03 06:58pm

anarchistbunny wrote:I think mustard gas would work better.

The gene-pool is in need of re-chlorination....and chlorine gas seems to be the way to go...

Keevan.

Dodge · Post by **Dodge** » 2003-01-04 07:45am

Spot the blinkered Trekkie...

IceHawk-151 · Post by **IceHawk-151** » 2003-01-04 12:45pm

A simple disclaimer should be added to the register menu.

"The following Disclaimer deals with New Posters and thier responsibility to understand the dynamics of the SD.Net boards. If you have read Wong's Site and agree with it you may skip this paragraph. If you have not read the site, or simply disagree with it continue reading.

First and foremost you must understand that to challenge the information in the SD.Net webpage is to challenge the convitions of Mr.Wong. If you can present your arguments in a clean manner you may be able to get a useful debate out of it. However if you show any bias towards another Sci-Fi franchise your comments will be taken as an insult and you will recieve the ridicule that you rightfully deserve.
Mr.Wong has been championing for high level weapons calculations for years. With the advent of the new ICS it appears that he has been right all along. ICS numbers, though only official and with no true bearing on the SW Universe, will be considered Canon from this moment on. DO NOT try to reason that the 200 GT number for Turbolaser Firepower is too high. You are wrong and your arguments will not win out, so don't bother.
To post on these boards succesfully and in relative peace you must show either a bias towards the Star Wars Universe or atleast content that it is superior to all others from the supposed "Big 3". While Star Trek and Babylon 5 fans are welcome, and create entertaining arguments, the truth is that in the end no argument can ever prevail over the Logic held here at SD.Net."

Or you guys could just realize that reading the SD.Net website is not a prerequisite to posting on these boards and learn to tolerate people who have thier own opinions.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-04 03:17pm

Actually when you register as a member of this BB you are asked to read the site. Hard to debate a subject when you have no idea what you are talking about. AFAIK new conformations also include a link to the ST -v- SW in 5 minutes page. If a person can't be bothered to even read that they deserve to be flamed and mocked.

IceHawk-151 · Post by **IceHawk-151** » 2003-01-04 03:45pm

Darth Pounder wrote:Actually when you register as a member of this BB you are asked to read the site. Hard to debate a subject when you have no idea what you are talking about. AFAIK new conformations also include a link to the ST -v- SW in 5 minutes page. If a person can't be bothered to even read that they deserve to be flamed and mocked.

Like I said, you don't need to read the site to understand the subject. Reading this site, Wong's page I mean, only gives a person an idea about the level of bias towards Star Wars on this board.

In my experienc the only ones who deserve to be flamed and mocked are the various trolls who roam around. Just because a person didn't do extensive research on the subject doesn't mean they have no idea what they are talking about.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-01-05 12:18am

IceHawk-151 wrote:
Darth Pounder wrote:Actually when you register as a member of this BB you are asked to read the site. Hard to debate a subject when you have no idea what you are talking about. AFAIK new conformations also include a link to the ST -v- SW in 5 minutes page. If a person can't be bothered to even read that they deserve to be flamed and mocked.
Like I said, you don't need to read the site to understand the subject. Reading this site, Wong's page I mean, only gives a person an idea about the level of bias towards Star Wars on this board.

Instead of making unsubstantiated and incredibly vague claims, why don't you try to disprove Mike's conclusions, as depicted in his ST v SW in 5 Minutes Page?

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-01-05 12:20am

Because MoO that would take effort.

Seriously so far his claims on the other thread beggar to mind whether or not he's just blowing steam so he can be annoying or will he show proof that Saxton was pulling the 200GT just because.

Somehow I am leaning towards the former.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-05 10:14am

A troll be defination is :- Someone who comes to the board with the purpose of making trouble by making various unsubstantiated claimes.

In that case YOU IceHawk-151 are a troll and ur doing very little to prove otherwise. You bitch and moan about how these calculations are wrong but you never produce a shread of evidence that says HOW you came up with that conclusion. When Wong finally notices you you are BBQ'd troll.

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How to deal with the Newbie problem

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