Dealing with newbies

SinisterMinisterX

SinisterMinisterX

Illuminatus
Staff member
I think that we (meaning the board regulars who've been here for some time) need to take a hard look at the way that we've been treating newbies lately. I've noticed a growing trend of intolerance for posts that some of us judge as being "too stupid" for our beloved Maidenfans board. I'm as guilty as anyone else in this respect - just ask Black Ace or Iron Eddie 666! But I'm getting concerned about the growing number of occurences where a newbie makes 10 or fewer "stupid" posts and is immediately told "you're nothin' but a dumb n00b, grow up or leave". This just isn't right!

One of the reasons that I like this community so much is the fact that, until recently, we've always welcomed newbies with open arms. So what's happening? What in the world has come over us? I suggest that we all commit ourselves to treating newbies in a more humane manner. Even if their first dozen posts look dumb as a bump on a log, let's give them a chance.

I suggest that we give every newbie a "grace period" of 25 posts to do whatever they want, provided it isn't obviously offensive (for example, racist posts should never be tolerated). Hopefully, by that time, they'll have seen enough examples of the way that the majority of us post that they'll start posting that way themselves. Given time, annoying habits like deliberate misspelling or pointless piles of smilies will likely disappear if these newbies see that no one else is acting that way.

After 25 posts, if a newbie is still acting like a n00b, let's try to gently and politely urge them to change their ways. Let's NOT cut loose with profanity and insults right off the bat. Of course, if they refuse to grow up after a while, it's open season. But, IMHO, we should all ease up on them for now - it will be better for our board in the long run. After all, most of us here dislike the official BB exactly because of the idiots there who try to run the show. Let's not act that way ourselves!
 
That's what I've always said: you shouldn't be allowed to join Maidenfans if you can't come up with at least three plausible interpretations of what Revelations is about [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

No, seriously, you have some very good points. But I can't say I think newcomers should be given 25 posts to post whatever they want. They must learn the general rules of the community and follow them, from their first post. Crap posts should never be tolerated, no matter who post them.
 
Yea, you're right. I havent been here long and I would not have stayed if a bunch of dudes who I didnt know starting yelling at me and talking shit because my posts were not as "good" or "informative"as theirs. I guess Im still a newbie myself, but Ive even talked some shit to some new people. Its hard though, to not tear down someone who is annoying you. But, again, the greatest thing about this forum, like you said, is that we accept people. Just out of curiousity, what happens to n00b who refuses to clean up their act after being warned and chewed out?
 
SinisterMinisterX has got very good points, but remember that he also lost his rag with a newbie that was only spamming with inane posts, misspelled and full of irrelevant smileys. We should be tolerant to newcomers, but we shouldn't let some threads be swamped by asinine comments -- there's a special forum for that! [!--emo&-_---][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sleep.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sleep.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
I think you guys are right about these things. I started to post for a couple of days and all of a sudden, you guys were yelling at me like i had done some horrible warcrimes. I didn't post crap (I mean crap as crappy as it gets) anywhere else than the madness forum. SO i was kinda suprprised when all fo you guys started accusing me all of a sudden. I asked forgivness and now i hope that you guys aren't so mad at me anymore.
 
I saw that, it was fun reading the posts. You got chewed out bad,hehe. But i guess it sucked pretty bad huh? Actually, I saw that after my first post, and I made sure that I never spammed, or said anything dumb unless it was in the madness forum. I learned from your mistakes. That might be a good way for other newbies to learn. Maybe start like a hall of shame or something.
 
founder of the hall of shame? [!--emo&:(--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sad.gif\' /][!--endemo--] I should be in a hall of fame, for realizing my own mistakes and trying to mend them as well as i could.
 
I agree and I think some of our board leaders are as guilty of being to quick to jump and attack new members too. The last thing anyone wants is for this place to degenerate into the Official BB or even the way the Blaze BB is now but we also need new members to stay alive. 25 posts sounds good to me though getting members to follow that rule before judging is not easy
 
I agree with SMX. I have seen that there is a bit of bullying going on at times and I wondered why there wasn't a stop put to it.

[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I agree and I think some of our board leaders are as guilty of being to quick to jump and attack new members too. [/quote]

I see that real world noticed this too.
 
Whoa. Who are we to determine what a "grace period" is? N00bs almost always self identify. Like that ancientmariner_1309 or whatever he was. Anyone who gets 100 posts in two days is almost a surefire n00b.

Having said that, I think that with some urging, sure, we could help n00bs become better posters. That was the point of my newbie thread, which one day I'll update and evolve again.

Some people have managed to impress from day one. Recent people like that include the MiG, and Perun, off the top of my head. I think that if someone comes in and is all:

LOLOLOLOLOL Maden is the l33t!

We should be all over them like a fat kid on a cupcake, or SMX on y=mx+b. Be a little easier on people without the best control of English, but that constant:

I luv maiden do u luv maden 2???????////

Needs to be kept in check. Often times, simply asking people to not post like that helps. A polite inquiry is usually the best.

Is it possible to create a "newb" squad of elder posters, to try and help people who are getting a little out of hand get into shape? Perhaps just a single PM would be nice, and a small hidden board so that if someone notices, they can just say "Yeah, I PMed him, he cleared up his act".
 
I admit that I'm sometimes a bit rough with some newcomers, although I don't quite accept the term "bullying". Bullying is mindless and uncalled for, whereas I usually have good reasons to have a go at someone who posts whereas they have nothing to say.

The term newbie doesn't disturb me much either, but "n00b" is one I dislike, like I don't appreciate people posting in "text-message English" (and it's the native English speakers who do it most of the time!). How can we respect people like that when the only side of themselves they show here is one of utter stupidity? Respect has got to be earned and many MaidenFans BBers have done that very well. As for others, well...

And I don't check the number of posts either. Some people here have a low post count but high quality posts. An idiot with 10,000 stupid posts is to me still what LooseCannon calls a "n00b".

I think we shouldn't tear bits off each other on such a topic. The "parasites" who post here just to pass time (noticed that it's the holiday season? Many kids are probably bored at home 'cause they are unable to have a normal life without forums like this one...), well these "parasites" will eventually leave.

I agree with the idea of a "n00b Squad" (silly expression, but for want of a better one, I suppose I'll use it) and I wouldn't mind if LooseCannon and SinisterMinisterX took charge of it. As for myself, I'll try to be a bit "nicer", but not more lenient. Slack moderation is what caused the mess on the IMBB in the first place and I wouldn't want this to happen here.
 
I guess it would be going too far to type up all my grammar lessons from grade 11 and require new posters to write a test before registering, huh?
 
I agree with what Maverick is saying but alot of "newbies" don’t read posts like this and won't realise what is frowned upon by the board leaders. I would hope that the obvious things like constant, offensive swearing and racist comments won't be used but as for the other things like the bad English and smilies, they should be dealt with politely so that they know not to do it again as it’s sort of expected from them.

This happened to me on one of my first posts when LooseCanon posted a translation of my bad English into "proper" English and called me a "n00b", I realised the problem and haven’t done it since (at least not knowingly).

There should be an email sent with their registration details for them to read before they post explaining the rules so that they know from the start what is not allowed and hopefully these types of things won't happen.
 
Well if a newbie is acting up, we should start by sending them a personal message. This way they dont get told to clean up their act in a public setting, avoiding embarrassment. They will probably be less offended as well. Does anyone remember a girl (I hope at least) named Pixiefairywithbigboobs? Well if you dont, she was spamming alot. Just going on boards and asking how people were doing. I knew that she was going to get yelled at sooner or later by someone, so I sent her a personal message telling her that she might wanna be more careful about what she posts, because she upset some people. And since then I havent seen a single spam from her.
 
Hey! RW, would it be possible to have an automatic greeting PM sent? Like:

Hi, welcome to the Maidenfans board!
Don't type in "l33t speak".
Maverick's a git.

The Maidenfans team.
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Black Ace+Aug 17 2004, 06:54 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Black Ace @ Aug 17 2004, 06:54 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]We? They? My friend, you and i, we are still newbies
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Dude, I know. But we seem to know how to post and what-not. I am definately still a newbie, but I am talking about wet-behind-the-ears, just joined people.
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Still Life+Aug 17 2004, 05:35 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Still Life @ Aug 17 2004, 05:35 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--] because she upset some people.
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I meant to say "because she might upset some people"
 
[!--QuoteBegin-LooseCannon+Aug 17 2004, 09:00 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(LooseCannon @ Aug 17 2004, 09:00 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Hey!  RW, would it be possible to have an automatic greeting PM sent?  Like:

Hi, welcome to the Maidenfans board!
Don't type in "l33t speak".
Maverick's a git.

The Maidenfans team.
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lmao I'll look into it [!--emo&;)--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/wink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'wink.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

The warning system around here should go as follows for most issues. Private warning, public warning, 1st, 2nd then final "official" warning followed by ban or suspenssion from the board.
 
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