A Suggestion by Charles: Newbie Rights

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1][quote name='DaggerIX1']For example, when I recently joined a different anime-related forum, before posting anything else I made a thread asking how to disable the default smilies in posts.[/quote]But you've just made a fatal mistake: You've assumed that everyone is as intelligent and sensible as you are. And I daresay you could have waited 25 posts to be able to ask that.

[quote name='Charles']I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Perhaps you misread me. There won't be a fifty post benchmark for thread creation. People will either become a "Member" after twenty to twenty-five posts, or still be considered a "New Member" but have the ability to create their own threads.[/quote]No, I read you fine, lol. I know that 50 posts wasn't going to be the criteria. I was saying that they should still be new members, but gain thread posting abilities at 25 posts, because after 50 posts, they could be considered to be a fully fledged member, but 50 posts is too high a limit to restrict thread creation to. Was that clearer?[/size]

[Dagger]

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']But you've just made a fatal mistake: You've assumed that everyone is as intelligent and sensible as you are. And I daresay you could have waited 25 posts to be able to ask that.[/size][/quote]
I [i]could[/i] have, true, but frankly I wouldn't have bothered. I've been a member there for a little while now, and I've made maybe thirty posts, max, few of which were more than two or three lines long. Honestly, if I signed up for a forum and found that I wasn't even able to create threads off the bat, I'd tell myself "screw this," and wander off to post somewhere else. But maybe I'm just one of those people who demands instant gratification... ^_^;;

~Dagger~

[Solo Tremaine]

[QUOTE=Zidargh]
Perhaps if you made the PM more eye catching with a bold, colourful banner...[/QUOTE][color=#503f86]On a similar note, do you think it would be possible to have the individual forum rule Stickies (e.g., Anime Lounge, Adventure Arena/Inn/Underground) made permanently bold or at least highlighted in some way so that they stand out when first coming into a forum? I think the reason they get missed so much is because they can be easily looked over as being read, even though the 'Important' or 'Sticky' heads the title.[/color]

[PWNED]

I think that this idea should work only for specific areas like the Arena and Tokyo 3 because I find that is where there is usually these problems with the Spam Threads. ind you, Quite a lot of people would start to ***** aboutnot being able to create forums which would end up with spam posts. I myself think that this idea is a good one though.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]I think it is a good idea to pm a new member the forum rules automatically. It would even be nice if there was a way to make them scroll through the rules and click
?I agree? before they could post. At least that way you could say ?hey we told you so [b]and[/b] you agreed to it?.

I am not in favor of limiting a new member?s ability to create threads. I understand why this seems appealing, and I actually agree with most of the arguments for it. However, if I couldn?t have created threads when I was a new member (even for such a short period of time and even though I rarely create threads) I doubt I would have stuck around. You tend to be most active in a forum when you first join. Obviously there are pluses and minuses to this, I mean for every one new Drix there are a dozen new InuyashaOMGIamcRaZys. However, why punish the one good Drix? His new threads are what established him as a strong member and presented a new perspective to the boards.

We have moderators to weed out the InuyashaOMGIamcRaZys, we shouldn?t have rules to discourage the new members that have fresh ideas and perspectives.[/color]

[Semjaza]

I know that I personally wouldn't want to register for a forum that wouldn't let me post my own threads from the start. "Here are some topics, discuss only these" would not make me feel welcome or all that interested.

That's a basic ability in every forum on the internet and to take that away here gives a strong feeling of heirarchy that would make one feel distanced and potentially unimportant, among other things. While I'm not exactly concerned about the specfic psychological consequences of telling xXxAnimeLuvr69xXx that his posts suck, it isn't beneficial to the site as whole.

People here have already complained about a "heirarchy" of sorts here that I feel is currently almost non-existant beyond the expected member vs administration issue that accompanies a site of this nature. There's been a few in this very section that I can remember offhand. This would just strengthen that complaint.

It makes me think of innocent until proven guilty. In essence, this is telling anyone that comes here as a new member that they need to make up for the mistakes of others they have no relation to. It's like some "original sin" they have to make up for just by registering. That's not a good thing. The whole idea of this just strikes me as pretentious. As though this place is so intelligent that it can't let its face be ruined by those who don't prove their worth.

Even if it was presented as a "reward" for being a good member, it's not very enticing. My reward is to get to post my own threads? Other places let you access an arcade or get larger avatars. There's nothing rewarding about getting to post threads like one could on every other message board in existance.

It's easy to say this would be a good thing if you've been here awhile and don't have to worry about it in the slightest. Initially, I'd think it was something that'd be worth the time. Yet, if I go back and remember my beginnings here, it's certainly something that would have been a major turnoff and would subsequently make me feel as though my input wasn't as important as older members, regardless of what the original intentions of this rule were. And when I remember that most of my first posts were in existing threads and not ones I had newly created, I still would have been majorly turned off if this were a rule.

I simply would have not stayed here at all if that was a requirement. I think, potentially, it would turn away far more people than it would ever attract.

If it did become a rule, I would hope these people could at least freely post in the Suggestions forum from the start, so they could at least get help if needed.

And I swear the PM rules thing was suggested several months ago, if not more lol.

[James]

[color=#334366]You're right about the PM rule thing. This thread reminded me of it, is all. In fact, Justin and I had discussed it quite a while ago, but it has yet to be implemented. But this is something we can make as a priority for the new version.

As I said earlier though, I won't be putting the suggested measure in place (no threads for New Members). My sentiments pretty much echo yours, in terms of concerns. I think there are other ways we can approach the situation.[/color]

[Charles]

[quote name='Semjaza Azazel']And I swear the PM rules thing was suggested several months ago, if not more lol.[/quote][center][img]http://img187.exs.cx/img187/1250/crybaby4le.gif[/img][/center]

Okay, now I feel like a total idiot. Sorry for completely wasting everyone's time. O_o;;

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Hmm well the discussion seems to have ended although I must put up my hands and say that reading the first few posts in agreement of disallowing new members the ability to create new threads was not something I was in favour of.

Many of us from V3 will remember that only members [as in those with 500 posts or more] had the ability to upload their own avatars, now how many of us take that ability for granted. It just seems to me that we shouldn't be limiting the abilities of our members because they're new, after all we were all new at some point.

On a side note I do think the PM idea is excellent, reminds me of new Microsoft software where you have to scroll to the end to actually get the [B]I agree[/B] icon to work.[/SIZE]

[Charles]

[QUOTE=Kane][SIZE=1]Hmm well the discussion seems to have ended although I must put up my hands and say that reading the first few posts in agreement of disallowing new members the ability to create new threads was not something I was in favour of.

Many of us from V3 will remember that only members [as in those with 500 posts or more] had the ability to upload their own avatars, now how many of us take that ability for granted. It just seems to me that we shouldn't be limiting the abilities of our members because they're new, after all we were all new at some point.

On a side note I do think the PM idea is excellent, reminds me of new Microsoft software where you have to scroll to the end to actually get the [B]I agree[/B] icon to work.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

Haha, you're one leaf short of a four leaf clover son.

I was willing to acquiesce to the multiple rebuttals in my last post despite the fact that many seemed to just state and restate the same redundant (and faulty) argument. But, if people keep piling it on, I'm going to be forced to go on offense again. I'd rather not close this in case the suggestion becomes applicable at some point, so I'll just issue that as fair warning. Just because the suggestion isn't being used, doesn't mean you're safe from my overwhelming brand of logic. This is especially true when you reply with such an obvious internal contradiction in your post (i.e., using members taking certain features for granted as an argument [I]against[/I] me). Come on. ;)