Helping New Members

Aeris Gainsborough said:
Hmmm mixing the two ideas would be good now that i think about it...like 5 days or so with only the Final Fantasy topics open and after that if theyve behaved open the entire site for them?
Click to expand...

Amen. Now is that 5 days of their online time or 5 days from their join time? For instance I have been here for 45 days but I've only spent 1 week, 4 days, and 12 minutes online.
 
i would say 2 days of their online time - that should be enough to judge them by ^_^ because 5 days is too short and 5 days of online time is an absurd amount of time :dry: i only have 2 weeks something and ive been a member for 5 months?

and maybe we could still have people to be buddies - or general FF helpers - so that anyone - not just noobs can PM them when they dont know where to put a thread and such.
 
*claps hands* Set it up! Include Forum #5 since it's the intro forum... and then just everything under the Main Series blanket. So that's Forum #5 and everything from Forum #8 to Forum #21. :D
 
See just to finalise it - the idea is we only open the first two sections of the forum to them - 7th heaven inn and all that jazz and FF1-13? and there will be general helpers of FFF - for noobs and experienced players alike?

if so someone (buy that i mean you aztec :P) type it all up and make it sound really intelligent and send it to an admin :P

And these General Helpers names should be in purple - dark purple XD just because Purple pwns...yet it is used nowhere on these forums :sad:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Meh, Darkblade will be by to check this topic at some point. Nice title there, by the way too, BossyBoobs. lol And I'm up for Deep Purple... good freaking band.
 
Well i stole my media teachers nickname XD (horrible cow though she is) because im told i get quite bossy sometimes XD

so who do you think the general helpers should be?

if we got chance to i'd nominate Aztec, Mitsuki, and Rydia.

now that leads to another question - should the admins pick the "general helpers" or should the members vote on it?
 
Aeris Gainsborough said:
looks like he took my advice and went away :) thanks whoever banned him.
Click to expand...
Your welcome.:cool:

As for Aztec's idea, it'd work great I think. I'm not sure if he's brought it up yet as I was focused on mainly the initial post and then banning this Lemmingeton putz, but I'll say it now anyway.

We were part of a forum a few years back where you had to get I think it was only like 25 posts or so to gain access to the Forum General discussion threads and let them focus mainly on the Intro forum and the FF main site. It worked out great and it let the newbie's get mroe aquainted with the site and meet some people gradually before they ventured deeper out.

If we can give it a try, I think it'd limit spam, questions, and definitely confusion overall.
 
Well there would still be questions but instead of flooding threads with them they could ask a general helper person instead - and besides ive noticed that when most people spam its not in any of the main FFs - so if we limit them to the main FFs for about 25-50 posts then theyd have less of a range to spam in and would be caught more quickly and efficiently.
 
Wow, you lot seem incredibly definite on this idea, yet nothing has been set in stone, and already you're giving suggestions as to who would be a helper? I personally don't like the idea of herding people, restricting their access. If I was a lost member, I'd PM a moderator for guidance. I'd tell them what problems I had. If I joined to find my access limited because people thought I was just a newbie, I'd leave. Not to just stick them with few sections to look around in. There's nothing wrong with a general PM, to see how a member is coping. Never have I been on a forum, in all 5/6 years, where I've seen such a system implemented. Not too keen on specific helpers either. The job of helping people should not be left to just a few people, EVERYBODY should be able to help someone if they are stuck.

Not a lot of people can make 25-50 posts alone in an FF section. Even if they appear to be a troublesome member. If anyone in particular spams, flames, and you see it - report or warn them, depending on your status.

You know, PMing a mod or a member does work quite well. If you think chasing after "problem" members is hard work, it is what we do. This whole idea of controlling people..I really dislike it.

Don't mean to be snotty, and I know you all want to help - it's nice to see you guys care about this, but I really do not think this is necessary.
 
hmm... that makes sense, i remember when i started here at FFF, i just posted in the FFX and FFVII sections, as well as the movies etc, i didn't find out about the Rp's stories, spam and all that until... well i consider it recently, so that would be a good idea, but if they wanted to use those sections, it could pose as a problem.
 
I really don't like this idea of restricting where new members can post at all. They need time to learn to navigate the forum and get to know it. Some people that are new are used to forum set ups and know how to post properly, etc...If you only give them a certain amount in the forum to post, how will they ever learn how to get around this forum? I don't like this idea at all, I'm sorry. I agree whole heartedly with Judge Rulia on this. Sorry guys. If we were to restrict new members, that would mean basically taking away part of our jobs as moderators. We're here to help aid and guide new members. I don't want to see this happening, not at all.
 
I'm a new member and the last thing I would want is to not feel welcome by not being allowed to post in certain areas. The idea is to be welcoming IMO... don't do the opposite and scare people away.
 
Even so, the majority of people can't find their way around the site. A little time to get a base set up is not a bad idea at all. And as JR said, it fall unto all of us to help but I really doubt everyone does. I know I send PMs and recieve them pretty frequently from new members. If you're against it, that's fine but honestly I think your "5/6" years on forums probably helped you navigate this one better. It IS intimidating for some new members. And by giving them a base, then allowing them to branch out, it would help them navigate easier. And if you're saying it's not intimidating or that it's better just to cut them loose on these large boards, I think you're underestimating how comfortable you are on the boards now, compared to when you first joined.
 
I think maybe having a post count limit would maybe be a bit too much. How about the "newbie herders" judge when they think that a new member is fit for posting on the main board. This way, it gets the really new members (no forum experience) used to the set up and the ones with experience can post a few times before proving that they aren't n00bs
 
What needs to be done, is for the cut down of the massive amount of topics we have on the main page. It could have been done, but it never happened did it. LOL - you obviously misinterprated what I said about the 5/6 years thing. I said, that in all that time I have been going to forums, never have I seen such a system implemented. I made it quite clear my focus was on that. This has got nothing to do with me being comfortable. I have been on forums as big as this, with many members, and moderators and members have always been on hand to sort out any problems a newbie may have - there has been no need to restrict people's access. El_Nicko doesn't like the idea - how many more people would feel that is a bad thing?

It is our job as moderators to guide these people, not to say - "sorry, stay in here for a bit while we moderate your behaviour, we're looking out for potential spammers you see." and stick these people in a confined area. This is what I see this whole thing as. I really don't see this as an equality thing at all. There'll be some newbies who will genuinely feel as if this is a bad thing.

Every major message board has had it's fair share of spammers, and it has always soldiered on - we should be like that. You're going to get spammers regardless. We even have current regular members spamming from time to time.

Pooley: Newbie herders? Even that I think is a bit too much.
 
That was just a name that was given to the moderators or whatever who'd watch over the section in question a few pages back.
Not by me by the way :P

I suppose looking at it that way, it probably would scare a lot of people off. I suppose it's not really our place to decide whether or not something like this gets implemented. And as you said, it is basically what a moderator has to do already
 
Judge Rulia said:
What needs to be done, is for the cut down of the massive amount of topics we have on the main page. It could have been done, but it never happened did it. LOL - you obviously misinterprated what I said about the 5/6 years thing. I said, that in all that time I have been going to forums, never have I seen such a system implemented. I made it quite clear my focus was on that. This has got nothing to do with me being comfortable. I have been on forums as big as this, with many members, and moderators and members have always been on hand to sort out any problems a newbie may have - there has been no need to restrict people's access. El_Nicko doesn't like the idea - how many more people would feel that is a bad thing?

It is our job as moderators to guide these people, not to say - "sorry, stay in here for a bit while we moderate your behaviour, we're looking out for potential spammers you see." and stick these people in a confined area. This is what I see this whole thing as. I really don't see this as an equality thing at all. There'll be some newbies who will genuinely feel as if this is a bad thing.

Every major message board has had it's fair share of spammers, and it has always soldiered on - we should be like that. You're going to get spammers regardless. We even have current regular members spamming from time to time.

Pooley: Newbie herders? Even that I think is a bit too much.
Click to expand...

lol Ok, first off I don't know if you realise your post came off as a little hostile, but it did. We're friends so I don't really expect that you're mad or anything. But I can tell you severly disagree and that's ok. But let me just make myself clear, so we both understand. I got what you meant about the 5/6 years on various forums. But that still means you have 5/6 years of experience on various forums. I got your meaning but I went another way with it.

Secondly, you're right. I don't want to "confine" members and restrict them from posting. THat's why I was against the "newb section" Aeris suggested. I don't want to put the site on lockdown because I don' think that's fair to new members. I also think it would detract from the general interest in these forums. But if we "locked" the new people into forums that are teh core of the site anyhow (Final Fantasy), that's not really detracting from their experience at the forums. At least not in the beginning. Since this is the FINAL FANTASY Forums, I really don't see them being confined to just the FF forums as a bad thing. It'll give them time to get used to the site and managing topics... and then the rest of the site will be opened up. And 50 posts is not a lot. I got that in my very first day here. But 50 posts was enough for me to get the gist of the forums.

Again, this isn't to punish new people, it's to help them. And people ARE getting lost. So you can argue that it's the moderators jobs to help them... but people are still getting confused. And I agree with you, it is a lot of the mods job to help members in any way they can. And I'm not saying they aren't... but you're not clairvoyant. You don't know which members need help and which don't. So if they're here to post about FF anyhow, why not just let them get settled for a few posts in that area... then let them go off onto the entire site. And if they are getting lost and confused, it would be nice of us to help them, don't you think?
 
We'll have to see what the other administrators and staff think about the idea.
 
I think it's a good idea and on the topic, I propose a sticky thread in the Seventh Inn forum called "Newbie Adoption Agency". It's worked well in another forum here. A regular member could adopt a new member and could tell them the rights and wrongs of the forums as well as anything else they need to ask.

What do you guys think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top