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Ban "Newbies" from using HTML :)
- Thread starter jaw04005
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Some of the new members are fine, look at the programming forum for good examples of new member posting. But if you look in the iPhone forums for example many of the threads are full of 'LOL' posts and other bad things, I've always like MR for the lack of those kind of posts.
A solution could possibly be to have subforum moderators, maybe it would reduce the overall consistency of moderation, but it works well on Arstechnica (but maybe because it is more geeky), but it would allow more moderators to be added to the iPhone forum (for example) to try and bring up the posting standard.
I see the potential in the idea, but wouldn't it be hard to moderate a dozen more moderators?
Seriously, they would all require training and Arn (and whoever else chooses the mods) would have to be able to find a great deal of "mod-worthy" individuals who also happen to WANT to do it. Seems like an uphill battle. 
I think the moderating staff does a pretty good job right now handling the workload, but we do not read every post. We do, however, read every post report that comes in, so please report stuff that violates the forum rules and we'll take care of it.
The issue, though, seems to be with posting styles and/or attitudes that aren't necessarily against forum rules but some people find irritating. And that's a tough one to address...we can't and don't want to play Miss Manners and force everyone to post in a certain way that we deem to be the only acceptable one.
So adding mods wouldn't accomplish much without revisions to the forum rules, and I'm not sure what those revisions could be anyway. I think the best thing to do is to try to set "good" examples with our own posting styles and the culture of the forums will help guide folks in the right direction. That, and report the bad stuff.
The issue, though, seems to be with posting styles and/or attitudes that aren't necessarily against forum rules but some people find irritating. And that's a tough one to address...we can't and don't want to play Miss Manners and force everyone to post in a certain way that we deem to be the only acceptable one.
So adding mods wouldn't accomplish much without revisions to the forum rules, and I'm not sure what those revisions could be anyway. I think the best thing to do is to try to set "good" examples with our own posting styles and the culture of the forums will help guide folks in the right direction. That, and report the bad stuff.
That's true, the staff does do a good job. However, I've noticed lately that the mods disappear en masse at once, and bad posts stay up for a number of hours at times (although this could be because I frequent MR at odd hours
). Perhaps a shift system? JK. The issue, though, seems to be with posting styles and/or attitudes that aren't necessarily against forum rules but some people find irritating. And that's a tough one to address...we can't and don't want to play Miss Manners and force everyone to post in a certain way that we deem to be the only acceptable one.
So adding mods wouldn't accomplish much without revisions to the forum rules, and I'm not sure what those revisions could be anyway. I think the best thing to do is to try to set "good" examples with our own posting styles and the culture of the forums will help guide folks in the right direction. That, and report the bad stuff.
Yeah policing tones and manners is hard to do. I think that if we want a community-wide change, the best thing to do is to ignore posts which we find rude (but not in violation of the rules) and the poster will eventually realize that using large font, every color in the rainbow, and off color images isn't appropriate.
Either that or they'll post in ever-more-obnoxious ways in order to draw attention to themselves.
I'm sure that will happen for a little while, but they'll soon tire themselves out and give up. It's almost like a child who starts whining for candy in a grocery store. You're supposed to just leave them there and let them get it out of their system. They'll figure it out before long.
I'm fairly new to MR. I'm getting close to the number of posts required to post in PSRI, so I thought I would post here too, to bump the count up by one (ha ha). I do see the need to set guidelines on posting etiquette, but new members are not going to want to read them all at first. They probably want to play around in the forum for awhile and get to know that it suits them before investing much time learning manners. I also think people resent being diciplined by strangers. They would probably be more receptive after they have visited a few times and get acquainted with other posters. A better way to indoctrinate members about "rules," without overwhelming them initially and possibly turning them off to MR, is to have posting "tips" appear as banners occasionally interleaved among the posts. The downside is that members who already know the rules will get tired of seeing these tips, unless there is a way to make them appear only when someone has, say, fewer than 50 or 100 posts. Also, the information would be more effective if it encouraged what people should do rather than discouraged what they should not do.
Can they just give the n00bs a limit, like they can do bold/italics but can't make the size bigger?
We can't do that. New members regularly bring new questions to our forums, and they often join MacRumors in order to ask those questions. If duplicate threads are part of the price we pay, we'll pay.
However, we have taken a step forward, by trying an improved searching system that may help people find previously answered questions more easily. See the Extended Search Options thread for details.
I feel this way too.
In my experience, this has little to do with being new. You can easily get blasted by members who have been around for years for something like this. It's attitude, not forum experience.
What about moderation all first posts? If they do something stupid, such as big bold fonts or Comic Sans, they can get a PM from a mod explaining why their post was edited or up for deletion. That'd make it easier to pick up spam, and it might help educate people on MR etiquette.
Yay? Nay?
Yay? Nay?
If the idea goes up for consideration, my hand is up to be a '1st post' mod. I'm finishing the final year of secondary school in a weeks time, and when i'm not smashed, i'm going to be sitting around doing nothing. At least here I can do something somewhat constructive
If the idea goes up for consideration, my hand is up to be a '1st post' mod. I'm finishing the final year of secondary school in a weeks time, and when i'm not smashed, i'm going to be sitting around doing nothing. At least here I can do something somewhat constructive
You sound charming.
I'm a newbie. I know very little about quite a lot, and I find MacRumors really helpful. I was reading the forum for at least 6 months before I even signed up. I like how patient and willing to help people with 'time up' seem to be. Thanks guys. And dont shun the newbies. One day I may be a demi-goddess...
This is where she replies to tell you she's 14, you dirty old pervReally?
Hello there, how you doin'?
This is where she replies to tell you she's 14, you dirty old perv
Poo!
I didn't think of that!
I'm not 14. But maybe *I'm* the dirty old perve
perhaps with your account picture you shouldn't make those remarks
I know not all newbies are evil people who should be shunned; I was once a newbie here, and i am still a newbie in other forums.
The problem is the bogans of the world who go to forums and start spamming and trolling all over the place. I find them to be a pain in the forums, myself, and I'm sure others will agree.
I'm not suggesting someone goes and completely re-writes any first posts made by new members, but for them to be read by a moderator. I reckon the job will be easy, because most of the time, they will go though with no editing needed (I imagine your first post here would fit into this category), but there will be some who decide no-one will read their posts unless they are in bold and bright red. It's always the stupid minority who ruin it for the intelligent majority.
When you see how many posts there are on this forum and how many moderators are around at a given time, then this idea is not so easy after all, along with everything else... and the word 'bogan' is not used by anyone outside Aus and NZ.
I love boobs. I just don't see why so many of you have a problem with them. Boobs are great.
Oh, noobs.
How about a sub-forum for new users? It could contain threads on the rules, etiquette and other important information. If it were there, I bet many would avail themselves of it. The others will do as they wish regardless.
Oh, noobs.
How about a sub-forum for new users? It could contain threads on the rules, etiquette and other important information. If it were there, I bet many would avail themselves of it. The others will do as they wish regardless.