CptKipling,
I think the problem
is, that no matter how many things we can put anywhere, whether that be here in the newbie thread, in a Newbie FAQ,
or in the Reference Library, there are going to be people who are not willing to read anything!
That's a big part
of the problem. The people who are coming in and expecting us to start rewriting the whole forum just for them,
simply aren't WILLING to go back and read ANY of what is already available. And the more information that we make
available, the more we are wasting our time!
Of course there are different aspects of this problem. It is
obvious sometimes that the people posting these redundant threads are simply trying to accumulate points. In that
case there is a solution that every forum member can exercise; that is, giving the thread poster a negative
reputation hit.
If the poster is in fact whoring for points, he'll soon realize that the points that are
subtracted by his receiving a negative reputation hit will FAR outweigh any points he may have hoped to gain by
posting the thread.
This is one solution that the moderators have discussed.
But in the case of someone
innocently postng something that has been discussed, even many times before, this can be an unduly harsh
punishment.
We would also like to avoid the possibility of recipients of negative reputation hits trying to
retaliate against those who dealt them those hits by giving negative hits in return. Such behavior would be dealt
with even more harshly. Anyone who receives a negative reputation hit that they feel they didn't deserve should
contact a moderator.
I used to subscribe to the theory that, "There are no stupid questions.....", and I still
do to some extent. But when I see this same question being asked two or three times in the course of a one or two
week period, I come to realize that the people asking these questions must not know how to use the search function.
I was never much for answering a question with "Try doing a search!", but I'm becoming more inclined to go that
route.
But there are some questions that I don't feel deserve to be answered AT ALL, because they are just
such obvious examples of laziness or points whoring!
So another one of the options that has been discussed is to
simply delete these threads! And then, after keeping track of who has been posting frivolous threads, banning or
otherwise punishing the offender if the behavior persists.
It's a safe bet that there will always be green
newbies coming in and asking questions that have been asked hundreds of times before. I think that the large
majority of these questions can be answered by using the search function or reading the various reference sources
that SHOULD be obvious to anyone.
We've just always tended to be nice to newbies, and haven't said things like,
"Use the *&$%#$%@ SEARCH ENGINE YOU &%$#$& !!!!!
Maybe that doesn't have to change. Perhaps we can still be
nice to the TRULY green newbies. But the guys who have been around here for a few weeks, or a month or more, who
STILL seem to be posting redundant or frivolous crap, deserve to be b!tch-slapped.
And if that doesn't stop them,
harsher measures can be taken.
Believe me, I read each and every post, and if I see a member who is posting
frivolous or redundant garbage AFTER being warned, whether that warning came from a member or a moderator, I will
not hesitate to bring the hammer down!
Oscar
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