33 replies to this topic

[ompa]

Ok, now this may seem incredulous at first, but bear with me as I explain my thinking. I notice how everyone HATES n00bs, and that they seem to be the the butt-end of alot of jokes and insults. However, no matter how irritating they seem to get, nobody trys to offer a permanent solution other than banning, suspending, or a combination of the two and sending them to NHQ. However, my proposal is this; for all accounts that are sent in, have a seperate board where they can post. Make it so that they cannot post or reply in the normal forums, but only in this one specified area. Here, they can post ideas and such. The goal of this is simple: have one or two people that the administrator believes have tried and are willing to help the people new to the site. They then can proceed to judge the behavior and overall questions of the people that post in the board/forum. If they deem that the particular person can be acceptable to be a part of the NerfHaven community, they can PM the administrator and tell him which of the new people to be admitted. Sure, this may seem ridiculous, because I do not know of the number of people who try to sign up for these forums on a weekly basis. However, for those that are really interested in nerf, they will see the forums and all the helpful and knowledgable people that are present, and will want to join. For those that simply want to post random crap to get themselves banned, they will look elsewhere since it would be too much work for them to sign up, get approved, then go rampaging through the forums only to get banned a few hours later. I also realize that whoever would have to deal with the new incoming people would have to be able to put up with alot of crap as well, but I'm assuming there are a few nice people on the forums currently... I know this idea sounds ridiculous, but what do you guys think? Does it have any merit whatsoever?

~ompa

[MysticFalcon182]

Hm... It sounds like a great idea, letting us not have to bitch at the stupid n00bs as the moderators take care of the one newbie forum.

However, what about those hard-working newbies who do their research, but yet, have to put up with the annoying assholes who plague the newbie forums?



We should also have a social board

~Mystic~

Edit: Rewording... And the smiley face.
Yet another edit: Also, some trolls and asses will purposely get on the good sides of the moderators/administrators of the newbie forums just to get into the main boards and troll away... That dumbass has made six accounts already; who says he won't go to the extreme?

Edited by MysticFalcon182, 28 March 2004 - 01:42 AM.

[rusty]

It sounds okay but how long would the nOObs have to prove themselves in the noob forum before the moderators judged if they were good enough to be in the "grown up" forum?

Another thing is how can someone judge how good a post is if the only responses are "thtas as tpuid qutesion" and "ih tae bush" from all the trolls?

[ompa]

Well, I'm guessing that the administrator would have to choose a person (or people) that would actually enjoy helping the newer people out. Mystic, if they actually do their research, it will probably be quickly noticed, and they would be accepted. Also, think about this from an idiot's point of view; would you really want to spend like 3 days trying to get into the forums simply to get banned an hour later? The work-output ratio just doesn't work. As for how long the process would take? I would guess it would be up to the moderators of the forum.

~ompa

[Blaster]

I think it's a great idea. Even if trolls do manage to get through they'll have to slap themselves for all the work they put into to getting in, and it just won't be worth it to them. If this idea did get through I'd be glad to help browse the "newbie forum" to make suggestions as to who might be a good candidate to make it through.

[IronRhino]

Sounds a bit communist. I had an idea like that once, but then I realized it would be a hell of a lot of work for not much results.

[poopsabe]

how would it be communistic? Its actually more captalistic because hard work gets you somewhere
there are two levels:
one for the vets and people who know what they are doing
and one for the noobs who try to get into the better level

I think it is a great idea but will not work because like some said if you are willing to create 6 names, then will try to make a good impression in the noob level and then put in crap posts

[cxwq]

I do not know of the number of people who try to sign up for these forums on a weekly basis.

20-25 in a typical week.

It's not a bad idea, considered as a temporary measure until Karma is fully implemented. I believe Karma will accomplish much the same thing, real-time.

Zero suggested more or less the same thing you did, but used NHQ as the 'newb forum'. Basically, when someone creates an account here they get an email saying they need to send me a letter explaining why they want to be on NH and linking several posts on NHQ that demonstrate their maturity.

Personally, I think that's more than a little unfair to NHQ, though some of the people there seem to accept that role for their forum. I don't really see NHQ as The Place You Start Out Before Going To NH. It's just a different forum with a different feel and a generally more permissive culture.

Anyway, interesting thoughts.

[ompa]

I realized it would be a hell of a lot of work for not much results.

That really shouldn't be that true, forums usually allow you to choose what forums certain levels of members are allowed to see. All that would be required would be to create a new level of members that people who just apply would belong to. Also, the work that the newer people would have to go through to be accepted would just not be worth getting banned for.

~ompa

[hellsangel]

Thats a pretty good idea and it should work if you could get people to volunteer to patrol the nOOb forums to find people that are really working to become a member.

[MysticFalcon182]

What about making certain boards available to people who've signed up for a while? Like boards in which flame wars occur most often?

~Mystic~

[Formerly Sane]

"I and the other admins thought about a short suspention, but your recent posts have forced us to sentence you to one month as admin of the n00b forum."

[ompa]

Uh... idk if I've been that bad... but works for me. And Mystic, that's basically what I'm talking about.

~ompa

[MysticFalcon182]

My apologies; last reply wasn't clear enough. I think I'm turning into my usual incoherent self... *Screams*

Even after newbies get out of the newbie forum, the rest of the forums should also have restrictions... For example, if an administrator [or Cxwq] notes that newbies frequently flame and troll and well, act like an idiot in a certain board, he [or she] could up the board's restrictions so you'd need to be joined and approved to visit that board.

~Mystic~

Edit: Cxwq, do you have a statistic for how many people actually stay with Nerf over a certain time? I'm curious to find out...

Edited by MysticFalcon182, 29 March 2004 - 07:41 PM.

[Highlander]

I think thats a good idea. How about in order to come to the other board they have to take a test somehow so they couldn't cheat, and if they pass, they would have to have a period where they would be monitered. Just an idea.

[MysticFalcon182]

Well, in my opinion, the newbies shouldn't be able to leave until they meet the time requirement (a set time, say, a couple of days to a week) and are approved by a moderator and/or administrator.

~Mystic~

[ompa]

Yes, a time requirement as well would be ideal, great idea. It would discourage idiots even further if they wanted to troll the forums.

~ompa

[cxwq]

Cxwq, do you have a statistic for how many people actually stay with Nerf over a certain time?  I'm curious to find out...

The only statistics I have are for this site.

Members joined in the 15 months NH has been up: 666

Members joined in the last 90 days: 175
Members joined in the last 30 days: 63
Members joined in the last 7 days: 15

Active: posted or viewed while logged in.

Members who are active during the last 90 days: 318
Members who are active during the last 30 days: 231
Members who are active during the last 7 days: 159

Members who have posted during the last 90 days: 223
Members who have posted during the last 30 days: 144
Members who have posted during the last 7 days: 94

Rudimentary analysis:

During the last 90 days, signups have been relatively constant.

Exactly half of the members who were active during the last 90 days were also active during the last 7 days.

73% of those active during the last 90 days were also active during the last 30 days.

The numbers suggest a relatively small (80-90) core group that increases very slowly, a couple dozen people per month who sign up and stay for a month or two before leaving, and 30-40 people per month who sign up and stay less than a month. I'm extrapolating beyond what the numbers actually demonstrate, but applying my general observations to fit the data. I'm also neglecting the relatively small percentage of members who take frequent extended leaves from the forum.

The members who leave under duress are not counted in these figures.

[MysticFalcon182]

Members joined in the 15 months NH has been up: 666

Aaah!!!!!!!!!! The devil's number!

Anyways... Problems might be a lack of posts on the newbie board. This will then, in turn, cause newbies that would've gotten more into Nerf to get bored and don't try.

Hm... A core group... Let me do some thinking for the time being.

~Mystic~

[hellsangel]

Nothing wrong with 666. If the plan would go through members who have complete access to the site should post some of their simpler ideas for the newbies to reflect on and reply to to see if they deserve to be a member. Sort of like the "test" Highlander was talking about because if their ideas weren't good they would have to wait longer to get more access to the site.

[Langley]

All of this newb forum talk sounds great in theory, but if I had to "prove myself" in order to become a member of a nerf forum, I wouldn't even bother joining. The forum would most likely be counter productive. The only members who would make it in are the members to whom posting on an internet forum is more important than actually acomplishing something significant (like shooting people with foam darts) Meanwhile, people who just want to plan wars, ask simple questions, or sumbit their new ideas will be turned off by the whole system.
This, of coarse, is all just how I think I would feel if I had to prove myself as a member in some forum full of other newbies.
If you really have your heart set on having a newbie forum, though, you could have a forum that post whores, flammers, and "enforcers" could be sent to for short periods of time as punishment.

Edited by Langley, 30 March 2004 - 02:54 PM.

[Talio]

If you really have your heart set on having a newbie forum, though, you could have a forum that post whores, flammers, and "enforcers" could be sent to for short periods of time as punishment.

We already have that, it's called Nerf Headquarters.

[MysticFalcon182]

All of this newb forum talk sounds great in theory, but if I had to "prove myself" in order to become a member of a nerf forum, I wouldn't even bother joining. The forum would most likely be counter productive. The only members who would make it in are the members to whom posting on an internet forum is more important than actually acomplishing something significant (like shooting people with foam darts) Meanwhile, people who just want to plan wars, ask simple questions, or sumbit their new ideas will be turned off by the whole system

Which is the biggest problem, in my honest opinion, with this plan...

Another suggestion would be the GameFAQs karma system...
http://www.gamefaqs..../hboards_2.html

This gives certain members a ranking, or level. You can post a limited amount of messages and create a limited amount of topics for whatever level you are. This prevents trolls (they will only be able to post one topic per day; easy to get rid of...) and stupid n00bs who think they know everything and respond to every single topic there is.

Just some ideas...

~Mystic~

[cxwq]

Our version of Karma will accomplish the same thing in a way that's fundamentally superior since it is more flexible. If a user gets x posts in any y hour period moderated down to -1, they get automatically suspended for z days. Adjust x, y, and z to taste. During the suspension, an admin can take a look at the actual posts and decide if there's any point in letting them come back at all.

This way a newb that's posting useful stuff or valid questions can post as much as they want while an irritating n00b or troll will get their posting privs revoked right quick. If your Karma is high enough your posts will have a +1 bonus to make them 'more visible' to most users. If your Karma is low enough, your posts will have a -1 penalty and will be invis to most users.

[Langley]

Do you vote a -1, 0, or 1? Or are there varying degrees?