How to help first-time posters

[Domski]

Nice spot of editing.

Group hug everyone and let's get back to being nice to everyone

It is the season of good will after all!!!!

Dom

 

[schielrn]

I haven't been around much in the past few months, but BOY has the lounge taken a spark of interest with all the topics. Seems like things have gotten a little stricter on some senses, but I still like the laid back style of the board as well.

I look first for unanswered threads, then bumped ones (one post with reply by OP). Lastly I'll have a browse through the rest to see who's replied, if it's one of the gurus I'll generally leave it be otherwise I might have a look to see if I can suggest anything. Other than that I'll have a browsed through threads to see what I can learn.

Dom

Like the unanswered posts, this should also be a shortcut or option to filter on. It could probablt replace the unanswered posts option because an unanswered post only contains:

Threads with only posts in it by the OP.

I once found a relatively simple solution for a problem, someone had bumped 3 times and it kept falling through the cracks and it wasn't necessarilly worded that bad either.

 

[Joe4]

I haven't been around much in the past few months, but BOY has the lounge taken a spark of interest with all the topics. Seems like things have gotten a little stricter on some senses, but I still like the laid back style of the board as well.

The rules and Moderation enforcement has not changed. There just seem to be more instances of people attacking, belittling, or disrespecting others lately. We have never tolerated that.

Years ago, there was an original "Lounge" which was closed down because of that kind of behavior (which is why this is "Lounge 2.0"). So it is not a new problem.

 

[diddi]

leaving it to the gurus is a great way to miss out on some really good hints. there are particular gurus whose posts i always look at just to see how they do things. sometimes i put in my 2-peneth worth, but often it is outside my skill set so its better to gracefully disappear without a post.

@mods
thanks for restoring this very engaging thread. it was such a shame to see censorship in the lounge (as was it a shame that censorship had to be invoked in the first place with this and another thread).

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

It really is a pity when these threads go the wrong way. I was especially disappointed when this one did, since the intention here is to discuss ways of making the forum experience more pleasant for newbies. But over-all this post shows how passionate we all are about our forum, and how important the ethos of the board is to us.

But back on topic. I had a chat with the forum mods and admin and they have given me the tumbs up to post this sticky, 'Help others by having a helpful signature'. I see there are plenty of members that already have a helpful signature, but I hope this will encourange others to do the same. I'm not suggesting that we all have the exact same signature, really this just exists for those that like this particular format. I hope this goes some way to improve the quality of posts in our forums.

 

[arkusM]

Jon one of your links reminded me that it would be nice to have a Google search box built right into the forum page, that would search this site only.

Not sure how muh of your soul you need to give to google in order to have this option, though I feel that google own more of me than I do.... (search engine, gmail, calander, picasa, reader.... yikes)

 

[MrKowz]

Another thought is to make some small indication (different font color, small icon, or something similar) on a post if there has been a reply by an MVP. This can benefit the forums in two ways:

1. For people who are helpers, it gives us an idea where we can focus our attention, as MVPs more often than not are able to find a solid solution that is more effecient than a non-MVP. I know that for myself, if I go into a post and I see an MVP in there, I tend to leave it alone (unless I think I can provide a better solution)
2. For those who post, it allows them to search for a topic and get good answers (and explanations) easier by being able to narrow down the posts they look in to those that MVPs post in.

Maybe since an MVP has purple text as their name, make the "new post" icon a light purple for no replies since last visit, dark purple for new replies since last visit.

However, I do understand the other side of this idea. MVPs do not always provide the most effecient, or "best" solutions; and many times the non-MVPs come up with outstanding solutions in posts that MVPs don't bother looking in. This would be up to the individual to ask themselves, "am I satisfied looking for just MVP solutions, or could there be something better out there"

 

[VoG]

Sorry Keith but I disagree. For a start a new poster may well think that an MVP is a Member of Parliament in Venezuela. Also MVPs don't always offer the best solutions (generally they do but not always, at least as far as my postings are concerned). I also think that this would discourage non-MVPs from posting and could create an elitist atmosphere.

This type of discussion (to do with thread titles and so on) has arisen numerous times on another forum that I frequent (www.pcadvisor.co.uk) and despite posting forum rules and so on new posters just enter "Heeelp!" as their title and "Computer not working. Please offer fix. This is extremely urgent" as the body text. As Peter_SSs said earlier, I often find these the more interesting threads to read and possibly respond to.

 

[Joe4]

Yes, the thing to remember that a MrExcel MVP and a Microsoft MVP are two very different things. A handful of us MrExcel MVPs are self-proclaimed glorified hacks (including yours truly!)

So some of my solutions may use brute force methods, while there may be other much more elegant solutions out there. What I know, I typically know very well, but there are limits to my knowledge.

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Jon one of your links reminded me that it would be nice to have a Google search box built right into the forum page, that would search this site only.

Not sure how muh of your soul you need to give to google in order to have this option, though I feel that google own more of me than I do.... (search engine, gmail, calander, picasa, reader.... yikes)

You can build your own and it costs nothing. In fact you can earn money from it if you have adsense. Google Custom Search Engine here.

I have a google CSE on my website (about the only thing on my website that works). It filters results to only the websites that I consider worth it. But you can set one up yourself exactly the way you want it.