@Daniel I was just attempting to reply to yet ANOTHER new member who has—after just joining today—immediately posted work in General Writing that they want critiqued. I only just realised that your 'Rules for New Members' option is quite well hidden now. Is there any chance, instead of tucking it away under "Help" and "Important Information," you might go back to making it obvious for a new member? A new member is unlikely to choose "Help" unless they're in difficulty ...which they don't think they are, until somebody points out they haven't read the Rules yet! And "Important Information" isn't really specific enough to sent them there either, at least not before they do something else first. In fact, even when you get there, the Rules bit pertaining to new members is well hidden. So many of them happily join the throng, post their stuff, then get whacked back. Not a good start. I can't remember exactly how you had it set up before, but I do remember that it was obvious to a new member that they had to read these rules before doing anything. It's no longer obvious at all. Maybe if you could make a menu bar heading entitled "New Members" or something like that, which will catch their eye? Put the immediately relevant information in easily accessible form under that heading: 1) they need to be on the forum for 14 days, 2) they must post at least 20 times 3) they must make at least 2 constructive critiques on the Workshop before they can post their own work. Then direct them to read the Rules, which cover what and how to post, what is acceptable behaviour and what is not, etc. ........... By the way, choosing the Frequently Asked Questions prompt under "Important Information" yields an 'error' page...
Or perhaps make a sticky thread of the rules / FAQ that's on top of every room or at least in General Writing and / or New Member Introductions since those two are probably the ones most visited by new members?
I'd say include these, by all means. But I think there needs to be something incredibly obvious linked to New Members on the Community page menu bar—because we can't assume that new members will go anywhere in particular. I know it was ages before I looked at New Member Introductions, and then I never actually did one myself because they're all so ...hi, I'm so and so... I know when I started, the first place I went to was 'novels' in the Workshop, because that was what interested me most. However, due to the incredibly clear signposting on the old website, I had already seen and read the Rules and knew I couldn't post there yet.
When I joined last year, I received an automatic PM with a welcome and some basic rules. Do these still get sent, or have they been lost in the site changes? If new members do receive these messages and still aren't aware of the rules, then I suppose there's no way to make them notice.
Maybe that PM should be flashier? Like "Hello Pilgrim! Welcome to the Forums. Don't be a dick and check the rules before posting. Thanks and have fun!" Or not...? In all seriousness, it's a bit of a nuisance, but it doesn't seem like a huge problem either. Some people just don't bother or they hope to get away with it. Best we can do is tell 'em to please check the rules first, kthxbye. No whacks. Or just ignore the posts, which I tend to do... It might be a rocky start, but it could be worse.
i agree with all of the above... they need to be on their own at the top of the page, not buried below... and displayed in flashing neon, or some other 'can't avoid seeing it' fashion...
No matter how obvious you make the placement of the rules, a substantial percentage of new members will not read them, or will pretend they didn't.
of course that's true, cog... but making them more prominent, harder to miss will certainly cut down on the number of new members who will read them, but don't see them because they're hidden, instead of easy to see immediately on entering the site...
All new members must streak through a bookstore before posting anything. That's what y'all made me do. Now I'm banned from Barnes & Noble.
Well, I'm not sure what happens when somebody joins up just now, but if nobody sends a message telling them otherwise, new members might not even realise there ARE rules that apply only to them. They sure are hidden at the moment. Took me a while to find them, and I know what I'm looking for. Of course there are some who will ignore the rules for new members, but right now the problem isn't ignoring them, but FINDING them.
When I signed up and introduced myself in the New Member Introductions section, one of the moderators gave me a link to the rules. I assume this is the protocol for all new members. BTW, what is a PM?
Yes, that is the protocol. People don't always introduce themselves in the New Member Section, though, so it's not a sure thing at all, and even when they do, they often fail to click the links we give them. A "PM" is a private message. Intra-forum email, so to speak. That's not the verbiage you'll see on this forum, though. This is a Xenforo™ forum where the word you will see is conversation.
