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[[H8]Wal-Mart]

We all started out here as noobs and some of us still are... and there is NOTHING wrong with that. It just makes finding useful topics very difficult.. it always has and it looks like it always will. So far if you ask a question, your only way to know if the person responding to you has a clue if they know what they are talking about is via post count.. and we all know that is pointless. I know my suggestion will not be taken seriously or considered but I'd like to see what others think anyways.

The main page stays the same with xbox related news.
The tutorials section becomes more well-organized.
We seperate the noob tutorials and rewrite them in a text-book manner so that basic knowledge can be obtained very easily (but not necessarily quickly) but could also be searched through and possibly even owned. Such as having the exact same information as a html document AND a .pdf.
*so this all seems pretty much like it already exists and no real ground breakers or anything... so here's where my real suggestion takes hold.

The forum should be either completely wiped clean or an alternate forum should be set up or something. To gain access to the forum a user will have to take a basic knowledge test that will be completely random. This way the user will have to take the time to learn the basics beforehand. The rankings on the forum would be first obtained by completion of the various difficultys of tests. Then they would be dubbed worthy to give advice and then their post count could actually count for something.

I think the basic testing is the most important.. because nobody really cares about the ranking anyways.. but it has a real shot of keeping the forum less cluttered but not necessarily less users.. just better informed users.

[pepsik]

Nice idea and all but most of the people on the forum are noobs, So they wouldn't have the knowledge to complete the exam and be allowed to post the questions they have. It would decrease the amount of people actually learning anything while those that know, would still know.

[bucko]

So your basicaly saying you don't like invision power board but you like phpbb? Are you mad, converting this database (must be in the GB's) to a phpbb forum would obviously break somewere and most likely lose some post's and threads since the forum started (a few years now).

This would have to be done on a test server/envrionment and when they do it life they would probebly lose some new threads in the transfer process. I don't think you relise how big this forum is, it has over 70 forums to post in and what if somthing goes wrong converting to phpbb?

THE SAYING GOES 'if it aint broke don't fix it'. The tutorials section has just had a face lift a couple of days ago and looks great and I can find stuff I need easy, also newbs should always read the rules and pinned topics before they post.

Some of the tutorials are also in .PDF format. Also did I read correctly, wipe the forum clean? Another mad suggestion.

QUOTE

because nobody really cares about the ranking anyways

Say that to some of the top moderaters and other people I can see this thread turning into a :evil:

This post has been edited by bucko on Aug 26 2004, 08:35 PM

[Silentscream__]

i think that if possible, a new users first 10 or 15 posts should be mod-approved before they are posted. On the vcdquality.com forum, they do this to stop people from signing up to ask stupid questions about where to download illegal stuff, i think it could work here aswell. jus my 2 cents.

[[H8]Wal-Mart]

QUOTE (pepsik @ Aug 26 2004, 08:22 PM)

Nice idea and all but most of the people on the forum are noobs, So they wouldn't have the knowledge to complete the exam and be allowed to post the questions they have. It would decrease the amount of people actually learning anything while those that know, would still know.

 Maybe you missed the part where I was saying that they would have to LEARN before taking the test... that was actually the whole point of the test.

[[H8]Wal-Mart]

QUOTE (bucko @ Aug 26 2004, 08:25 PM)

So your basicaly saying you don't like invision power board but you like phpbb? Are you mad, converting this database (must be in the GB's) to a phpbb forum would obviously break somewere and most likely lose some post's and threads since the forum started (a few years now). This would have to be done on a test server/envrionment and when they do it life they would probebly lose some new threads in the transfer process. I don't think you relise how big this forum is, it has over 70 forums to post in and what if somthing goes wrong converting to phpbb? THE SAYING GOES 'if it aint broke don't fix it'. The tutorials section has just had a face lift a couple of days ago and looks great and I can find stuff I need easy, also newbs should always read the rules and pinned topics before they post. Some of the tutorials are also in .PDF format. Also did I read correctly, wipe the forum clean? Another mad suggestion. Say that to some of the top moderaters and other people I can see this thread turning into a

No I don't even know what phpbb is and don't care so No that's not what I was saying at all. Who said anything about converting at all? oh that's right... you did. But then later when you quoted what I said about wiping the board clean you should have realized that your whole rant about conversion was pointless.

When I talked about making a noob tutorial it would obviously take a lot of time but I think after several revisions.. most of the important facts from the important discussions could be conveyed. Of course nobody could go through all the posts or find all important information but that's the beauty of xbox... there's really not that many new problems or something that is just really strange and rare and really needs to be preserved since all the consoles are basically the same. So forget your converting issue.

I liked your "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" line... mainly because by saying that it's difficult to sort through all the new posts and weed out the noob posts and find what you're looking for, that I'm implying that there is a problem. Maybe nobody caught that. Maybe you don't agree and that's ok. Also, yeah I agree noobs should read rules and pinned topics before they post but they don't... and if my idea were put in place there wouldn't really be noobs.

Yeah SOME of the tutorials are in .pdf format but you missed my point entirely. I was speaking of a "master tutorial" that pretty much explained everything that there is to know and answered all noob faq. It'd be huge and need to be searchable. I was suggesting it not only exist as a page on the site, but be in .pdf format so that it could be owned. People could store it locally and reference it whenever they see fit.

Also, when you got offended when I said nobody cares about rank, that was pertaining to post count. Nobody really does care about it and I really don't think moderators care about post count either but regardless the moderators would still be moderators, their post count didn't earn that for them.

I guess I can see it turning into a flame war too.. but I don't understand why. I know it will never happen but it is my right to suggest. If you'd give it a real though instead of immediately getting mad that someone would like to change something then maybe we could avoid all that. I hope no one took what I have said so far personally. I do not mean to attack or offend anyone. I am just defending my position on the issue that I brought up.

[HSDEMONZ]

Everything suggested here has been suggested at least a dozen times before.

The result is the same.

We will not force users to take a test.

We will not force feed user to have knowledge FIRST before becomes an active poster.

We won't take any extrodinary effrots to duplicate existing or future guides into multiple formats. One is plenty.

We will not restrict or limit the first "x" number of posts a user makes. Some of the best and brightest in this scene have VERY FEW posts. I'm not going to add a system that castrates those people.. nor will I creat a cast system.

.. and there will definitely not be a wipeout of the user DB. (or the post DB.) It's not necessary.

We only require members sign on if they need to search. I don't want people having to sign back on a second time because someone decided to wipe out accounts for some perceived "benefit" when all they need is to search.

Despite what some people might think the see as a huge problem.. the incidents that include asking for warez, illegal files, etc is far less than 1% of all posts. For those posts.. we have an active moderation team to deal with the morons.  They are volunteers, hand picked. But they do an excellent job given the circumstances.

There is no magic wand for dealing with noobs. You cannot get rid of them.. and they will continue to post in the wrong forums.. and make assinine posts.

What bothers me more than a noob that asks where can I get this for the 1 millionth time.. is the member who thinks he's above the other members, and the newbs, by posting anti-noob posts...

What worse.. some noobs make posts in the complain forum.. instead of searching in it and realizing the topic has already been heavily discussed.

I have no idea if the other people in this thread were offended.. but I/we the staff aren't.

All that has been accompished in this thread.. is the the original poster here.. is just as much a noob as the people he claims he'd seek to educate.

Search is your friend. Use it before posting again.

[shanafan]

Let me just squeeze this in..

I think the best idea is to get rid of Newbie Chat, so posters will learn quickly where to post.

Ok, that was it

[HSDEMONZ]

[HSDEMONZ]

...Another thing that won't happen. Despite the Newbie Forum being a mosh pit of themes.. it serves it's purpose.. as a buffer that absrbs alot of crap so the other forums have less garbage to deal with.