Idea to help educate new members
It's almost daily that I see a thread get locked down or censored on the General Talk and Anabolic Steroids forums.
Most times it appears to be a rather new account from a person that failed to read/know the rules of the site.
I'm not gonna lie; when I first signed up, I didn't read the rules. Luckily, when I first joined it was mainly to gain info (rather than share) so I just read posts for months. By the time I finally did read the rules, I had already known them by observing the mistakes from others. This probably isn't the best way to go about knowing the site's rules.
I don't know the best way to go about ensuring everyone knows the site rules entirely when signing up/before posting, but I did have an idea that could possibly help:
(Now if what i'm thinking has already been proposed or something similar is already in effect, keep in mind I signed up quite some time ago and I've forgotten how the sign up process went...)
So what I was thinking is that before a new account can be fully completed, the user would have to manually acknowledge the fact that they have read the site rules. Now I know everyone will just check the 'YES' box to expedite the process... But, upon confirmation, the user will now have to answer a very brief questionnaire. Nothing excessive; maybe three to five test questions regarding the most statistical common mistakes new accounts make. Questions could (and should) be as easy as multiple choice and/or true or false type questions. I'd assume the user would have to answer all (or at least most) questions correctly before completion of their account. If the user did not pass the short quiz, the option to read the site rules and regulations would be offered again. Then the user would proceed back to the quiz again (possibility with different questions this time?).
Yes, I know users could guess their way through the quiz or keep testing till they finally complete it through the process of elimination, but at least the exposure of those questions could get the person thinking (and hopefully provoke them to read the rules before their fist post).
Something to note though, this would only help new user accounts, not currently valid accounts. But most of the site violations I notice seem to occur from newer user accounts.
Also, sometimes I notice when someone makes one of these common mistakes, there seems to be a bandwagon barrage that follows from members who are tired of new users constantly making these mistakes over and over. I understand their frustration but this wave of negativity may scare away a new member, and only adds to the cloud of 'hate' that sometimes looms over eRoids.
Better educated (new) members and less bandwagon negativity could only be good for the progression of the site!
(Ideas for possible quiz questions: source talk in open forums, payment discussions, advice without stats, shipping discussions, etc...)
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The fact that you spent your first months scrolling is a testament to you bro, I did the same thing when I first came a board. By doing that you get a feel of how this works
...but when given the choice between quality and quantity of membership I would choose quality... This site is a privelage and many of the policies here are in place to keep this a FREE site. WE could definitley weed out the tourists by adding a subscription rate but thus far admin is against it... So it goes like this, laziness and compulsiveness are not great qualties for this lifestyle so a good spanking juuuuust may be what is needed for some to get on track and if you a run off by that then maybe this isn't for you
whilst agree with the approach the likely hood is that people wont sign up or will not bother. But the main overhead is someone needing to check the responses....although one can automate that I guess.
I guess its about the effort of banning someone versus the effort of having the signup overhead.
I wouyld suspect the board would lose many potential members if it was too laboriious?
I do think it should be automated. That would definitely save a lot of hassle.
Banning someone could be quicker in the short run but a little leg work now could save more time eventually.
As for the complexity of it, it should be very simple (practically fool proof). The goal is to just get the idea planted in their mind.
And yes, any complexity (whether simple or difficult) may discourage some potential members from joining but being 'scolded' from multiple members for committing an infraction unintentionally may just as well cause a person to leave the site also.
But I don't know, it was just a thought.