What to do when you're New?

[Albion Knight]

What should a new member do to join in the conversation?

If your like me then you have heard almost every conversation/topic that can be thought of about Fable or TLC and even Fable 2.

A good bulk of these have taken place over a month ago. So what is a new member to do in this situation.

1. Bump the old thread
2. Create a new tread of a similar topic
3. Read through the entire site before posting
4. Bugger off we only need five active members.
5. Sit quietly an don't say anything.

Obviously (I hope) the last three were tongue in cheek and the real options are the first two.

On the flip side
If a new person wants to discuss a topic that we projectego veterans have discussed to death, what should we do in response

1. If they bump the old thread leave them be unless we have something we can add
2. If they create a new thread direct them to post in the old thread.
3. If they create a new thread post links to the old thread for more insight
4. If they create a new thread repost our own post from the old thread.

There have been more than a few occasions when I knew there had been a thread on the subject and I either could find it (Or more likely don't bother looking )


Now if they bump an old thread with a spam comment (Off topic/Does not add value to the discussion) I can see informing them of the Anti-Spamming Rules and perhaps how they are considerably more annoying when put in old threads.

I don't want this to become a place where all that is discussed is old ideas but I think there needs to be a better way for new members to join in the Fabley discussion

[Angel]

Well said Todd - good call

Obviously we don't want a flood of one year old threads being resurrected but similarly if someone new wants to start a new topic that has no open thread to discuss it, let's try to be fair and give them a break. Otherwise we risk pushing potential new members away and getting a reputation for being quite cold with newcomers when in actual fact we're just the opposite (I hope!)

+rep Todd

[andythegill]

3 damn it lol, nah good work tho Todd rep+

[Hexadecimal]

For the most part I would think we can give them links to the other threads first off, then if they're all too old and closed they can continue...
however, sometimes there are topics that have been discussed to death and nobody wants to talk about it anymore and that can be tricky... if that person alone is the only person that has anything more to say on the subject, it kind of defeats the notion of a discussion forum and makes it look like a blog... especially when they get frustrated that nobody is replying and start bumping their thread over and over and talking to themselves when the fact is nobody has anything more to say and doesn't care...
so yeah... read old threads and if you have something new and groundbreaking, make a new one if the old one is dead... but not to just to say "I think this is cool" or "why aren't you jerks replying" or "Todd smells funny" or something

[Albion Knight]

It seems the overwhelming consenses (3 to 1 ) is that they should just post a new thread. Well just either put in a link to the old thread or repost some the better posts from it

[Hexadecimal]

Originally Posted by Albion Knight

It seems the overwhelming consenses (3 to 1 ) is that they should just post a new thread.

funny... bumping a dead thread in a thread about bumping dead threads...

well, like I said, I think that should be only if they have something brand spanking new to say (mmm... spanking... )
not just to go or say something that's been said a hundred times if they'd only bothered to check the search function... I mean, we already know that there's going to be a dog, and no, we don't know when the release date is, and yes, we all know Todd smells funny...
it's really not worth making a new thread to bring us this "breaking news"

[Zingo]

The right thing to do is really t search through the forum before posting any new topics or bumping the old ones.

[Angel]

I think the hang up some people may have is finding the "right" search terms to look for what they want...take into account bad spelling, English not being a first language or just using words which are too common so they aren't included in the function and you can have trouble finding what you want...

Or the results return twenty odd threads which may only feature your keyword one time in an unrelated issue and you've wasted all that time without turning up a single useful thing - so you post a new thread and someone who knows precisely where to look shoots you down with a sarcastic "use the search function "...

[Xeon]

Hmmm I just tried to stay off bumping the old threads

[droded]

That was kind of hypocritical Xeon.

[Triz]

I say bump the old one.

[moonfever]

Hmm, there are so many posts, it would take a year to view them all. If the new thread is interesting, I don't see anything wrong with it. As long , as the old thread is really old.

[poopgod350]

ageed with moon

[Lionheart]

Im new and i did bump an old one but got told off