A Sticky for Frequently Made Suggestions

I think it would be helpful to have a sticky in this forum for suggestions that are made frequently and which have simple answers.

For example, people are always coming in and suggesting new forums. The answer is always "Start talking about it in the forum it most fits into now, and if there's enough interest, we'll create a forum" OR "Sounds good, but not worth a worth a whole forum. Start a thread and maintain it and let's see where it goes."

Having a sticky with basic explanations like this could reduce confusion and prevent more new users from being burned at the stake for making the same suggestions over and over.

And maybe we need a sticky for this suggestion?

Would only work if people would actually read the stickies. Which we all know doesn't always happen.

Originally Posted by Carnage

Would only work if people would actually read the stickies. Which we all know doesn't always happen.

Ah, but having a sticky would mean that when someone posts a very good idea, but it falls into one of the above categories with an easy answer, rather than a) explaining it all over again or b) yelling at them because we don't feel like explaining it again, we nicely tell them "Great idea, please RTF... S?"

A FAQ is the perfect place to put questions like this. But a question for all of you, how many people actually read the forum FAQ?

I don't imagine too many...

Originally Posted by Derek

A FAQ is the perfect place to put questions like this. But a question for all of you, how many people actually read the forum FAQ?

I don't imagine too many...

Good point. I just visited the forum FAQ - can't say I'd ever looked at it before, although I believe I've seen most of it posted elsewhere at one time or another.

However, If the problem is that users aren't reading the FAQ in the first place then perhaps the FAQ *isn't* the perfect place for questions like this.

What I've seen done effectively on other boards is a sticky (often with coloured text to stand out more, I don't know if vbulletin can do that) that clearly states "READ THIS BEFORE POSTING". Having one of these for each forum (Hot Deals, Freebies, BST, etc) explaining what that forum is for, rules of conduct, and whatever would provide users specific information to what they're about to do (post a useless thread) rather than expect them to navigate through an FAQ every time they think to post something.

When individual problems come up, temporary stickies dealing with those particular issues are used. I've seen Ryan do this very effectively when Gmail contests were overrunning the Freebies forum. A quick sticky with "GMail Contests = Banned" stopped things pretty quickly.

I know Stickies / FAQ's / etc have had their share of problems on the board, but I think effective use of them could prevent a lot of the newbie-bashing that has been happening by providing said newbie's with clear expectations from the community in an obvious and easily accessible place.

Originally Posted by canook

I know Stickies / FAQ's / etc have had their share of problems on the board, but I think effective use of them could prevent a lot of the newbie-bashing that has been happening by providing said newbie's with clear expectations from the community in an obvious and easily accessible place.

The problem you run into is that some people just can't be bothered to read anything. No matter how blatant.

You could pop up a full page disclamer and they would gladly click the OK button without reading a word and then precede to post their for sale thread in the hot deals forum.

People are too lazy when it comes to messages.

Originally Posted by Carnage

The problem you run into is that some people just can't be bothered to read anything. No matter how blatant.

You could pop up a full page disclamer and they would gladly click the OK button without reading a word and then precede to post their for sale thread in the hot deals forum.

People are too lazy when it comes to messages.

Too true. But you can't use that as an excuse not to try.

If an honest, well-meaning user sees a message that says "READ BEFORE POSTING" they will do it. They will, most likely, even follow what it says.

The kiddiez will not, but we will then be completely right and justified in smacking them upside the head (figuratively speaking).

The majority of the posting members of this board (and new members as they come along) would like to work within the expectations of the community. Why hide what those expectations are?