Padded Room

Originally Posted by HonestJohn

Split useful part of the thread back into General. Ironically I think being in the trash kept alot of random posters out.


The technical aspect of implementing it is not the problem, it's easy. My issue with a probationary group is that we have many new users who are already established airsofters, especially in other countries, who sign up to participate in a thread right away - as many of us do on other boards, you browse and if you find a discussion you want to be a part of, you signup and post.

I always have a keen dislike for penalizing the good users for the actions of a few problem ones - it's why we have a gun registry. It's easy to realize the benefits of a system like that, but you won't know who you're shutting out. Given that we are now one of the largest english airsoft websites in the world, instituting a policy locking people out could be quite frustrating to the community.

My opinion.

More moderators, in the true sense of the word. If "probationary" users wish to post in boards that are otherwise closed to them, their posts can be moderated. Moderators can be set up to ONLY moderate posts created by that particular group - most of the assholes won't bother because their posts will never be seen by the public. The good ones get approved.

I'm sure you can find a half-dozen or so post moderators to handle the job.

Originally Posted by Switch_Blade

What about a system where people can post anything they like, but if that post shows that the user is unfamilliar with airsoft and the rules, etc. Then moderators put that post in the Mudroom, where the user must read the FAQ, even scroll through it, almost like those Microsoft agreements before posting again. Also there could be people designated to answer the questions in the mudroom that have shown they are able to deal with new comers. This way people who join and know what they are talking about can just post away, but those who haven't read the rules and just start asking stupid questions are sent to the mudroom.

Actually, there's merit here too. You can enable the ability for a specific group to REPLY to threads without being able to post NEW threads. Therefore, you could have a select group who are "authorized" to reply to mudroom questions, while keeping loudmouths out.

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by HonestJohn

My issue with a probationary group is that we have many new users who are already established airsofters, especially in other countries, who sign up to participate in a thread right away - as many of us do on other boards, you browse and if you find a discussion you want to be a part of, you signup and post.

I see and agree with that point.

I probably wasn't very clear in presenting my original idea, but I would still leave it open and DEMOTE a new user to the mud room should they appear 'not to get it'. They would not be promoted out of the mud room until they demonstrated sufficent motivation to seek out the answers that are found in the FAQs. Current moderators who trash threads due to these kinds of posters, as they are easily identifiable, could send those particular threads and users to the mud room instead of the trash. Not everything in the trash is necessarily trash (now I am a garbage picker...). This would allow the good users, as you call them, who don't have issues to continue to enjoy the benefits of instant activation and membership, while minimizing the impact of those who need more assistance in finding their way around this sport we know and love...

This would also help first time users learn about airsoft without antagonizing the membership who really don't want to see threads titled "What AEG should be my first gun?" or "Can I use a Cambodia Tire Soft Air gun at an airsoft game?".

[MMMiles!]

Now those are some interesting ideas I'd consider... demotion of users or simply moderate posts of new users until they are upgraded.

It's more labour intensive, for sure, but both ideas have merit

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by HonestJohn

Now those are some interesting ideas I'd consider... demotion of users or simply moderate posts of new users until they are upgraded.

It's more labour intensive, for sure, but both ideas have merit

It could be a little more labour intensive, however, consider the degree of labour involved in moderating these kids now? I think we'd be shifting the workload to the front end, rather than the backend of dealing with what amounts to a problem that is really hard to mitigate - users who either are incapable of research, refuse to do it, or, actually don't have the skills to do so yet...

And then there are those who are just shit disturbing and we already deal with those through temp and perma-bans. Those tools still remain available when all else fails.

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

I probably wasn't very clear in presenting my original idea, but I would still leave it open and DEMOTE a new user to the mud room should they appear 'not to get it'.

One issue here... I believe granting moderator access to allow them to move users to a specific group (demoting someone to the Mudroom group) requires granting administrative priviledges for "adminster users and groups" which is global, meaning you can't allow an administrator to administrator only CERTAIN groups...In other words, if you grant a moderator access to move a user to mudroom group that moderator would also have access to move themselves or others to the admin group, or any other private groups. I'm quite sure I saw a hack to modify this default behaviour, though.

EDIT - And if I didn't see the hack, it would be pretty easy to code in an "if" statement to check the group membership (mudroom moderator) and allow only access to administer the "mudroom group"

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by MadMorbius

One issue here... I believe granting moderator access to allow them to move users to a specific group (demoting someone to the Mudroom group) requires granting administrative priviledges for "adminster users and groups" which is global, meaning you can't allow an administrator to administrator only CERTAIN groups...In other words, if you grant a moderator access to move a user to mudroom group that moderator would also have access to move themselves or others to the admin group, or any other private groups. I'm quite sure I saw a hack to modify this default behaviour, though.

uh... I like cheese.

(translation: wtf did you just say, sorry, I'm vbulletin challenged)

[Gryphon]

I like this concept. I'd proposed this to Miles some time ago but was told this had been tried once before with less than satisfying results. If that's the case, what will be different this time around?

[Scarecrow]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

I like this concept. I'd proposed this to Miles some time ago but was told this had been tried once before with less than satisfying results. If that's the case, what will be different this time around?

Perhaps it didn't quite come across in translation... notice I had to reapproach the concept a couple times to get it across...

[Vivisector]

If I may interject momentarily...

Another board I am a mod on has a group set up for newbies. They are restricted to not opening any new threads until they have reached 20 posts. It seems to have weeded out a lot of the "Hi, i'm new here" and "how do I do this?" threads and forces them to search for their own answers. Perhaps this could help?

[Mantelope]

Originally Posted by Vivisector

If I may interject momentarily...

Another board I am a mod on has a group set up for newbies. They are restricted to not opening any new threads until they have reached 20 posts. It seems to have weeded out a lot of the "Hi, i'm new here" and "how do I do this?" threads and forces them to search for their own answers. Perhaps this could help?

I'd suspect that here it would lead to a ton of thread revivals with things like "lol" or "tahts a niec gunnn"

[Vivisector]

Originally Posted by harleyb

I'd suspect that here it would lead to a ton of thread revivals with things like "lol" or "tahts a niec gunnn"

Our solution to that was to give the user a warning and lock the thread.

This approach takes quite a few moderators to implement, however.

[Gryphon]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

Perhaps it didn't quite come across in translation... notice I had to reapproach the concept a couple times to get it across...

My confusion just stems from the fact I never saw the previous attempt nor am I familiar with the problems it suffered. Just heard it didn't work out.

A thought about FAQs. The problem with getting people to read them is that most are not easy to navigate, nor are they fun to read. Since the majority of noobs we deal with here are the teen and pre-teen crowd of Generation Why, they're used to having everything spoon-fed to them. Learning is meant to involve video games and television, not actually reading something. I mean, reading would just be, like, totally 2005 dude. Anything stickied in the mudroom ought to be written to appeal to the lowest common denominator if there's to be an expectation of success with it.

How about a short video of Dos and Don'ts with a healthy dash of cinematic license? That would probably be a better way to introduce people to the basics because it involves less effort on their part, and they're more apt to watch a video if they expect to be amused or entertained. With the people I know and the stuff I can get my hands on (or anyone else similarly equipped and willing to take on such a project), that could easily be arranged.

[Skruface]

Lots of good ideas in here. I personally would like to see a "graduated" system where new users can read but not post for a set period of time/user activity. At that point, there really is no excuse for not browsing the FAQ - lazy noobs may have to wait weeks/months to get the answer to "wH4T 4m b3sT Gun>", so they may be encouraged to get their answer faster by finding it for themselves by searching the forum threads.

As a side note, can we bring Karma back?

</jk>

[Armyissue]

The concept seems sound, but the MUDROOM is too rural. You'll have newfie's looking for the "Kellies". Nope call it THE SHORT BUS. & the 1337 kool guys get a hockey helmet!