Be more friendly to new people
 

http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=73610

What the heck? A new users, 2 posts, and he gets absolutely torn apart for posting on the forum? Sure he hasn't read the rules or followed them, but still, should we not be more welcoming/constructive to new users?

And then closing it with the line it was closed with came across rather aggressive. Welcome to Graal.

A bit unorthodox.

I really didn't even bother to look at his post count. I merely was trying to express to him that no one would want to join his server if he did not advertise well.

Sure he is new on the forums, that doesn't matters he also have to follow the rules and he agreed to do so by accepting the agreement form for the forums. Just a new member should know it as best, because he just now had read the rules (or affirmed at last he had).
If someone is new in a community he should say: Hi here I am, I am new is there anything I need to know? That's my opinion how it works.
(Moved the thread, there's no reason why it should be in the lounge)

Because it's a topic intended for the more "mature" audiences of the forums which the lounge is created just for :)

I don't see why this is a more mature topic, sorry.

because it discusses the maturity of the members?

The topic is relevant for all ages.

He's not one of those guys who deserves a good welcome, he has a 'history'

But it involves those who are on the forums, and by most part, those who go to the lounge. The fact they can go to the lounge shows that they've been here for some time already -- in contrast to here, where showing new people we're evil and cynical, would communicate to (in part) the wrong group of people.

To make it more understandable why it was moved:
Private Forum:
The longe is a 'Non-Graal related' forum that features more 'mature' and age specific content aimed at those over the age of 14.

Graal Main Forum:
General discussion about the Graal community.

I didn't see much tearing apart of him compared to what I've seen of others. The only one I saw being truly agressive was elk, but I've yet to check if what he stated was valid.

Unfortunately, some members of the community are harsh with new members. The thread you speak of is quite tame compared to a lot of threads I have seen.
I do not see anything aggressive in what Sam said.
There is really no excuse for not knowing the rules of a forum before you post.
There have been much worse threads of the community "tearing a member apart".
I have complained about this many times before.

1) The community needs to be a little more understanding and helpful to new members.

2) New (and old) members should familiarize themselves with the rules of the forum befrore they post.

I was reading that topic...didn't seem agressive at all.

Really, it needs to work both ways. People need to respect new members, but new members need to familiarise themselves with how the forums work.

If anything, really there just needs to be some bigger sort of notice to tell people about the rules when they sign up for the forums.

I agree. Not sure how it works, but I think new memebers need to check a box when they first sign up, saying they have read and agree to the rules. The box should have a link to the rules.
You would think it would be simple, as the rules link is right there on the main forum, and is not hard to find.

I'm very surprised Stan acted that way. Elk and Zoke aren't that surprising, though.

I don't believe the forum rules contain anything about how to make a hiring thread. Such a rules thread was created by Ben and posted in a sticky in the playerworld forum, thus it's not a part of the rules that you agree to follow when you sign up. Of course, these rules are handled by the moderators of the section.

This is true. Maybe there should be a note in the main rules for members to be sure to check for more specific rules in sub-forums, such as the hiring forum, scripting forum, etc...

Regardless of that fact, the members should be more understanding when replying. The mods generally take care of it appropriately.

Hmm well most members will just check the box without reading any rules. thats quite common all over....Darlene i want to steal that saying of yours..lol.

That is true, but they can't use the excuse that they don't know where they are, or didn't know there were rules.

;)

I really hate how some of these people try and piss off their fellow forum-goers, most of these kids are washed up hasbeens trying to tell other people how to run their server.

That's just mean. :(

That is an alternate account.

This post is no better then the posters you are taliking about, though. It works both ways.

Basically they are trying to express EXACTLY this:

HEY LOOK AT ME! I OLDER THEN YOU FORUM WISE! I CAN TELL YOU WHAT TO DO BECAUSE I USED TO WORK ON A SERVER THAT WAS SOMETHING BIG! Now I waste my time on the forums bashing your servers, 'cause I have no life!

It's theoretically proven. :-)

Plus, if the big bad moderators won't stand up to the has-beens, who will? :(

Graal has never been that welcoming to newcomers, since... ever. I don't see what the big surprise is, though I'd love to see this changed. I've played a couple other MMORPG's and the likes, all free ones, and most were quite welcoming and helpful.

I think at least a link to the rules could be posted, or a PM sent explaining things. Though, this guy did just come on a hosted world just yesterday with the name Jailed, asking if I was hiring. But either way.

ftw runescape:
WELCOM TUTORIL ISLAND NOW U GONA LEARN HOW TO MAKE FOOD AND B NICE OR WE BAN U!
*end tutoral island*
*welcome to lumbridge*
555 if want b my bf
555,555,5,5,5,5,5,5,5555,5,5,55555,5,5,55,314,,665 ,455,55,55

That's a good welcome committee. :)

Again, how is this post any different then the ones you are talking about? Bashing members, is bashing members, no matter what side you are on. It simply should not be done. The forums should be a place that the community can come to in order to recieve help on issues, and recieve constructive advice/critisism, but, on the other hand, members should be sure that they read the rules, and post accordingly.
Bashing members is, and always has been, against the rules on this forum, but it has also, always been a big problem on these forums.

I think you guys should pull a road house on these forums.

The rules are ideally there to prevent this from happening, but like some other people have stated they need to be stated more.

I'm not sure closing threads like this is a good idea, I mean, they could always elaborate after their initial first try. Things that put me off when joining a new forum are my threads being closed, it's like, "Okay, my thread has been closed for a trivial reason, why am I even bothering?" but at the same time, they're being closed to encourage a change in the users' future post(s), but it can really go the other way.

There is an option in VBulletin to send an introduction post to new users who join the forum, you can put anything into there. I believe this feature could be put to use, with a friendly welcome message, as well as explaining how things work here, while remaining friendly and welcoming. The FAQ section could also be put to more use, with regular questions and scenarios that crop up, such as "I would like to advertise my Playerworld to recruit some staff, what should I do?" "The Playerworld Staff Openings forum is perfect for users who have worlds they need help on, blah blah blah.."

As for the attitudes of some users towards others, especially new people, well I had a problem against this for a long time. It seems people are ignorant to people to fit in, argue to fit in and it seems to have become a sort of vicious cycle. I'm not sure how you could change that, although I do believe that this is the reasoning behind some of the forum rules that have been put into place and I appreciate that.

There is no such thing as a perfect forum, or a perfect community.

Threads such as in the hiring forum are closed with a message for them to read the rules, and then to try again. Generally, they are not punished unless it is done more than once by the same person. I don't see why they would get upset as long as it wasn't done in a rude way.

I fully agree with this.

Correct. I believe different forums have to adapt rules judged by the community it has. Obviously, if certain issues become an ongoing problem, rules need to be put in place to try to combat it.

*steals Darlene's saying and puts it in his profile on gk making sure she is noted as the person who said it*

I love it too much to pass up.

Yet there's still the ability of the ban button at your disposal.

Yeah but they have to trust that people will be smart enough not to be harsh to each other. This person simply posted in the wrong place. I can lead him to the right place if he's serious.

That should always be the last option, and only when members show they will not follow the rules. Just because a person can ban others, does not mean it should be used often.

never heard it better.

*first time*
"Please stop, you're breaking the rules."
"wut no wey"
*second time*
"You should really, stop I've already warned you.."
"wut who u think ur r!"
*third time*
"I've warned you enough, you've had time to change. BANT."
"WATNO PLZ PZLZPLZPZL *banned*"

They test your patience until the end. It's how juveniles work, trust me, I am one, I know. :)

The way it works here, is pretty much as follows.
When a member is new, and posts against the rules, a warning is issued that the member should read the rules. If the member continues, we use the infraction system, which does ban for 7 days if they recieve 3 points within a certain amount of time. Members who recieve quite a few bans from the infraction system, and continue to break the rules, generally recieve longer bans. So, there is such a system in place like you are talking about.

It must not be working properly

*points to people from 2001 continuing their stupidity*

That's just arrogance, they've been here a while, this is their forum.

:asleep: