I like to consider myself a warm, welcoming member of FlyerTalk. I get a lot of joy helping people, especially when I can help them in an area that I have knowledge. I also don't like to see unhelpful or sarcastic responses to posts, especially to posts from newer members. So I'm with you 100%.
That said, I don't think a permanent sticky is the solution. For one, most people--especially regular posters--tend to not even see the stickies, so I don't think it would even be seen by those it is targeting. Two, what would it say? "Please be nice?" That'd be completely ignored by some people, and it really wouldn't be enforceable without a major change to FT's TOS banning rudeness and rolleyes (that wouldn't go over well!
). (Sticky FAQs and links to wikis may be a good option to help newbies find answers (they'll be more likely to see and pay attention to stickies), but I don't think sticky reminders would do much for existing, active forum members.)
Instead, I'd like to try to change this by positive means. I'd support taking another look at the FlyerTalk Ambassador program--recognizing certain members who consistently make FlyerTalk a warm, embracing community for newer members while also giving newer members an idea about who to go to for help if they need something. They're also the ones that people attending their first FT dos can seek out in person and feel welcomed. There's nothing worse than a shy person going to a big party where everyone knows each other and feeling left out. Ambassadors would be the designated greeters who would be there to get the conversation started.
For example, one of the forums I frequent has a member who actually maintains a Word document with commonly-asked questions. When newbies ask one of these questions, which happens on a regular basis, of course, he simply copies and pastes the answer from his Word doc into a post, tailors the answer as needed, and adds a welcome. Person welcomed, question answered, boom, done--no snark or rudeness, since he's very active on the forum and usually intercepts the questions before anyone could even think of posting a snarky reply. People go to him for help after that all the time, and he's happy to provide it. That's a FlyerTalk Ambassador if there ever was one!
I think the program has a lot of merit, and I was disappointed to see it fail on what at some points looked like petty bickering. I'm confident we can overcome those sticking points and get a working, constructive Ambassador system in place, which would help newer members perceive the tone of FlyerTalk to be that much warmer and friendlier.
