How About A Newbies Board?
 

I was just thinking about this. Many of the posters on the boards here can be intolerant, downright nasty, to newbies that post without understanding every little rule of the boards, do not search adequately, or don't understand the board structure here. In fact, you see on many places on the internet that Flyertalk posters are hostile to newbies.

I've seen that quite a bit on many of the boards, though some are better than others.

It just seems to me that, if we have a "newbies" area that is clearly labeled, then many of the new posters with no clue might be drawn there first, and the only seasoned people who would read such a board are those with a penchant for helping them. That would probably improve Flyertalk's reputation, as well as ease the stress level of those who tend to be more intolerant toward them.

Just a thought. . .

So all the "noobs" would go to one area of FT and the "veterans" (except for the nice ones) would go to another?

The reasoning is good-hearted, but this attempt to do something fractures the great things that FT has going for it and the big one is the knowledge that the "vets" have.

No, no, no. :) Everyone could check the Newbie forum when they signed on for the day and tell the Newbies where to go, so to speak. The helpful veterans would probably offer great advice. And the vets that don't want to hassle with the Newbies could just avoid the forum. This works on another forum I like.

Not that we all can't help, but it's the Moderators' duty for welcoming new members.

What Phil said. The point is that many of the Veterans here get annoyed by the newbies, and express themselves about it in quite a surly manner. This turns newbies off to this forum, and tends to give it a bad reputation in many places online. Any vets whose only likely response to a newbie post would be to attack them, belittle or demean them, tell them to do a search, etc., likely would never visit the newbie forum. This would cut down on their irritation, and provide a nice way to ease new folks in here without getting reamed on their first couple of posts.

It is done on several other forums, and frankly, it tends to work quite well. Those vets who are willing to be considerate and helpful to newbies usually visit the newbie forum and help them.

The purpose would NOT be to "welcome new members". It would be a forum where a Newbie could ask ANY question when he/she couldn't figure out what the appropriate forum would be.

Like I said, I agree with the premise. I just disagree with a separate forum. (As a note, about 5 or 6 years ago GG, LEXpassenger and I actually worked on a Beginner's Guide to FT for Randy.)

Will there be ONE Newbie forum where someone can ask about BA or AA or UA or AS or???
One NOOB forum in each airline forum?
In each Hotel Forum?

See where I'm going with this? It just further segments FT. If you have a US question in the "Multi-Airline Newb" forum, what if no US experts are there to check in on it? Isn't the information the most important thing for someone new? Not the "Welcome to FT" messages.

The reality is that new people come to FT for information- plain and simple. The Community does become a factor to most people's participation, but that is usually after they have been here for a while sucking up the wealth of information here.

Is this really an issue? I mean someone knows they have a FF problem, they know how to find FlyerTalk, they know how to register, but they can't figure out where to post??? From my experiences, the Moderators are very good in correcting (in a kind way) a Newbie and setting them on the correct path for future posting.

And lets be honest, there are FTers who are "intolerant" and "downright nasty" to people w/ over 1000 posts and who have been here for years.

That's exactly the point. They are the ones who chase away and turn off potential new members with their attitudes. Members who eventually could be valuable contributors. Newbies who then surf the net and advise everyone that Flyertalk is a hostile environment, and don't bother going there unless you are ready for some abuse.

With a Newbies Board, the intolerant, nasty FTers with over 1000 posts would not have to read many of the posts that cause those problems, because they would be on the Newbies board.

Could we get one of the "decision makers" to comment?

Phil--

My guess is that they're giving it time to see what the Community in general thinks of the idea.

Could someone point me to specific examples of others discussing FT's rude behavior to newbies? I'm kinda curious. Thanks.

Here's one:

Is the AA forum the snarkiest forum on FT?

I think a newbie board is a great idea. After navigating the search section usually without success I often give up. If a FT member has a question that I know the answer I don't mind answering it even if it has been discussed before.
I am only a recent member to this great board and some of the short tempered remarks take more time than answering a simple question. (sort of reminds me of some gate agents bad attitudes when asked a simple question)

Thanks Tom.

The other posters made it sound like a notoriety outside of FlyerTalk.com, that's what I was looking for.

Gang,

Please remember that there is to be no discussion of moderation.

I have edited posts/deleted posts.

Please keep to the question at hand.