Noob Section

[ozmdd]

I was just on another Dallas forum and saw what I think is a perfect idea for Yaris World: a thread for noob questions. Basically, its a place where you can ask anything without fear of people telling you to "use the search button", or "that question has ben asked 4 billion times."
since the Yaris is a new-ish vehicle to the US and is growing a new following of people who might not be knowledgeable about forums and car mods, this might make it less intimidating, and help avoid annoying members in more advanced threads.

They even have a bright red warning NOT to harass the OP's in that particular thread:
"Newbie questions go here. "RTFM" Free Zone. Remember, we all were once "Idiots" when it came to these cars. Read the rules stickied at the top of the forum before replying. With your help, we can all help the DSM Newbie population flourish, thrive and keep these cars going a bit longer. Thanks. "

I know I would have gone straight there when I first found YW.

[EleKid]

What a great idea. I hope mods/admin consider it.

[tomato]

Personally I think it's a good idea, either that or a FAQ section right where everybody can see it.

I know you'll have people saying that it's redundant since the questions are probably answered elsewhere, but it doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

Only admins can create sections, through, mods can't. Sorry

[JumpmanYaris]

Originally Posted by tomato

Personally I think it's a good idea, either that or a FAQ section right where everybody can see it.

I know you'll have people saying that it's redundant since the questions are probably answered elsewhere, but it doesn't hurt to ask anyway.

Only admins can create sections, through, mods can't. Sorry

However you caan sticky it.

[ozmdd]

Tomato, Could you sticky it as a thread in the "main rooms" section?

[tomato]

Well, there is already a

-- "YARIS FAQ" thread, and a
-- "New To the Forum, Check in Here" thread,

so what would this thread be called then and what would it talk about?

I'm afraid that if you just open up just one " Noob" thread and try to throw in every topic in there, people just won't read it because it'll be too long, too cluttered. I know I wouldn't. It just takes too much time to get through these huge threads and you still don't find what you're looking for most of the time.

On the other hand, you had a separate section, you could categorize the topics more easily.

What do you think?

[tomato]

I was just looking at the FAQ thread right now, it's really pretty barebone

er... my bad. I meant, I was looking at the forum guidelines' thread. There is not very much in there.

[tomato]

Seriously, the FAQ threads are all over the map. We could use a direct link to a little FAQ section right next to the user CP, now how cool would that be?

[ozmdd]

No, what I had in mind was more of a thread that is just an open discussion thread, but a section does make more sense. Either way, th idea is to let people ask whatever they want without having to search for something. I think most of us learn that its faster to search for stuff, but new people are more likely to want to just jump-in and ask whatever is on their mind. Maybe "Noob" isn't the best title, but clearly stating that "no question is a stupid question" in that particular section and is targeted towards new forum members is what I'm shooting for.
That way, people like me who don't mind answering redundant questions can pop-in and help-out, and people who hate that sort of thing can stay away and not be bothered in the other threads/sections.

[tomato]

^ I hear you, and I am not opposed to doing it, even though I personally think these huge threads are not user-friendly, but if that's what people want, fine by me

Let see if we can get a couple of other mods to voice their opinions, though. I gotta warn you, they may not like the idea because there was some talk a couple of weeks ago about not cluttering the sticky sections, so let's see what they say

Suppose they agree. What would be a good title for that thread and what section should it go in?

[ozmdd]

I definitely think it should be in the "main rooms" so it is spotted easily. Take a look at the site I'm referencing: http://www.dallasdsm.org/forums/index.php?showforum=25

I think they've done a great job, and its very clearly-stated what the purpose of the section is (to help new/novice users). In particular, the sticky called "idiot question rules" is great.
Lastly, if you go back to their main forum page, you'll see they've done the Newbie section in red text, so it really jumps-out.

[tomato]

Yeah, it looks great, I like it.
Only Yaris Bueller can open up a section, though, so we're back to square one

BTW, I've left word with the other mods / admins.

[ozmdd]

You are one fine tomato! Thanks for checking it out.

[tomato]

Why thank you!