Introduce Yourself Requirement

I know I have only been active on this site for a few days (I originally signed up for the links), but I have noticed something. A LOT of people don't post introductions, and immediately start threads. Almost all of the questions asked could be answered by looking at the links from the intro threads. I have only told a couple people to introduce themselves first, and I am already tired of it; I imagine that long-time members of WiiHacks.com are sick of it.

I began thinking about past forums that I have been part of, and I remembered one that a friend of mine hosted several years back. He began to have a problem with spambots (this was before Captcha was so popular), so he set up a thread to prevent them. Before new users could post anything else, they were required to double-post "hello" in that thread, all in lowercase letters, and within 24-hours of registering, or you were considered a bot. This system worked surprisingly well.

My suggestion is, why not use that same idea here, but require an introduction instead of a double-post? You don't seem to have a problem with bots, but you do have an overload of useless threads. By requiring an introduction thread, you could probably avoid the majority of them.

Perhaps the admins don't mind the threads, it's too hard to do, or you just don't like my suggestion. That's fine, do what you like. However, if you do follow my suggestion, I hope it is as helpful as I think it will be. :D

Think I brought this up some months back. There've also been a few lengthy discussions on limiting initial posting rights in the past.

I believe a large (and very valid) argument against having members only able to access the intro forum is that we have many, many members who only come to check out the softmod guides, which is fine. But if they're unable to request help in that thread due to its location, they'll start cluttering up the intro forum (which isn't meant for questions) or get fed up and go somewhere else. Neither of these are things we want.

Another was that we have many people who only like to lurk on the site and not post, which is also something we have no problem with. Many people just come for the info, and if they were driven off because of a posting time limit, well, guys like me who eventually want to stick around wouldn't be here.

As far as the thread I mentioned, though the recommendation was approved, think it was one of those things that fell lower down the totem pole as other events developed.

Right now the forum is in the middle of a slight overhaul/upgrade, but when things settle out again might be a good time to discuss this kind of suggestion.

Wow, I feel stupid! I browsed through the Site Suggestions first to make sure someone hadn't already thought of it, but somehow I missed your topic. :confused:

I guess I wasn't very clear in my original post. I am not suggesting a time limit like on my friend's forum, that would kick off ton's of users, including me. I originally joined just so I could view the links, and it was months before I made my first post. I was thinking something along the lines of giving an "error" when new users tried to make a new thread/post, saying they should introduce themselves first. Users could still browse all the posts, just not respond.

I am glad that my (well, I guess your) recommendation might be used.

I think it would be nice if something similar to the welcome message was simply sent via email and pm at registration, then they would at least have the info regardless.

I confess, I never read the rules or posted an introduction.

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Originally Posted by mauifrog

I think it would be nice if something similar to the welcome message was simply sent via email and pm at registration, then they would at least have the info regardless.

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Not to toot my own horn again, but...http://www.wiihacks.com/site-suggest...questions.html

Just to say that I agree with both you guys. I think a combination of these ideas (obviously no need for trekster's page anymore) could serve double duty to help out the freshies get acclimated more quickly.

"freshies", lol Ithian :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mauifrog

I think it would be nice if something similar to the welcome message was simply sent via email and pm at registration, then they would at least have the info regardless.

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I have suggested that before, but it's good to hear it again.

I made an account at a forum a while back, and received such a PM. I don't know if it was automated or not, I suspect it was not because the forum didn't look it had huge amounts of new accounts created on a daily basis, and would be easy for a mod to just send the message manually.

I always like that idea to. If it was sent to the email used to register (that was needed to do so), it would be pretty obvious that it was recieved and could be their own resource materials for benefitting from the site.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ithian

Not to toot my own horn again, but...http://www.wiihacks.com/site-suggest...questions.html

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Well aren't you modest. :p

Okay, it's obvious that I am not the only one thinking about this. I think that the PM and email ideas are very good. It would be especially nice to have a copy that could be accessed through saved PM's.
I don't remember what the default settings are (I have almost no short-term memory:(), but if WiiHacks sends "New PM" emails by default, you would only have to send a PM, and new users would still get an email about the PM.

Me, not to brag, but I did red the rules but it's obvious that not all people do. I agree with the original post that a lot of the useless posts can be avoided just by simply posting in the intro section and receiving links to all the good stuff that people come here for. How about editing the forum rules with big, bold and red letters that it is a requirement to make your first post in the intro section and that piracy is not supported. I sure there will still be those that don't follow that simple rules but it might just catch the eye of a of some.

And Mauifrog, I would like to ask you to stop by the intro section and say hello to the community before you make any more posts. :D