Howto welcome a Newbie

[babibear]

Originally Posted by Diapered Rabbit

Wonderful stickie, Moo. Perhaps another will be in order for Grammar Nazi attacks on Newbies. How to address this (poor grammar, text style abbreviations, poor spelling, baby talk) with tact and sometimes with needed compassion.

Nothing about the thread really.

Everytime I see your AV Diapered Rabbit I get a great big smile

[skinnypuppy]

Originally Posted by Mesmerale

While it makes me sad to know that there is the possibility of losing the intense Grammar Nazi-ness...

I agree that it would be necessary to develop of method of doing that sort of thing without being horrible to the person in question. *sigh* Oh well.

I have always thought that messages like that should be delivered by PM rather than putting the new member down in public. It's very discouraging and has probably scared many new people away.

That's also true of the "raise the BS flag" messages, only much more so.

In either case, a gentle comment in the intro thread should be followed by a PM and a "report this thread" message to mods (if it's really warranted by the preceding intro text).

Can we as a community TRY to be more accepting, and let the mods do the dirty work? I believe that in the long run (*) we will be better off for it.

(*) the new phrase is "at the end of the day" but I want it to last more than a day

[Raccoon]

If a newbie asks a question, rather than give a curt response answer fully and not as though we resent replying: NOT "go look it up: read the FAQ" or "try the search function" - we may have kids as young as 13, even younger, lying about their age (upward) in desperation to be here. Give no response at all rather than an unfriendly one or an incomplete one.

Just as I rep newbies easily, I will take the time to answer them more clearly and fully, trying not to rest on the assumption they know how to use features, what our social etiquette is, or exactly what we mean by "graphic." Lets let them learn our ways before negging them for breaking our rules.

4chan-experienced people may use "fag" to mean something like fanboy, as in APPLE-fag versus LINUX-fag; or "Are you a hetero-fag or a gay-fag?" These get one warning before neg-repped to hell over homophobia.

Many people come here after going to Deeker, DPF, or adult-oriented sites, and may assume the customs at those sites are ours; and get a rude shock when they post what they think will be approved of here, like their sightings of kids, bodily function details, fake-sounding stories of diaper punishment, being babied by sitters and so on.

And for heaven's sake, let's encourage them to speak their mind and ask whatever the hell they like: a new member IS A MEMBER and enjoys the privileges of a member, as well as having the responsibilities.