Restricted Site Layout?

[Raccoon]

If the newbies had less of the site at first, it would be less intimidating and they would be able to get to know the feel of the site

I don't really think that a specific forum for newbies is required, just a reallocation of how many forums newbies can access. Newbies who are active posters and contribute to the community would become regulars quickly and then have access to the rest of the regular forums.

If the newbies had less forums to access, I believe there is a greater chance that the rules and forum guidelines type threads would actually get read.
You know, get your feet wet in the kiddie pool before moving out into the deep water.

Here is an interesting idea from Kevindhca, above... All ranks (newbies, regs, VIP's, staff) have different levels of access, different areas they can go to. Now one thing intimidating newbies, perhaps, is seeing all the places there are at once but getting access denied messages if they try to go there.

So why not give them a different layout that graphically only shows the areas they can access? Then they could go anywhere on it and not feel barred from anywhere

Then part of the prize (as I think Peach put it) of becoming a reg or VIP is that the skin changes; those blank white forums now have text and are clickable! Or where there were no forums, *POP* there they are!!

Put another way, I can go into requests but only have one graphical option that takes me to my threads. If I saw buttons for everyone's request subforums and, of course got nowhere clicking on them, I would be aware I was being denied access. As it is, other peoples' request areas don't enter my mind.

Out of sight, out of mind.

But the main point is just to make site navigation a no-brainer, which might encourage newbies to go to all the places available to them.

 

[Butterfly Mage]

I had a similar overwhelming experience in one of the Wicca forums. When I joined, I found there are over 50 categories with each one having a zillion threads. I quickly learned to exclusively use the "show only new posts" filter in order to make viewing more manageable.

 

[Charlie]

I assumed that this is how it was already!

Can newbies see all the forums? They never could on TBDL.

 

[Hex]

[font="Calibri,Arial"]Newbies can't see the regular/VIP forums, just as we cannot see the staff forums.[/font]

 

[Martin]

It is, don't worry. Log out and you can see.

 

[mizzycub]

When I first joined the only special forum listed was the Requests Forum, and naturally I couldn't see anything in there. When I became a Regular the Regulars forum appeared. And then I got VIP and the VIP forum appeared. I still can't see the staff forum.

I believe that what you are suggesting is already in place. The forum appears when you attain that status. I know I have been surprised once or twice when I have come home from holiday and the VIP forum had dissapeared.

Also, I believe that you can't see the mature forum if you are under 16.


I think this is already in place, based on the fact I can't see all the forums (can't see the staff one) and as far as I remember things appeared as I got the status. So I don't think you need to worry.

 

[Hex]

[font="Calibri,Arial"]mzk: AFAIK, you can't register at all if you are <13 and TSA has posted in mature topics so there's no age limits on it.[/font]

 

[Martin]

Also, I believe that you can't see the mature forum if you are under 16.

There are no forums with an age minimum. We had that for a while on TBDL but not on ADISC.

 

[Moo]

The forums are already set up this way.
You have to be a regular to see that the regulars' forum exists, for example.

Similarly, in the requests forum, you can only see the threads that you have created (except for staff members, who can see all threads).

If you notice any forum which appears even though you don't have access to it, please file a 'for the webmasters' request in the requests forum, so that it can be looked at.