Something that I could see being useful is a banner that appears when you first log on as a new member urging you to read nodes like Writeup formatting tips and the like. It wasn't immediately obvious to me when i started as a perlmonk that the submissions were html, much less how one went about formatting submissions properly and what things like the square brackets do.

Maybe this would cut down on poorly formatted newbie posts and the need to explain formatting while answering somebody's question. Currently, newbies are expected to 'pull' the docs, rather than getting 'pushed' the docs, or at least being 'pushed' in the general direction of the docs.

Thoughts? Which paradigm (push or pull) is going to benefit perlmonks in the long run?

-Mark

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: New member logon message (agree wholeheartedly)
by ybiC (Prior) on Jul 25, 2000 at 02:31 UTC
    This could be as simple as extending the "If you're new here" message a bit to be a group of bolded links at the top of each page pointing to the Guide, FAQ, How To, and Tutorials.   The links could persist until the fresh Monk advanced to Novice(2) or Acolyte(3).

    Question for our fearless leader and crew: Is this reasonably do-able within the Everything engine?

    You can't force folks to read before asking, but if the FAQs and such were more prominant for visitors and new Monks, the Monastery should stand a better chance at continuing to be the almost-always friendly place we all enjoy.
        cheers,
        ybiC

[reply]
      Sure you can. Create a simple 10 question form based on content. You have to read the content to get the correct answers, before you can post. Make it more fun, and randomize the questions from a pool.

      --Chris

      e-mail jcwren
[reply]
        Yes! Randomize the questions, but keep the answers static! That way it will be real fun! :-))

        Oups, when did this BOFH mode kick in? ;-)

        Seriously, I think this sort of welcome message (maybe route them to a introduction page when they first log in?) will certainly do no harm. I´m just quite sure it will not make much of a difference, either.

        Greetings ...
        Andreas

[reply]
      You could also have a simple blurb at the bottom of the post-submit-box, like: 
      html-formatting is allowed. wrap your code in <code>-tags

      [download]


      -- ar0n

[reply]
[d/l]
RE: New member logon message
by Macphisto (Hermit) on Jul 25, 2000 at 23:14 UTC
    A message like the Chatterbox alert you get when you get replies to your post would work well.

    The beatings will continue until morale raises.
[reply]

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