Newbie season upon us aka zero system info

[musicman691]

Fellow DUC'ers:
Seen quite a few threads here the last couple of days with new posters who give little or no system info whether in the question being asked or on their profile pages. People with maybe one or two posts. Seems endemic at this time of year as people get new computers or are new to PT. I know this has been railed about before but why does it keep repeating like a bad meal?

I know one suggested remedy is that new posters have to read the 'Help Us To Help You' before they can post. I'd like to suggest a couple of other remedies: how about having a mandatory section that must be filled out with system info? Another is like some forums do with new posters is to have a certain number of posts vetted by a moderator before the post appears on the forum? This way a moderator can check that there's proper system info given before said post goes live.

[albee1952]

Not a bad idea at all Maybe Avid could change the header so Help Us Help You shows up in blazing red and fills the top of the screen(maybe add a menacing sound)

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Not a bad idea at all Maybe Avid could change the header so Help Us Help You shows up in blazing red and fills the top of the screen(maybe add a menacing sound)

Suggestion: instead of making the Help Us To Help You like you say put it in a popup window that can't be automatically dismissed by a browser add-on?

It's like death and taxes - around this time of year we get way too many first time posters here who can't be bothered to even give system info when asking for help.

[Ben Jenssen]

I don't think restrictions and regulations is the answer to this problem. People are lazy, and it takes a while for newbies get a grip on the way things work here on the forum. But most of them eventually do.

Is it a season thing? I never thought of that…

Young newcomers looking for easy, quick solutions… they will always keep comming.

We should keep the DUC open and unrestricted as it is, and we old-timers try not to get so annoyed.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I don't think restrictions and regulations is the answer to this problem. People are lazy, and it takes a while for newbies get a grip on the way things work here on the forum. But most of them eventually do.

Is it a season thing? I never thought of that…

Young newcomers looking for easy, quick solutions… they will always keep comming.

We should keep the DUC open and unrestricted as it is, and we old-timers try not to get so annoyed.

Yep - it's a seasonal thing as more of these types of posts show up right around now. Thing is people post asking for help and can't be bothered to give us the information we need to help them. I don't think it's being lazy but more that they think we should be able to diagnose and give a cure with as little help from them as possible.

I'm not saying to have a closed forum but that a certain amount of info should be present before people ask for help. Like I said there are plenty of forums that the first few times someone posts their posts have to be vetted - why can't that happen here? There's even one forum where even long time posters have their posts vetted before appearing on their forum.

[huzzam]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I don't think restrictions and regulations is the answer to this problem. People are lazy, and it takes a while for newbies get a grip on the way things work here on the forum. But most of them eventually do.

Is it a season thing? I never thought of that…

Young newcomers looking for easy, quick solutions… they will always keep comming.

We should keep the DUC open and unrestricted as it is, and we old-timers try not to get so annoyed.

agreed, though it would be fair to have a popup / interstitial page that says: "hey this is your first post, welcome! please be sure to provide the following info in your message if you're asking for help."

~peter in athens

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by huzzam

agreed, though it would be fair to have a popup / interstitial page that says: "hey this is your first post, welcome! please be sure to provide the following info in your message if you're asking for help."

~peter in athens

Well, not all first-time posters are asking for technical assistance, though most are. But it's an idea.

Another thing; many newcomers are so new that they won't even understand half of the advise in the "Help us help you" page, or understand what technical info to provide.

I think we'll just have to live with it. But your idea could work if implemented right.

[Drew Mazurek]

I simply ignore those threads.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I simply ignore those threads.

+1. Plus, I ignore the rant posts.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Fellow DUC'ers:
Seen quite a few threads here the last couple of days with new posters who give little or no system info whether in the question being asked or on their profile pages. People with maybe one or two posts. Seems endemic at this time of year as people get new computers or are new to PT. I know this has been railed about before but why does it keep repeating like a bad meal?

I know one suggested remedy is that new posters have to read the 'Help Us To Help You' before they can post. I'd like to suggest a couple of other remedies: how about having a mandatory section that must be filled out with system info? Another is like some forums do with new posters is to have a certain number of posts vetted by a moderator before the post appears on the forum? This way a moderator can check that there's proper system info given before said post goes live.

It's always a tradeoff. Do we want to present all information to new users to begin with or do we want to get new users running things smoothly to begin with? There is no guarantee a newbie actually READS the information provided, you know...