Suggestion: Posts in NU/W Don't Add to Postcount

[Taemin]

Putting a special singular touch in your welcome post for every individual new member isn't that hard

Exactly.

There's certainly a way to post something more than "Welcome to PC", plenty of us do it all the time, no matter how short of an intro someone gives. If you don't think you can manage more than what's considered generic, then don't post in that area. Noooo one's forcing anyone else to post in there. xD;

 

[Melody]

As I've surely mentioned before, the prime reason I don't post in NU/W is because most newbs can't be bothered to write out a decent introduction for you to learn anything about them. How on earth can a person bond with someone new if they know nothing of them? Sure, you can stalk their profiles and watch where they post, but that is rather time consuming and sometimes frustrating...not every noob posts in places that automatically hint at what they're interested at, and not every noob will have the computer skills to properly fill in their profile on the first day, regardless of how much we desperately wish they did have such skill and common sense to go with it. *shot*

That being said, even when I do find myself in a rare enough mood to ignore my decision to keep clear of NU/W on principal, I pass up threads with generic opening posts...because I really can't personalize a greeting with no data at all...and it'd take DAYS to gather enough intel to personalize a greeting. I simply do not have that much time on my hands, and you can't honestly expect every member to have such time.

As a consequence, NU/W is feeling it's effects. Because of the new rules, there are many people who don't bother to hop onto the Welcome Wagon when it passes by...which is really sad, because one of the great things about PC when I joined was precisely that...the Welcome Wagon made the place a lot less intimidating...which means a heck of a lot to us introspective and shy types.

 

[Fushigidane-Chan]

Well, seeing as how the majority seems to disagree with this idea, a moderator may now close this thread if they wish to. Nonetheless, thank you everyone for considering it, and I apologize considering it had been suggested before. ^^'

 

[Hiidoran]

Actually... I'd say it's still pretty up-in-the-air, Fushigidane. I'm kinda intrigued that so many feel this way about NU/W, and I wish I would have seen them post there, or even make their opinions known to me before or even after the new "no generic posting" rule was implemented. Pachy approached me, and he himself can tell you I was delighted to see it. XD I think all members should feel free to approach moderators about new policies, and I know I'm always open for discussion. My only argument is that the decrease in activity, as it's being describing, started before the new rule was implemented. If you take the time to look back, introduction threads have only been receiving an average of 3-5 replies for, well, quite a few months now. Took the liberty to pull a random page from July, and took a look at the number of comments to demonstrate this:

1,5,5,3,5,2,3,3,10,3,5,5,12,2,0,0,0,1,2,2,1,1,3,3,2,1,5,1,2

[size=1]Average =~ 3[/size]

*The thirtieth thread on that particular page was deleted, so no need to put that there*

Of course, you're free to view a random page for yourself if you don't wanna believe my statistics.

However, that's not to say that I don't believe we SHOULDN'T try new things for NU/W to gain back some popularity, and thus is why I believe there is still some discussion to be had out of this thread. I think our problem more lies in the fact that veteran members just don't want to post in NU/W anymore. To be quite frank, I'm not sure why. Perhaps, as Nick and Pachy stated, it's because the introductions themselves are sometimes not that interesting... and trust me, I know they get very redundant, very quickly. But, it's not like that's really changed. D: Some people still write amazing introductions, others might be shy and write less. I do believe adding the "adopt-a-newbie" or "mentor" system will really help with this, and the last I heard the Hstaff were discussing this, but I was never further informed.

The only thing I don't understand is how getting rid of post count in New Users / Welcome will cause more people to post? To be honest, the major difference I'm finding in New Users / Welcome is the lack of new threads... it used to be rare for the last twenty threads to go back even two days, and now they sometimes go back four, or even five days. :x I could see a "no +1 to your post count" actually driving away not only members who maybe, for one reason or another, do post there for that purpose, but new members who make threads to get started here at PC. It's often their first thread and their first couple of posts... it should count towards that initial 15. >:

I do thank you guys your opinions, especially those of you who are going to great lengths to explain your view.

 

[o0PinkSquid0o]

The only thing I don't understand is how getting rid of post count in New Users / Welcome will cause more people to post? To be honest, the major difference I'm finding in New Users / Welcome is the lack of new threads... it used to be rare for the last twenty threads to go back even two days, and now they sometimes go back four, or even five days. :x I could see a "no +1 to your post count" actually driving away not only members who maybe, for one reason or another, do post there for that purpose, but new members who make threads to get started here at PC. It's often their first thread and their first couple of posts... it should count towards that initial 15. >:

I do thank you guys your opinions, especially those of you who are going to great lengths to explain your view.

I think the getting rid of post count thing was just another suggestion to get rid of so many spammy 'welcome to pc' copy and paste messages. Then members wouldn't only welcome to get the post count up and the members who actually did want to welcome someone would still beable to say "hey welcome to PokeCommunity, seeya 'round" without fear of being infracted or warned :)

 

[Stellar]

At first I approved of this suggestion, but upon reading some people's opinions and giving it a little more thought... I really don't think it would make much of a difference.

Personally, I wouldn't mind a simple "Welcome to PC!" message. When I made my first post in NU/W, I wasn't looking for a life-long bond or anything; I was just looking for acknowledgment and a chance to introduce myself. It didn't matter to me whether people took that introduction seriously and sought to be friends or not.

But here's the thing: that's my preference. Just because I don't mind a short and formal greeting doesn't mean the next person won't. I feel like this is one of those issues where we've already reached equal ground, and adjusting the situation anymore wouldn't change a thing. All it would do is irritate those who are happy with the current rules and vice versa.

If anything, I think we should encourage new users to share more of their interests and such. This way, those responding to welcome threads will have more to respond to and new users will feel as though we genuinely care about them.

 

[Zeffy]

Just going to get my thoughts out: since most new users get their first post at NU/W, wouldn't they be sad if they don't gain any posts? I mean, they jump in the welcome wagon and they don't get some kind of "salary"? That's just plain...well...I don't know. But wouldn't you get sad that you finally had the courage to post your very first post to find out that it wasn't added at your post count?

Also, since people welcome people for the sake of welcoming, I'd accept the generic "Welcome to PC, have fun!" greeting. At least someone greeted me, and someone thought that I needed a welcoming. Another thing is that there's a rule in NU/W that sates, unless your the thread creator, one post per thread. So...they welcome people and for their effort, they gain +1 in their post count and they become happy. Now if you remove the post count addition in NU/W, it would be like OT/PT, where people will keep saying "Welcome, blah blah blah blargh" just for the heck of it (seriously, I post in OT just for the heck of it but I did gained a lot of friends there). So you see, we welcome people because we want to. If we don't then why would we come on NU/W anyways? Stalk threads? D;

tl;dr - Nothing would change much.

 

[Hiidoran]

I understand, and that would be ideal, but I'm just afraid it might not work that way. In essence, I think it would only promote more generic posting (something I'm personally against no matter how you phrase it), and even drive away more traffic to the board over time.

A good number of new members want nothing more than to be welcomed, this is very true. However, a large chunk of new members see NU/W as a place where they can get a few first posts, and be on their way to their image-enabling post count of 15. There's actually nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. Members such as aspiring posters in the Art Gallery and ROM hackers really use NU/W, without spamming for the most part, to help get a head start on this. It's a small service, yes, but I could actually see the removal of post count deterring a lot of them from even bothering with an introduction... and there's no point at all in a board if it's activity sinks too low.

I understand that some of you are afraid of getting an infraction, but really, it takes a lot to get infracted for something so trivial. As I've said, no one has been infracted for this purpose since I implemented the rule over a month ago. Perhaps I worded my announcement just a bit too harshly. :x Allow me to explain that the only posts I delete are those that follow this rule of thumb, "If I cannot tell you've actually read the introduction... you probably put forth no effort." So, say a new member had an introduction like, "Hey everyone! I'm new here and I don't like introducing myself too much. :x" <-Actually a very common introduction.

Absolutely fine: Hey, welcome to PC! Yeah, I was scared at first too.
Will probably get deleted: Welcome to PC! Hope you have fun!

Personally, I just find the latter rude. While both getting rid of post count and this method help deter the latter posts from occurring, I just see this method as an easier way to keep the content in NU/W actually relevant. If you can't come up with anything constructive, for whatever reason, just skip that thread and find a thread that you can be constructive on. The new members who do put forth little effort into introducing themselves won't get too many responses, but that's kinda how it's always been. :x

 

[Aquacorde]

Some people still write amazing introductions, others might be shy and write less. I do believe adding the "adopt-a-newbie" or "mentor" system will really help with this, and the last I heard the Hstaff were discussing this, but I was never further informed.

Oh. My. Gosh. I would love love love this to happen, although I seem to have been doing this unofficially as of late.

In any case... I do think getting rid of post count in NU/W would deter people from welcoming the newbies; and as Hiidoran said, wouldn't be very fair to the new people, it being their first few posts and all. From what I've seen, a person's first thread in NU/W is very important. It is usually the first thing they do, and the replies they get kind of... shape their view of the community, at least for a while. If they get none... they are likely to be sad, and possibly will leave. D: Yes I go around once every few days and make sure everyone has at least one welcome. I know I would not be happy at all if I got no replies, and I wouldn't mind if I got simple "Hey welcome to PC" kinds of replies as long as they didn't include the aggravating "(25 char limit)" type of thing stuck on the end. So I think that welcoming new members should be promoted as a good thing to do, regardless of the generic factor.

...Sorry, I rambled a bit.

 

[Taemin]

In my opinion, there's no way that the post count should be disabled for that area. Part of it's aim to be an area decent enough to keep it's post count. One that isn't spam filled, or full of typical posts like some of other area's who's post count is lost. :/ It would hurt that area more if post count were to be taken away, because even with the post count enabled it reaches low points. Those who want to help that area, and bring some life into it.. why not go post, and throw out some worthy Welcome messages? It's not that hard at all. The 'no generic welcomes' rule was just recently released, so IMO.. it shouldn't be lifted just yet.

Some of us, who have been around longer.. should try to post more in that area, give some worth while messages to newbies, and try to spice it up a little before we give up on it.

As far the Adopt a Newbie thing goes.. that's something the h-staff will have to try to work out again, if enough people really want to see it happen.

 

[Spinor]

On the Adopt-a-newbie thing, I really forgot that even used to exist >__> But I thought the concept was good, so I'd probably help out if it was brought back.

Oh, on the topic of post count itself, I agree with the point that new members would like their first post to actually count. And right Hiidoran, I thought the announcement was sort of harshly worded, but with a few more examples to soft it out it might be a bit easier to welcome people.

 

[Platinum Lucario]

Just going to get my thoughts out: since most new users get their first post at NU/W, wouldn't they be sad if they don't gain any posts?

I guess you're right too. As I know already that I'm outvoted. As people would actually enjoy getting their first post and being welcomed to PC sure would make them feel welcomed to the forums.

Disabling the post count in that forum will probably cause the new users to feel less welcomed and without getting a first post. So they would have to post in a different forum in order to get their first post count.

However, not to get off the topic or anything, but I kinda wonder what really is the point of requiring users to have to get to 15 posts in order to use the certain features. Is it just for forum activity? What I do know... is that people shouldn't be forced to to stuff... because I know forcing feels like a really bad thing to do.

 

[LightOfTruth]

Trouble is that I have a place I like to look at. I will try and welcome some though as I remember when I was new :)

 

[Rukario]

Since its the "starting pad" for new members, we want them to have a place to gain a few quality posts to add to their post count. Granted some users seem to post spammy or irrelevant replies, this is no reason to penalize the new members.

I say no to disabling post count in NU/W

 

[Ivysaur]

However, not to get off the topic or anything, but I kinda wonder what really is the point of requiring users to have to get to 15 posts in order to use the certain features. Is it just for forum activity? What I do know... is that people shouldn't be forced to to stuff... because I know forcing feels like a really bad thing to do.

It's to stop adbots/spammers from just registering and spamming a whole forum with links. This way, we at least force them to a) not post the actual link, which makes their spam less effective or b) make 15 spam posts first, giving us enough time to detect them.

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing, and 15 posts isn't that much if you really are planning on stablishing yourself on the forums.

 

[Platinum Lucario]

It's to stop adbots/spammers from just registering and spamming a whole forum with links. This way, we at least force them to a) not post the actual link, which makes their spam less effective or b) make 15 spam posts first, giving us enough time to detect them.

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing, and 15 posts isn't that much if you really are planning on stablishing yourself on the forums.

Ah, now I understand the reason why there is a requirement for 15 posts to gain the extra features. Thanks.

And yeah... disabling the post count in the NU/W would pretty much make it feel unfair for the new members on the forum, like what Zeffy, me, and Steve pretty much have stated already.
Well at least I now know the answers to the things in which I never knew before. After all, we never stop learning. ;D

 

[Percy Thrillington]

I really don't see any positive affect on NU/W if post count was disabled. At all. If anything, I'd say it would take away activity than create it and to be honest with you, personal welcomes are much, much cooler than mindless copy/pastes. I know whether I'd want three personal welcomes or twenty variations of 'hey, welcome to PC! Don't forgot to read the rules!'

 

[Pokemon Champion Red]

Agreed.
It seems that people would decide that it just wouldn't be worth their time to post there.