Posted Fri Jan 8, 2010, 12:19am Subject: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
Just a friendly reminder to newly signed up CG'ers: or as we say around here, NOOBS!
Before posting your "Which grinder to get for under $100?" or "Which machine is better, X or Y?".... PLEASE use the CG Search engine for quick links to these and maybe 5000 other topics, All of which have been discussed thoroughly.
If you can't find it on the CG Search engine, try Google. I guarantee that most of the listings will point to either CG or HomeBarista.com. Less duplicate threads will ease the strain on the website, and may actually get you where you need to be quicker! This will free up the moderators as well, so we can spend more time ferreting out the Spammers and such.
With this in mind, we hope you enjoy your CG membership, and the journey to GREAT COFFEE!
that sounds real "friendly" and welcoming. maybe we need a new rule that so called "noobs" can't post questions their first 10 posts. maybe even a "no noobs allowed" banner on the front page. just my 2 cents.
"You can write down how to make the perfect cup of coffee. But to make it really good, you have to play something fictional, you have to dress up, you have to think, This is the most important thing."
Posted Mon Jan 11, 2010, 2:42pm Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
Bitches_Brew Said:
that sounds real "friendly" and welcoming. maybe we need a new rule that so called "noobs" can't post questions their first 10 posts. maybe even a "no noobs allowed" banner on the front page. just my 2 cents.
It was a "reminder" not a rule. It's just plain good advice for ANY internet forum (including mailing lists). I'd go further by pointing everyone to "How To Ask Questions the Smart Way", an oft-cited reference.
On the other hand, if you're willing to field all those questions that Rob was referring to--problem solved! (insert little "winky" symbol here, I'm emoticonically challenged.)
pixelberry Senior Member Joined: 26 Jan 2009 Posts: 35 Location: Los Angeles, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Silvia, Aeropress Grinder: Rocky
Posted Mon Jan 11, 2010, 3:05pm Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
I just want to add that, as a relative newbie myself, I've found searching CoffeeGeek with Google to be extremely useful. (For those who are unfamiliar, just add "site:coffeegeek.com" at the end of your search to make that search specific to this site.)
In fact, the reason why I don't post here as often as I would like is simply because 99% of my questions have already been asked/answered here in multiple threads. It really is so much faster to find pre-answered questions than to go through the trouble of starting a new thread and waiting for the replies to trickle in (if they come in at all). Because I pretty much have coffee-related questions on a daily basis, searching is a necessity for me. :D
I'm not trying to discourage any newbies from posting questions here by any means -- but my personal experience has shown that searching the discussions first is always the best way to start whenever you have a coffee question. :)
Posted Mon Jan 11, 2010, 6:31pm Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
pixelberry Said:
I just want to add that, as a relative newbie myself, I've found searching CoffeeGeek with Google to be extremely useful. (For those who are unfamiliar, just add "site:coffeegeek.com" at the end of your search to make that search specific to this site.)
Posted Mon Jan 11, 2010, 6:32pm Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
Bitches_Brew Said:
that sounds real "friendly" and welcoming. maybe we need a new rule that so called "noobs" can't post questions their first 10 posts. maybe even a "no noobs allowed" banner on the front page. just my 2 cents.
i don't think i took it wrong. i just think on a website like this there is going to always be a large number of people asking redundant questions. the more new people that join, the more questions. don't you think some people just want a direct answer or maybe just interact with people on here? "interaction" is the point of having a forum after all. i guess you made it seem like you don't want/have the time to be bothered with such nonsense.
maybe there should be a quiz that is required to pass before membership is allowed.;)
"You can write down how to make the perfect cup of coffee. But to make it really good, you have to play something fictional, you have to dress up, you have to think, This is the most important thing."
santalum Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 215 Location: Australia Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Mon Jan 11, 2010, 8:54pm Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
IMAWriter Said:
Just a friendly reminder to newly signed up CG'ers: or as we say around here, NOOBS!
Before posting your "Which grinder to get for under $100?" or "Which machine is better, X or Y?".... PLEASE use the CG Search engine for quick links to these and maybe 5000 other topics, All of which have been discussed thoroughly.
If you can't find it on the CG Search engine, try Google. I guarantee that most of the listings will point to either CG or HomeBarista.com. Less duplicate threads will ease the strain on the website, and may actually get you where you need to be quicker! This will free up the moderators as well, so we can spend more time ferreting out the Spammers and such.
With this in mind, we hope you enjoy your CG membership, and the journey to GREAT COFFEE!
I've seen requests of this nature on other forums, Google's your friend, please search the site data base before asking questions etc, in theory once the data base is comprehensive enough and all of the questions asked posting should become redundant, do a search, yet your answer and blow through, please don't bother us with your silly questions. Cynical observation? sure, it just seems to me that people progress through forums as noobs, gain some knowledge, become quite adept at what ever it is they are participating in then reach a stage where they've seen it all before and answering the same old questions becomes a bit of a chore, of course many drop out along the way as well. It seems to me that senior members are a forums most valuable resource, and their willingness or otherwise in answering questions and welcoming new members is all important in the continued success of the site. When a new member makes a first post and is responded to by being told to use the search engine I suspect there is a better than even chance they will take it as unwelcoming and move on. One of the prime reasons people join forums is to interact with others, if they simply want information they could do a search and find what they want. Populate or perish. Please don't take this as stirring the pot, simply observations. :)
Posted Tue Jan 12, 2010, 5:29am Subject: Re: Newbies: Before posting a new thread!!
While I think it's positive to encourage new members to research and read a bit on thier own, I also agree that the tone of this thread has been less than open and inviting even though the OP intended to be welcoming.
As John mentioned, other forums have similar requests and in the cases where such a request become a rule to be enforced it tends to diminish the participation overall. We certainly don't want anything like that here. I'm sure that Robert was just voicing the same sentiment that has been posted numerous times in the past by others.
That said, I have a take on this myself and I hope my input is positive and productive....
The person that needs to be reminded how to use Google will probably never see a thread like this. They don't research for themsleves so how would they even find this discussion? Following this line of logic, it seems that the folks that WILL actually will see this thread are the ones who don't need to be reminded.
Also, the new member who is welcomed and assisted by the community will sometimes stick around an participate and learn enough to contribute to others. This is what happened to me....a few members here were kind and helpful to me at the start and so when I learned a little bit I started to share with others when they had questions. Now I see people I have helped in the past helping other new members.
As for the contentious tone, I hope we can all get along here. It's understandable that new members might not like being called "NOOBS" by senior members, I more often see people refer to themsleves this way but it can come off as derogatory when someone calls someone else a noobie EVEN IF it was meant to be freindly and playful.
Over at H-B they have a well-hidden Guideline for Productive Discussion that seems to be helpful in many cases. I can only find it through the site owner's posts so please feel free to bookmark the spot.
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