People need to use spoilers more.

[Godly Paladin]

All over the place on CAA there are spoilers about various shows that aren't in the special spoiler boxes. Just recently I had one aspect of Trigun absolutely ruined by a blatant giveaway in the Anime-a-minute thread.

People need to realize that, even when they're discussing older shows, they have to be careful about saying who dies, what happens, etcetera. You never know when a latecomer to a show - like me - will get the fun ruined by a single careless sentence.

Maybe you could put up a notice on the home page telling people to be more careful and [how] to use the spoiler tags.

[Mithrandir]

Good point - GP. We do have that information posted in various places but your right, it's not widely used/known (as your post shows, lol). Maybe we need can get the knights to go on "spoiler patrol" too. If someone isn't using spoilers properly, let a mod/admin know to get it fixed. *shrugs* It's just a thought.

[Ashley]

And as for putting it on the "home page", well we ARE redesigning a new look for CAA so that will be something I wll consider. But for now, there are stickys EVERYWHERE talking about how to use spoiler tags. Ignorance is really no excuse now, people are just lazy. But I'm really sorry about the spoiling going on.

[Arnobius]

I don't know about that. This may be dumb, but how many newbs even understand that a Sticky is important? I didn't know for a month after I joined, and I had to do a quote before I learned how to do a spoiler tag.

I see so many new people come in, not knowing they're not supposed to discuss EVA or hentai, or know that some topics are taboo (I didn't know fansubs/bootlegs were a do not discuss topic until a mod told me last month.)

Thing is, there is no link for new members to click to find the rules, the do not discuss lists, etc. I think that should be on the main, perhaps on the same page as the FAQ, giving links to the important stickies. Right now we just throw them to the wolves.

ANyway, don't mean to rant here, but just suggest an alternate point of view.

[Roy Mustang]

Maybe we need can get the knights to go on "spoiler patrol" too. If someone isn't using spoilers properly, let a mod/admin know to get it fixed. *shrugs* It's just a thought.

What are the knights that you are talking about? I was just wondering that and all.

I don't know about that. This may be dumb, but how many newbs even understand that a Sticky is important? I didn't know for a month after I joined, and I had to do a quote before I learned how to do a spoiler tag.

I see so many new people come in, not knowing they're not supposed to discuss EVA or hentai, or know that some topics are taboo (I didn't know fansubs/bootlegs were a do not discuss topic until a mod told me last month.)

Thing is, there is no link for new members to click to find the rules, the do not discuss lists, etc. I think that should be on the main, perhaps on the same page as the FAQ, giving links to the important stickies. Right now we just throw them to the wolves.

AnimeHeretic does have a point. When I frist started going to message boards when I was 21, I didn't know there was spoil tags and such.

But in case in point, I think oldphilosopher has a good idea about knights go on a spoiler patrol. Maybe some of us can take the time and help newbies out and such as answering more questions for them or something like that.


Wingzero22

[Mithrandir]

OK. This get's back to square one, though. When someone first joins a board, they are either:
1. A total newbie and only got into forums because they thought CAA was a cool idea.
2. They are post-masters-general and know everything.
3. Somewhere along the non-descrete path between 1 and 2.

So then, how WOULD we go about this, eh? Maybe we need a "New to online forums? Click here!" button when a person first registers. Actually, if we had a full-on tutorial section of the site, we could probably just put a link with said button in any thread that asked a tutorial-answered question. Anytime someone didn't use spoilers when they should have, we could PM them with the link to the tutorials, and maybe post a link in the thread as well.

It's something to think about, anyway...

[Arnobius]

OK. This get's back to square one, though. When someone first joins a board, they are either:
1. A total newbie and only got into forums because they thought CAA was a cool idea.
2. They are post-masters-general and know everything.
3. Somewhere along the non-descrete path between 1 and 2.

So then, how WOULD we go about this, eh? Maybe we need a "New to online forums? Click here!" button when a person first registers. Actually, if we had a full-on tutorial section of the site, we could probably just put a link with said button in any thread that asked a tutorial-answered question. Anytime someone didn't use spoilers when they should have, we could PM them with the link to the tutorials, and maybe post a link in the thread as well.

It's something to think about, anyway...

That sounds like a practical application of what I was thinking-- at least some sort of "newbs link" on the sign in page to give you the FAQ, the DND list and other rules that can be found on stickies. Maybe it would cut down on the annoying things...

[Mithrandir]

Yeah. I was mostly trying to think how we would 'market' that link to people who don't know what a 'newb' is.

[Link Antilles]

I say we ship the newbies off to a training-forum-boot-camp for a week.


On the serious side of things, would they actually read it even after that? They might see it as long page of rules and be overwhelmed. Then, figure they are just better off wingin' it.

*shrugs* Maybe a simple spoken flash tutorial? You know, like a series of sides narrated. Then again, that may be serious overkill. Just throwing ideas in the hat.

[Arnobius]

Yeah. I was mostly trying to think how we would 'market' that link to people who don't know what a 'newb' is.

Well, maybe for people new to the site. I mean the rules are different here than at ANN for example, so maybe somethimg like "for new members" or an auto PM to new members (sent when they confirm the registration) providing a link. I don't know what can and can't be easily done, so I'm just throwing it out.

[Mithrandir]

I appriciate ANY ideas thrown out. The more ideas I hear, the more creative I can be. You can ask anyone whose seen my code, I'm VERY creative at programming - as can be seen from this Typical Conversation.

Oldphil: See, this section of the code is what overloads the function; it's truely polymorphic code!
By-stander: When did Adobe map the perl commands into their 'spray paint' function?