Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 obryn May 17, 2011 14:09:56	Amidst all the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the General forum, there are on occasion new posters who are looking for advice on their games.  They tend to get lost amidst the discussion threads. I think it'd be great to have a sub-forum specifically for them, and keep it separate from the bickering and arguments that are basically filling the General forum to capacity.  I understand the moderators don't want a "War Zone" style forum; I get it.  But the General Forum has become the War Zone as a result.  Heavily moderate it to keep posts helpful, and I think it would be a nice added perk for anyone new who's looking for info and advice without scaring them off with crazy nerdraging. -O
#2 Seeker95 May 17, 2011 16:14:28	I think such a thing would be rosy good, but... How do we keep us old farts with baggage out of there; and If we can keep the old farts out, how do the new folks get help?
#3 wrecan May 17, 2011 16:37:01	I agree with Seeker.  Also, what's to stop sockpuppets from being employed in the newbie forums by people who want to warn the newbies about the horror du jour?
#4 Harn_Winterfell May 17, 2011 17:59:02	Begin to finally permanently ip ban the people who simply can't play nice.
#5 obryn May 17, 2011 20:20:52	I'm not saying it'd be perfectly easy. More to the point, I'm not saying, "Keep the old fogeys out."  I'm saying, "Really be serious about old fogeys playing nice." -O
#6 zombie_babies May 18, 2011 8:19:50	A subforum for our n008in5 pals would be a h4ter troll magnet.  They'd have a pool of their favorite target and one they'd think they'd be able to 'make a difference' ranting at.  As stated, moderation is the key.  One important thing to remember about that is that that moderation depends upon you.  Report what you see that breaks the CoC and it'll help the mods do their jobs.  Jus' somethin' to keep in mind.
#7 wrecan May 18, 2011 8:45:39	You can't have stricter moderation rules for one forum than for elsewhere.  That will do two things: (1) challenge people to come up with ways around the restrictions; and (2) convince people that because there's a G-rated forum, sky's the limit elsewhere, thus making all the other forums worse.
#8 Harn_Winterfell May 18, 2011 14:08:24	Apply my solution to all the forums.  This is something that should have been done long ago in my opinion.  Constant wrist slaps has done nothing to curtail the unacceptable behavior.
#9 Timmeh May 18, 2011 14:15:36	I think some of the solutions presented in the Forum Consolidation thread would do a better job of pushing the newer players in the right direction than having a new forum for noobs (for the reasons listed). The only bad thing about Harn's solution is the sometimes I act irrationally and I don't want to get banned for life because of a mistake or two :|. Plus, OTT would just get nuked from outer space.
#10 zombie_babies May 18, 2011 14:31:35	Plus, OTT would just get nuked from outer space. Shhh!  We're model citizens, dammit!  What the is wrong with you, man!  *looks at above text* Hmm ... on second thought ...
#11 Harn_Winterfell May 18, 2011 16:51:27	I'm not meaning a one strike you're gone style of moderating.  There needs to be in place, if there isn't already and it's just not being used, a place for the moderators to see that xx has received xx number warnings to cease unacceptable behavior.  This should also include the walking the fine line.  I've little tolerance for people that use the CoC as shield to bully others as they abuse it by staying just inside the line. I would like to see the WotC forums be the place where the designers and others come to interact rather than other sites on the web.  It's more than a little sad that sites other than WotC's site gets more interaction with designers and developers and the number one reason I can see is the state of the forums. I highly doubt that anything will ever come of it as it something I've written several times to the powers that be and am probably in a minority about.
#12 Seeker95 May 18, 2011 18:27:48	This should also include the walking the fine line.  I've little tolerance for people that use the CoC as shield to bully others as they abuse it by staying just inside the line. As long as they stay within the line, they are within the line, no matter how close they get to it. This is the case with lines, wherever they are drawn.
#13 Harn_Winterfell May 18, 2011 19:13:56	One can only hope that aggressive moderation will put an end to that as well, but as I said it's a pipe dream.  For whatever reason the behavior that takes place continues.
#14 wrecan May 19, 2011 8:16:41	I would like to see the WotC forums be the place where the designers and others come to interact rather than other sites on the web. That hasn't been true for awhile.  It used to be that designers went to EnWorld over these forums, but since Steve Winter took over the digital content, I've noticed the trend reversed.  (I don't necessarily credit/blame Steve for this -- that's just when I noticed the trend.)  EnWorld has gotten progressively worse over the last year.  And the new online articles by Mearls and Perkins, as wel as Rich Baker's semi-regular blogs on this site, I think, have lessened the need developers feel to post messages at all. I highly doubt that anything will ever come of it as it something I've written several times to the powers that be and am probably in a minority about. I think the ORCs think there is little more they can do given the terms of the CoC.  Smart people are very good at getting around the CoC by doing things like making generalized attacks "Isn't always the case that 4e's defenders can't handle any criticism" or "So many people just come on these boards to talk crap about the game no matter if it's accurate or not", or just rant about their own emotions in the most imflammatory way possible so as to get rises out of people "This game is so videogamey, I'm surprised DDi isn't released on GameFly." The other problem is that most of the bad behavior -- understandably -- comes form people feeling most negatively about the game.  negative emotions are more likely to encourage negative behavior.  So any crackdown is going to be seen as an attack on D&D's critics, which is, understandably, something a company often wants to avoid.  The cost of that is the forums are often turned into cesspits.
#15 Finarvyn May 23, 2011 11:38:59	I don't think we'd want to exclude the old-timers because they are the ones who might be able to provide the most insightful answers to newbie questions. I've played RPGs for 35+ years and still consider myself a 4E newbie. I might know OD&D, but I'm totally lost in 4E. I'll confess that I find 4E somewhat intimidating, perhaps due to the total number of rulebooks and options out there, and the forums often are not much better. There are so many sections in the forums that I don't always know where to post things or where to look for answers. When I do go to a forum, the posts all seem so specific and technical that I feel even more lost along the way. Lots of folks tell me that 4E is easy to learn and I'd like to believe that but so far my experience has been otherwise. I think that the biggest advantage of a "newbie" board would be that the questions asked would be more like the questions I have. The questions would be more basic and the answers simpler to follow. This would encourage folks who are just starting out to particpate more. Just my two cents.