rominl

iTrader: (4)

ok guys, it's time to calm down. it's silly if this ends up being another debate thread.

just couple things i notice. all humans are lazy in general. everyone wants to just ask and get answer and no need to do more. that's just nature of humans, it's not something "wrong", but it's probably not ideal in most eyes.

what we can do is to educate people to search and try to make them adapt to our culture. to me when people come and ask a question, we (experienced members) have couple of choices
1) ignore it, since it's been covered 100000 times
2) ask them to search, nicely, and also do the search for them and provide the links, showing them search is as easy as asking (what dave does all the time)
3) just answer it again, for the 100001th time (what i usually do with a comment to search)

that's pretty much what we can do, and we can only do what we can to change the society. we are not here to discourge people from asking, but we are here to build a community where everyone will help each other and understand each other.

i can almost for sure say that:
1) we were all newbie ones
2) we knew nothing from the beginning
3) we might have searched, but we must have asked something that some people think is silly, redundant, and useless
4) imagine if you were treated that way, or is PENALIZED for asking a question.

would you want that? i for sure don't. i go to a lot of forums, some of them are total ***, where you ask a question and 80% of the replies are "oh boy another newb" "do a search can ya?" "post something useful please". that's a very good reason for me to LEAVE that forum for good. i ask something hoping for an answer or guidance, not insults from some people who could very possible not as useful as i am

that's all i want to say

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

One thing you guys fail to recognize is that for each of the new members we have that posts a question without searching first there are at least five who DO search. I know because from time to time I watch new member activities when they join our forum. We have over 47,000 members and over 1.6 million posts on our forum. I think the volume of what you would consider annoying newb questions is pretty low given the size of CL.

I'm sorry the fact that we don't penalize, mute, ban or otherwise insult new members who don't search first causes some of you grief. I'd advise you that the so called 'management' approach to this issue is not going to change in the near future. That simply isn't the way we want to run CL because it doesn't make it an inviting place to be and we want to continue to grow and welcome new members. Yes it may annoy some of the older members who see the same thing over and over again, but that happens on every single auto enthusiasts forum I read (and I read a lot of them). Even those with very extensive FAQs and self-help libraries. It's a simple fact of internet forum life.

If a member beyond 'new member' status continues to bother you by asking questions you think they should search for, simply put them on your ignore list. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/pro...hp?do=editlist

For those of you with appropriate access, you CAN continue to help by adding more to the FAQ areas which we will concentrate on pushing out soon (we've done a pilot in the 2IS forum recently). You CAN help by telling new members how to search.. not just what keywords but other advanced tricks like you may use (search by keyword in the title, search by most views) to narrow down the 20 pages of results.

We've (CL admin team) got a lot on our plate with an upgrade, moderator nominations, large meet planning, 'real life' work, world travel, wedding planning etc but there are items in the works to help this issue that I've outlined before. Yes, the good ideas come to fruition slowly but that's life these days - too much work, too little free time... we have to prioritize.

Off the top of my head some those items are:
- FAQs for all the higher volume forums
- enhanced new member email giving links to a 'how to search' and stressing the importance of taking advantage of what's already there
- enhanced forum rules (written, to be posted along with upgrade)
- more moderators. Be sure that we will select those who are observed helping new members and not busy insulting them.

mikeloc24

A "happy medium" seems to be everyone's goal. The key is finding it. We have some great minds here...I'm sure a viable solution will be discovered in time.

-The New "kinder, gentler" Mike Loc

rominl

iTrader: (4)

amen, where's the fire?