As the season approaches...

[Arefin Bari]

As the season approaches to us, I would like to remind everyone on the forum again about the newbies . As always we will have new members here who will try to learn things and may post same thing twice, please be polite and let them know how to use the search feature on the site (even if it takes one personal message). The reason I am reminding you this is because I have been there at one point of time when I didn’t know the rules myself, made a lot of mistakes and have had mentors/engineers/college students/members of the site pm me, send me messages about the mistakes. I didn’t take them as a personal attack, rather took it as a lesson. That is the reason I am still a part of the community. Once a rookie or a newbie is upset about something, it is very hard to bring them back here. I am going to use an example here, Mike Sorrenti from Sie-H20-bots (team 237); a high school freshman is a great programmer. He programmed that robot like nothing, and we all know about it. He has shown us what a smart freshman can do in one season. We want the members to stick around, learn, and get inspired. Because this is the generation that will be controlling the community and FIRST soon as well as teach the next generation and inspire them.

With that being said, I welcome everyone to join me to help/inspire the newbies here on the forum throughout the season. Thanks.

[Bharat Nain]

Good point. I know I have been guilty of saying "SEARCH BEFORE YOU POST" directly many times. And I know some of you have too. But we need to take a step back and refrain from saying such things. Tolerance is tough but it's an art for success. Since it benefits you also, do what Arefin said.

[nehalita]

What these two men say above is true. Our attitude reflects our community and we cannot come across as a welcome community without the welcoming attitude.

To the rookies: I still consider myself as a rookie so I want you to know that I still go through what you all go through. There's a lot to learn here and make sure you get a chance to look at some of these threads, especially the stickies. Many of us here are MORE than happy to talk to you about anything you might want to know. Don't feel intimidated, we don't bite =).

[Arkorobotics]

Talk about bad experiences... I defiantly agree with this, people were not so nice when I first joined, but after a while I caught on. I just think it would be nice if can show the newbies how great ChiefDelphi really is.

[coastertux]

I totally agree! I was a noobie last year and I was warmly welcomed. I am ready to give something back to the community and show this year's noobies and show them how great ChiefDelphi really is.

[Cory]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

Best way to welcome new users...don't call them n00b, newb, etc.

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by Cory

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

Best way to welcome new users...don't call them n00b, newb, etc.

Newb, or not newb: that is the question?

[ClintDog]

Good call

[wilshire]

We also need to remember to refrain from going for that rep button right off the bat. I know I got the blunt end of this last year when I first joined.
Luckily I'm a quick learner. Like Arefin said before a nice polite pm is always a positive way to showing the new user what he or she may have done wrong. I know I definitely appreciated the people that PMed me instead of giving me bad rep.
So with that being said:
Welcome to Chiefdelphi forums new users

[Damian Manda]

This is exactly what needs to happen. Our team eliminated the language of rookie/newbie vs. veteran from our communication due to the negative connotation it seemed to carry for new members. The best way to keep people enjoying the FIRST program is to help them and make them feel included, not differentiate certain people into categories. We were all once in the same position, and I remember I was sometimes hesitant to post just because I though someone might catch me on reposting something or asking an easy to answer question. Thanks for posting this reminder Arefin.