Welcome the Newbies

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by teamtestbot

Quick question...

What is this "rep" business and does it affect your account/forum operation at all? Or is it some sort of social benchmark, like "popularity" at schools? I see alot of posts about "giving" positive and negative reputations which makes me suspicious about the actual nature of it.

Search before yo.... er ah..

It is in the FAQs, Reputation FAQ

Wetzel

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Wetzel

It is in the FAQs, Reputation FAQ

Hm... don't think the "forum perks" part was there when I last read that several months ago...

'parently I was wrong/might be wrong in the future.

--EDIT--
English/grammar police out there, would you capitalize the "P" in the above sentence? In case it isn't obvious, that's "apparently" with the initial "ap" taken off... Just curious.

[wilshire]

well like i said before I had just got on and I imeadiately was getting slammed. which is why i suppose there is only 2 students that actually post on CD from our team. Eugenia Gabreilov and myself.

[c-squared_2006]

Others negative opinions shouldn't matter too much. Everyone has horrible days where their moods aren't too great. I try to only listen to the positive or constructive opinions. Although some people come off as sounding annoying we should tolerate that to a certian extent. There is a point where someone has gone too far, but there's not many people who do go too far. What I'm trying to say is to be considerate! *HUGS* to all!

[ClintDog]

I agree that this may be scaring people off but, sensitivity is OK to a certain degree. Just realize that reposting is not the end of the world and life will go on. Give the newbies a break.

[sanddrag]

I hardly ever give negative to anyone. For me, it takes something pretty bad to get a negative rep. And also, I don't just go handing out positives too often either.

[mechanicalbrain]

personally i have two bad reps and both are in my opinion ridiculous.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I will be one of the first to say it right out loud: I know that I can be very harsh sometimes with newbies. Patience isn't my natural strong suit, but I do try and sometimes I fail to be the member I wish to be and sometimes I succeed.

As I often read back in my posts, I think to myself in shame and say "How would I feel?" After doing this numerous times back in the day, my manner of responding to inexperienced questions and actions changed bit by bit until I felt that I responded with the adequate amount of grace needed to maintain self-respect in an intelligent and developing community.

I feel that many that have posted above me are very correct, but I will say that when I am sitting there posting, I find it difficult to tell myself and make excuses for a person. I realized that many months ago, and consciously chose to change my style or giving reputation.

In fact, I have made amazing friendships just be giving a rep point to someone when it looked like they were shy to post much but wanted to put in their 2 cents, or if the rep prompted a dialogue on an issue and later developed into a strong friendship. The same thing happens with private messages. Two examples of two best friends with whom the entire thing began with rep or private message? Neha & Bridgette. I love you guys...

Some people would say my giving of reputation is arbitrary. I give lots of it. I don't always give it for posts that I see that are long, or that give insight. I give reputation for effort. When I see a new individual, with a bit of rep, post a short comment in a thread that has a good function, I compliment them. Yes, negative rep is discouraging, but not recieving any rep at all is just as discouraging. I'm sure there are many people out there who check their rep screen every 20 minutes in hope of positive reinforcement in a unique community, where they may not get positive reinforcement for sharing information in their home, school, or robotics program.

[alphastryk]

i am on here reading a lot, but i only post when i feel that i can say something without getting negative rep points. perhaps the forum might seem more friendly without rep points at all?

[Enterprize]

Originally Posted by JVN

However, there are worse offenses...
This also happens to be a place with a great number of "really smart people". Engineers and professionals with a large amount of experience deign to post here and share their wisdom. As my father so frequently told me when I was younger "Listen with your ears, not with your mouth." It is important that all younger members learn to listen, rather than jumping in and offerring opinions and advice that may not be well founded

I see no problems with ANYONE offering opinions or advice. They are just that, opinions and advice from their perspective. It doesnt require you to listen to or follow their advice, instead it offers a learning potential. If you dont follow their advice (because its flawed) and instead of slamming them for being a newbie and trying to help, tell them why it wouldnt work very well. After all, the newbie WAS just more than likely just trying to help.

They reserve the right to express their opinions and advice just as much as some mentor that's been on the forum for years. I think anyone who says otherwise is just being silly.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Enterprize

They reserve the right to express their opinions and advice just as much as some mentor that's been on the forum for years. I think anyone who says otherwise is just being silly.

Yes, the ignorant have as much a right to an opinion as anyone.
However, they do not have the right to remain ignorant, and still remain a part of this community.

Maybe I am just being silly.
Crazy me for thinking that the knowledgeable should have more of a right to share knowledge and that maybe the ignorant should keep their mouths shut, until they become knowledgeable. I know I wish I did (it took me a while to figure this out, thanks Dad).

Opinions are like <noses>-- everyone's got one, but nobody wants to
look at the other guy's.
-- Hal Hickman

[AmyPrib]

Call me crazy, but I feel it's a little silly to be giving bad rep for someone who re-posts, or didn't use the "search" feature, but sounds like it's happening a lot...I don't think that's deserving of neg rep, actually I rarely find something that is truly deserving of bad rep. Yes it's frustrating for the rest of us to wade through those posts, but hopefully mods can delete, or close redundant threads, in addition to everyone helping the newbies find their way.

We can always hope that the newbies will read for a while and learn all they need to before they start posting - but this isn't an ideal world. So, we can post those sticky's for reminders, we can PM them individually with a positive encouragement to do something different, or we can post a nice message in reply to their redundant threads, but I think it's unnecessary to give neg rep. We don't want them to leave all together, so we shouldn't be adding to their worries about being yelled at.

Even when the newbies post "over the line" sarcasm, and "ignorant" comments, I don't give neg rep. I PM them with the suggestion that, while they may not mean harm or offense, they should think about how their post will sound and possibly affect others and to consider lightening up. Until the community gets to know them, sarcasm or those types of comments can be offensive and found "jerky", and people that join CD typically are not like that on purpose, so they need to be given a few chances. Hopefully they will heed the advice and learn proper "etiquette" as time passes, as they usually do. I've seen a few that started off really rocky, but have shaped up a bit soon after.

[Marc P.]

Originally Posted by Enterprize

I see no problems with ANYONE offering opinions or advice. They are just that, opinions and advice from their perspective. It doesnt require you to listen to or follow their advice, instead it offers a learning potential. If you dont follow their advice (because its flawed) and instead of slamming them for being a newbie and trying to help, tell them why it wouldnt work very well. After all, the newbie WAS just more than likely just trying to help.

They reserve the right to express their opinions and advice just as much as some mentor that's been on the forum for years. I think anyone who says otherwise is just being silly.

Opinions and advice about certain issues is always welcome and A Good Thing. However, these forums harbor quite a bit of technical discussion, dealing with potentially lethal forces (pneumatics, electronics, mechanical, etc), and in such circumstances it's best not to offer advice or help unless you really know what you are talking about.

The last thing this community needs is for someone to be seriously injured because of some bad advice given on a public forum. I think that's where John's mind was when he made that post, and his concern is well founded.


With regards to the original topic, I've been registered on ChiefDelphi since January of 2002, and had read the forums regularly since the start of the 2001 season. The one thing that has always jumped out at/impressed me about this community (compared to other large sites like Slashdot) is the overall quality of the forums, in posts, topics, members, etc. Trolls are virtually nonexistent around here, and spam is kept to a minimum thanks to the herculean efforts of the moderator crew.

As the community grows (and it has been, almost exponentially it seems), it's important to maintain the quality that keeps people coming back. The content on this site is second to none in terms of technical documents, community discussion, and overall friendship. The reputation system is one of the methods of identifying people who have in one way or another contributed something to the community, whether it be technical insight, a fresh perspective on a subject, or providing valuable input to a discussion. It's not meant to ward off would-be John-V-Neuns or Andy Bakers or Dave Laverys, and people shouldn't use it as such. But again, quality is important. It takes a lot for me to give out negative reputation, and I usually wouldn't unless I felt a post obviously detracts from a discussion.

My best recommendation for new users is to absorb as much as you can. Read the forums for a few days to get a general feeling for the types of discussions taking place. This is a community, and all communities are governed by commonly known unwritten rules (in addition to the written rules that were agreed to by becoming a registered user). Things like searching before posting and spelling and grammar are common new member mistakes.

Take in the scenery, learn how things work, then take the plunge and join the community.

Originally Posted by AmyPrib

Call me crazy, but I feel it's a little silly to be giving bad rep for someone who re-posts, or didn't use the "search" feature, but sounds like it's happening a lot...I don't think that's deserving of neg rep, actually I rarely find something that is truly deserving of bad rep. Yes it's frustrating for the rest of us to wade through those posts, but hopefully mods can delete, or close redundant threads, in addition to everyone helping the newbies find their way.

We can always hope that the newbies will read for a while and learn all they need to before they start posting - but this isn't an ideal world. So, we can post those sticky's for reminders, we can PM them individually with a positive encouragement to do something different, or we can post a nice message in reply to their redundant threads, but I think it's unnecessary to give neg rep. We don't want them to leave all together, so we shouldn't be adding to their worries about being yelled at.

Even when the newbies post "over the line" sarcasm, and "ignorant" comments, I don't give neg rep. I PM them with the suggestion that, while they may not mean harm or offense, they should think about how their post will sound and possibly affect others and to consider lightening up. Until the community gets to know them, sarcasm or those types of comments can be offensive and found "jerky", and people that join CD typically are not like that on purpose, so they need to be given a few chances. Hopefully they will heed the advice and learn proper "etiquette" as time passes, as they usually do. I've seen a few that started off really rocky, but have shaped up a bit soon after.

thats true your right i agree. i think soon enough when sum newbies like be sarcastiv or write ignorant comments i think they will learn from there mistakes, etc sooner or later. Yeah i admit that when ever sum1 would post sumthing that everyone on cd didnt want to hear or just whatever id go along with everyone and give them bad reps and stuff. i dont think thats a way to solve a problem especially to the newbies. although since specific commects tick alot of people off and stuff, people should lighten up on giving them bad reps because it might just really scare them and actually never post on here again.

[koala79]

Hey I am a newbie too and just wanted to say hi!