Welcome the Newbies

[Katy]

Originally posted by lil_longo
I am no noob and i hate when people say that word noob make up a new word that sounds better and doesn't make them feel stupid and inferior

I'll call you hamsters then in this post. I don't think hamsters could be insulting because most people would say it makes no sense.

(The term comes from 2001 on team 360. The power went out and we had to turn a lathe by hand to finish a piece. The people who turned it the most turned out to be our animation team and new members because they didn't know how to do anything else on the robot. The piece they rotated reminded them of a hamster wheel and so the people who rotated it were named hamsters).

It's great that this has all been brought up and considered...but there is one thing I am slightly worried about. Often the people who are most condescending (and in this case sometimes vicious) are those who just escaped hamster status. It's a pretty well accepted idea...just look at the derivative of the word "sophomore."

I am afraid that while long-time readers may see this thread and think twice about their negative reputation sometimes-readers may not read this thread. This implies that while this thread is good it alone may not change the problems hamsters face.

Looking at the way this thread (once declared hamster-friendly) has taken off in a thousand other small topics perhaps it would be a good idea to have a "hamster corner" sort of forum. There people could ask their questions and perhaps a hamster would repeat a question once or twice but it would not clutter the main forums. It also could be a nice safe friendly area for hamsters to not feel intimidated posting.

I know that currently there is a warning that shows up if you post in the programming forum with under 10 posts on your account...perhaps there could be a clause in it to recommend you to the newbie forum if you have under 10 posts.

Anyway that solution sounds to me like it would make everybody happy...except well for the people who run Chiefdelphi because it is more work on their hands. I do hope however that the idea is at least considered.