Welcome the Newbies

[Blair Frank]

Hey there. I wouldn't exactly consider myself a n00b, but I haven't been around quite as long as some of the old-timers. Anywho, I have a proposal for the CD community. It comes from one of my other loves, Alternate Reality Games. On one of the forums devoted to discussing the aforementioned games, there is also the issue with newbies discussing things that have already been discussed, performing thread necromancy, the usual forum stuff. To deal with this, the term "trout" was created. I think the creator says it the best so, without further ado, I give you WALL OF TEXT.

So, I've been meditating on what we can do to make our newbies feel
more at home, and I've decided to use a strategy that's tried and
true: we'll make up something new.

In particular, we're going to use a new word from now on: "trout".

Of course, "trout" is an old word, but it's an old word with a new
meaning. When I say "trout" to you, I don't simply mean the fish, I
mean to say to you: "Listen. I respect you. It's great that you're
here and posting and that we're working together for a common goal.
Nonetheless, I have some polite criticisms."

You may use the word trout as its own sentence, as in:

"Trout. This is in the Trail, section 2.05."

Or, you may use it to refer to your polite constructive criticism:

"Pardon my trout, but we've been talking about this most of the
day... Read about it on CM-mod."

You may use it as a verb:

"I trout you. I think you've gotten confused about this."

Alternatively, you may use it as a pseudo- HTML tag:

"<trout>You must mean Jason Fertors-with-an-s, who IS in
PACO.</trout>"

You may use it as a post label, but try to use it in combo with other
labels:

"Subject: SPEC/TROUT Re: Evan is still alive!"

Finally, of course, you may decide not to use it at all. If so,
please use some form of polite disclaimer whenever you offer
constructive criticism, ESPECIALLY if that criticism is a correction
of some factual mistake. It's very hard to communicate a polite
attitude over e-mail. "Trout" will be one way to do it.

---------------------------------------------------

How will this help the newbies, you ask?

Well, those newbies who know and understand "trout" will understand
that we're not mocking or disrespectful to those with whom we disagree
or to those who post redundant information.

Those newbies who DON'T know what "trout" means will at least avoid
confusing polite criticism with mockery. Why? Because there's
something in the post, "trout," that they don't understand. It's hard
to assume that a post you don't understand is being unduly harsh. It
also leads the newbie to do exactly the right thing: to ask polite
questions.

Maybe this will work... maybe it won't. Either way, I hope that this
place will become a little bit friendlier on account of it.

Use "trout." Make this list a better place to be.

Thank you.

-Dan

The forum in question even has its own trout smiley (of one yellow head giving a trout to another) which by default links to that quote. IMO, it makes sense for CD to adopt something like that, since it really does change the tone of the discussion.

Well, that's my 2 cents.
-Blair

[Cyberphil]

Well, you guys welcomed me very well last year, so im returning the favor to all of the Newbies.

[Black Claw]

We were a team last year but we are real newbies coming this year with a whole new and new ideas.

[xnaut]

......

[jerry w]

Originally Posted by xnaut

......

i am sure you will have much more to say when build season starts!

[16MentalTempest]

I kinda like the trout idea. It seems that the term newbie carries some idea of negativity for most people. I myself am a junior, in my second year with a team that's only been around for three. Most of 2046 is new kids, so we are expecting a lot out of them to keep the team going.

I agree with the OP. We were all new kids at one point, I still consider myself new to the game, even though I have a build season and two competitions on my belt (made of buttons!).

I will say to new kids, save yourself and everyone else the trouble and try the search function. I found a little search tutorial that new folks can use. Although we should be welcoming to the new kids, you're never gonna be rid of the trolls. They best way to combat trolls is to not give them anything to complain about!

Hope my first post was informational.

[LaserTagVet]

I'm a newbie LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[LaserTagChief]

HAYYYY EVERYBODY

[Dethshoot1]

Hello everyone! I'm a sophomore and have been a part of my team for one year now and finally came around to registering on Chief Delphi. I hope that I'll be able to assist other people by sharing my knowledge and of course I hope to have some fun, too.

[Josh Goodman]

Hmm....Dethshoot....now could this possibly be the dethshoot from the JF CSS clan?

Welcome to the forums!

[Commissar]

I'm new here from this forum its a lot more inviting then a lot of the other forum sites I've been on.

[pontiacdude210]

Right on. I get tired of people asking a question tangently related to an old topic, and all they hear is SEARCH BEFORE YOU POST and the question wasn't even answered before. Then, the thread becomes a war over where this was answered before, and noone learns anything

[Robert103]

I'm a newbie and I'm just learning the ropes of everything

[Comatose]

Honestly, I hope this sums it all up.

If you have the time to post that they should search for same topics, you should just answer their question. It's rude to ask for someone to post his or her question somewhere else. If you don't like posts of previous topics, then ignore it and don't read it. This also applies to people who post "don't re-post the same topic" and then decide to create a different conversation, or just start another one without saying anything to the creator of the thread. I've seen this on so many other posts it makes me upset enough to log off for the day.

That’s my two cents.

Thanks,

Comatose

[darkshark0159]

Hello!

I am a senior at Middle Park High School in Granby, Colorado, and I'm happy to say that we have just founded our robotics team this year. There is certainly a great deal of excitement for the upcoming FRC, and we are frantically rushing to get all of our funding in order... woo hoo...

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to competing with you all in the coming months.


- I'm treating this like an introduction thread as I didn't see one.