A way to combat useless 'Newbie' questions!

[Aventhe]

I would have to say that the amount of useless questions being posted by newbies is just way too much and they are also creating threads to ask their dumb questions - this of course invites signature campaign spammers and everything goes downhill after that.

Some of these questions include:

- "How do I increase my activity?"

- "Can I skip ranks?"

- "I can't post images - help" (posted by a newbie for example...)

And the list just goes on and on....

I would suggest to the forum that maybe if we forced newbies to read the threads underneath before they posted anything, it might help reduce the number of these useless questions.

Newbies - Read before posting -- Posted by Lauda

Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ -- Posted by mprep


By 'forced' I mean that after a newbie has created an account, he or she would be re-directed to the 2 threads that they would have to spend a certain number of minutes on to 'read' the text and acknowledge that they have done so. Until then, the rest of the forum will be closed for them. While this does not guarantee that the user will actually READ these threads, it will certainly help out a few people who are truly interested in the forum. For those who continue to post these useless questions, it will become obvious who has not paid any attention to the rules.


It might just be a dumb idea after-all, but please share your thoughts about this.

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

Yep, something similar has been suggested recently, and it's not a bad idea at all.

I think the suggestion was that mods would nuke the spam thread and somehow redirect the hapless noob to the appropriate thread.  If sig campaigns weren't allowed to pay for posts in threads like that, they would stop in a heartbeat.   A lot of campaigns already don't pay for posts in beginners & help, but somehow these questions always end up in meta.  They'd probably still do it to rank up.

Something has got to be done.  I'm glad to see topics being created about the issue and even gladder to see mods deleting a ton of posts.  I'd like it if they told us for what purpose they're doing this--I'm hoping it's to clean up spam, but who knows.

[Lauda]

Newbies - Read before posting -- Posted by Lauda

That was the idea behind that thread, which was an update of an already existing one by Mitchell and me. Similarly, the General threads in that subforum are also used for the same thing. Back in my late days of moderating, we were trashing any generic 'wallet' or 'how to earn' threads on sight. Mitchell is the only one doing that right now from what I see. I also suspect that people controlling a lot of accounts create these garbage-level threads in order to respond to it with their army of accounts.

A lot of campaigns already don't pay for posts in beginners & help, but somehow these questions always end up in meta. 

I've seen a lot of spammers post their half-genuine-looking bullshit in here.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Right, I was being typically selfish--I have that section on ignore.

I think there's a relatively easy solution to this using an idea like OP's, but the stumbling block has always been the will to act on the part of theymos.  That's how I perceive it, anyway.   I'd like to compile a list of the most commonly asked questions here, and maybe that would be useful for something.

Edit: I'd be curious to know why the nuking of those "how do I earn bitcoin" threads stopped.  That's definitely one that keeps popping up for exactly the reason Lauda has stated.

[Lauda]

Right, I was being typically selfish--I have that section on ignore.

I was posting there a lot more frequently before, but nowadays not as much because it is full of spammers.

I think there's a relatively easy solution to this using an idea like OP's, but the stumbling block has always been the will to act on the part of theymos.  That's how I perceive it, anyway.  

Every *solution* or *action* is hard if you do not do anything. I remember reporting a huge list of shit threads when I was a mod. and it took forever for Cyrus and hilariousandco to handle (for whatever reason).

I'd like to compile a list of the most commonly asked questions here, and maybe that would be useful for something.

That doesn't work with pretend newbies. You should ask master account farmers such as Quickseller.

[TagaMungkahi]

I would have to say that the amount of useless questions being posted by newbies is just way too much and they are also creating threads to ask their dumb questions - this of course invites signature campaign spammers and everything goes downhill after that.

Some of these questions include:

- "How do I increase my activity?"

- "Can I skip ranks?"

- "I can't post images - help" (posted by a newbie for example...)

And the list just goes on and on....

I would suggest to the forum that maybe if we forced newbies to read the threads underneath before they posted anything, it might help reduce the number of these useless questions.

Newbies - Read before posting -- Posted by Lauda

Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ -- Posted by mprep


By 'forced' I mean that after a newbie has created an account, he or she would be re-directed to the 2 threads that they would have to spend a certain number of minutes on to 'read' the text and acknowledge that they have done so. Until then, the rest of the forum will be closed for them. While this does not guarantee that the user will actually READ these threads, it will certainly help out a few people who are truly interested in the forum. For those who continue to post these useless questions, it will become obvious who has not paid any attention to the rules.


It might just be a dumb idea after-all, but please share your thoughts about this.

I actually like this idea, i think with this solution newbie spammers will have a place to read at it first. I think the addition for this is the certain time that they should be online on that certain thread which a lot of info about the general info/help  about bitcoin and bitcoin talk forum I love the idea!.

[Aventhe]

However the idea behind what I post is that this is more like 'Terms and Conditions' for Bitcointalk. Like with any website nowadays, you have to accept these T&Cs before you are able to do anything with your account. While this here is no legal contract, the user should still have to read these threads before doing anything else. Another thing is that it is very important to put a timer on the page if this is ever to get implemented. That way people can't just easily skip through but have to read at least some of it.

I think the suggestion was that mods would nuke the spam thread and somehow redirect the hapless noob to the appropriate thread.  

The problem with 'nuking' threads is that it can still leave the person's questions unanswered (may happen, who knows) and will eventually create another thread like that to get answers for the same question. Nuking is only good against spammers and account farmers, while I feel it might not answer the questions of an honest man who actually wants to know the answer, however has not read Lauda's thread because they are unable to find it or don't even know it exists.

Bottom line - A lot more attention should be brought to especially Lauda's thread. Maybe in the form of what I suggested in OP or Browser pop-ups - anything to grab the attention of a person who has recently joined up for the forum. The lack of information has never been the problem, just the 'advertising of it'. Most newbies probably dont even know it exists.

[Aventhe]

I wonder what staff have to say about this, as it isn't that bad of an idea and I believe it would help out plenty of people.

[Lauda]

The problem with 'nuking' threads is that it can still leave the person's questions unanswered (may happen, who knows) and will eventually create another thread like that to get answers for the same question.

If that happens because they have not read the stickied thread it is their fault and such threads should continue to be nuked as much as possible.

Nuking is only good against spammers and account farmers, while I feel it might not answer the questions of an honest man who actually wants to know the answer, however has not read Lauda's thread because they are unable to find it or don't even know it exists.

The threads are the first ones you see when you visit B & H. There is no justification for not reading them and opening up a new thread.

Bottom line - A lot more attention should be brought to especially Lauda's thread. Maybe in the form of what I suggested in OP or Browser pop-ups - anything to grab the attention of a person who has recently joined up for the forum. The lack of information has never been the problem, just the 'advertising of it'. Most newbies probably dont even know it exists.

I haven't heard much from the staff members regarding it, other than Cyrus giving a stamp of approval (IIRC) before Mitchell and I took the idea to theymos and just did it.