What should be included in a newbie welcome message?

[hugeblack]

It is better to be welcome messages "one/section" instead of one long message.
There are many purposes for joining this forum, so it is imperative that those messages appear when the user visits the section for the first time.

The first welcome message should be general, contain essential rules, a link to read that rules, tips to protect your account, and general questions.
The rest of the sections contain messages addressed.

It would be good if someone made an explanatory video.

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[Lafu]

I guess it would be good with the long text if the join the first time!
Also, it will be good they have to click on a " OK I have Read it"  button so no one can say they haven't read it or known!

[TheBeardedBaby]

The only question that remain here is how we can get an answer from theymos or at least some reaction. I know he likes to troll/surprise people as he stated this a few times before but those are serious things, related to the future of the forum and the well-being of all the members no matter how good or bad they/we are, those a community-related questions and need some clearance.

[eddie13]

My suggestion:
Warning: Bitcoin transactions are designed to be permanent. Scams happen, and are not moderated on this forum. Be very careful who you trust.

Warning: Everything is a scam until proven otherwise by YOU..
Proceed at your own risk..

[suchmoon]

Please note: Bitcointalk is an English speaking only board and if you struggle with English or aren't fluent then you should stick to your local language sub board which can be found here.

That sounds a bit confusing, perhaps this would be more accurate:

Main discussion boards on Bitcointalk are English-only and if you struggle...

My suggestion:
Warning: Bitcoin transactions are designed to be permanent. Scams happen, and are not moderated on this forum. Be very careful who you trust.

Warning: Everything is a scam until proven otherwise by YOU..
Proceed at your own risk..

Yes, some variation of the above needs to be there.

The welcome message should also be available as a permanent link somewhere so that we could yell at noobs for not reading helpfully point new users to it in case they missed it.

[athanz88]

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Maybe actually read what is written first before pointlessly suggesting things?

Well i missed that part, it is my mistake and thanks for pointing it out, but from this incident, i guess there will be a chance that newbie will not read all the newbie welcome message especially if they are only here for making money. Making it shorter or give some colors to the letters like "red" for important point maybe something we can consider, but this is solely my opinion.

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My suggestion:
Warning: Bitcoin transactions are designed to be permanent. Scams happen, and are not moderated on this forum. Be very careful who you trust.

Warning: Everything is a scam until proven otherwise by YOU..
Proceed at your own risk..

Yes, some variation of the above needs to be there.

The welcome message should also be available as a permanent link somewhere so that we could yell at noobs for not reading helpfully point new users to it in case they missed it.

The idea of "Making money from this forum is not moderated by the forum" is excellent because if you only stated "Everything....." it will make the forum looks like a place that hosting scammer only.

[LoyceV]

Here's what I've got so far:

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Welcome to Bitcointalk.

May I suggest to start with a historical quote? Including the quote-tags, name and date:

Welcome to the new Bitcoin forum!

The "new" would work again for the new forum software.

[Piggy]

Most likely nobody is going to read it if it's too long, like those Terms & Conditions.
In any case i think is better for it to be short and a condensate of the most important things which are needed for a newcomer to survive in here.

[nakamura12]

Here's what I think about explaining what language can a person use.

First, Bitcointalk main language is "ENGLISH" in most boards.
Second, You can use another language in "LOCAL BOARDS" located HERE.
About the interval between posts, I won't consider 6 mins though and I think the account might be ban (i hope not).

[Retty]

I think it needs to be emphasised that failure to adhere to the rules in which you mentioned will result in a permanent ban, maybe in a big bold font such as this

 WARNING: FAILURE TO ADHERE TO THE RULES WILL RESULT IN A PERMANENT BAN!

Or if you fancy a little more bold approach...


DO NOT SPAM MOTHERF*CKERS!!!

 

[edwardceng]

to give examples of your advice better like this so it doesn't headache when reading it.

Code:

[size=30pt]WARNING: FAILURE TO ADHERE TO THE RULES [u]WILL[/u] RESULT IN A PERMANENT BAN! [/size]

Or if you fancy a little more bold approach...


[size=30pt][color=red]DO NOT SPAM MOTHERF*CKERS!!![/color][/size]

[Vod]

Do not offer to sell anything illegal or such things as hacked/shared accounts.

Do not offer any service that is illegal or meant to cheat systems.

The wording can probably be improved.  This would include things such as offering DDOS attacks, offering to bump posts, offering to like posts, etc.
Anything that can be used to bypass a website's reputation or ranking system.

[athanz88]

Do not offer to sell anything illegal or such things as hacked/shared accounts.

Do not offer any service that is illegal or meant to cheat systems.

The wording can probably be improved.  This would include things such as offering DDOS attacks, offering to bump posts, offering to like posts, etc.
Anything that can be used to bypass a website's reputation or ranking system.

I thing the word Illegal is too wide and maybe need a specific detail and further explanation on the Illegal things. There are different set of laws too based on the country or region, for example weed, in some country it is Illegal and some country ban it. I suggest that there is an official thread to explain it and just put the link in the newbie welcome message.

[hilariousetc]

Please note: Bitcointalk is an English speaking only board and if you struggle with English or aren't fluent then you should stick to your local language sub board which can be found here.

That sounds a bit confusing, perhaps this would be more accurate:

Main discussion boards on Bitcointalk are English-only and if you struggle..

Yeah, you're probably right. Will change it later.

The welcome message should also be available as a permanent link somewhere so that we could yell at noobs for not reading helpfully point new users to it in case they missed it.

I'll probably sticky it in bitcoin discussion or something, but ideally I think it should be both sticked and either directly linked to on sign-up or ideally shown as soon as they sign up.

It is better to be welcome messages "one/section" instead of one long message.
There are many purposes for joining this forum, so it is imperative that those messages appear when the user visits the section for the first time.

The first welcome message should be general, contain essential rules, a link to read that rules, tips to protect your account, and general questions.
The rest of the sections contain messages addressed.

It would be good if someone made an explanatory video.

I'm not sure what half of you're even trying to say here, but the bits I think I do seem to have already been addressed or included.

Most likely nobody is going to read it if it's too long, like those Terms & Conditions.

Like you? Did you even read the op?

In any case i think is better for it to be short and a condensate of the most important things which are needed for a newcomer to survive in here.

It is already condense, but again, I don't think you actually even bothered to read what I wrote.

I thing the word Illegal is too wide and maybe need a specific detail and further explanation on the Illegal things. There are different set of laws too based on the country or region, for example weed, in some country it is Illegal and some country ban it. I suggest that there is an official thread to explain it and just put the link in the newbie welcome message.

Illegal in your jurisdiction or that of the United States then. We don't need a thread discussing what it and what isn't legal in everyone's possible location.

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Maybe actually read what is written first before pointlessly suggesting things?

Making it shorter or give some colors to the letters like "red" for important point maybe something we can consider, but this is solely my opinion.

It really can't get any shorter than it already is and I'm not about to add colours just for the idiots with short attention spans or are in too much of a rush to start spamming. If people don't read it because it's not in red or abbreviated leetspeak then that's their fault. The info is there and they've been suggested to read it and if they don't then they can't cry when you lose your account to your own ignorance.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Merit has become such a big issue, that it might be worth including a suggestion that one shouldn't beg for merit.

Agreed.

I'd like to suggest that many noobs who struggle with English might not understand what "plagiarism" means.  I think that line should be dumbed-down to make sure there are no misunderstandings.  The message should make it explicit that you may not copy and paste content from anywhere, whether it's off-site or someone else's post on BCT unless the material is properly cited.  Since we've had such a huge problem with plagiarism and with Meta being jammed with ban appeals because of it, I think the warning should be crystal clear.

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LOL.  It did say that.  Forgive me, I just woke up and have not yet drunk coffee. 

[hilariousetc]

I'd like to suggest that many noobs who struggle with English might not understand what "plagiarism" means.  I think that line should be dumbed-down to make sure there are no misunderstandings.  The message should make it explicit that you may not copy and paste content from anywhere, whether it's off-site or someone else's post on BCT unless the material is properly cited.  Since we've had such a huge problem with plagiarism and with Meta being jammed with ban appeals because of it, I think the warning should be crystal clear.

Doesn't it already do this? Besides, there's already 'copy and paste' in there as well. I'm not going to dumb things down any more than they need to be and it's not my problem if somebody doesn't understand something. Will we then accept the excuse that "I didn't understand the rules" or "too many big words - no comprende". As many people already say, people should know it's never ok to copy someone else's content regardless of whether they know what plagiarism means or not, but the info is there.  This is all about giving the info to people as soon as they sign up so there's no excuses for not being aware but not understanding the rules because of terminology isn't going to be an excuse that flies. If you don't speak English or understand a word then translate it or read the rules of your local board which this will likely be translated to and stickied there also (translations could also be linked to in the op). If they don't understand something then they should either google it or ask somebody else like anyone with a brain cell would do.

[coinnumber]

A while ago I asked theymos if we could implement a welcome/introductory message that is shown to all Newbies when they sign up which will include all the info they need to get started. He agreed, so I suggest we brainstorm what that should include. Ideally I think the initial message should be as concise as possible with only the most important rules being listed, but contain further links to more in depth guides and FAQs so they can do their own further research. Throwing too much info at newbies is probably overkill so let's try keep it as short and as sweet as we can.

Here's what I've got so far:

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Welcome to Bitcointalk. Before you start posting please take a short while to read through this guide. Due to anti-spam measures you will have to wait six minutes between your posts (and this includes logging in) so please use this time wisely to familiarise yourself with the rules. Additionally, to bypass some of these limits you can consider buying a Copper Membership here. A full list of forum rules can be found here, but the most important ones are listed below and breaking them will likely lead to an immediate ban:

Do not post referral links.
Do not plagiarise content or copy and paste another user's posts. Any content that is not your own should be properly quoted and a link provided to the original source.
Do not offer to sell anything illegal or such things as hacked/shared accounts.
Do not beg for money whether for personal reasons or a supposed charity.

Before posting in a sub board please take the time to read the sticky/pinned threads at the top of them as answers to the most frequently asked questions can be found there along with other helpful guides, but here are some that may interest you:

A guide for Newbies can be found here.
A guide on how to earn bitcoins and join signature campaigns and bounties can be found here.
A guide on how forum ranks, activity and merit work can be found here.

Please note: Bitcointalk is an English speaking only board and if you struggle with English or aren't fluent then you should stick to your local language sub board which can be found here.

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

I'm up for this being completely re-written or adding more things in depth but I think it should be as short as possible so people actually get the gist of the most important things and can spend additional time reading into the finer details as well. As long as all the info can be found when you sign up then there should be no excuses for breaking the rules or all the same newbie threads asking how do I join a bounty or what is or how do I get merit etc etc.

Please suggest anything you think should be included.

wow! this is interesting, spamming and posting unconstructed post will reduce drastically with the help of this guide lines but it should be made compulsory to read because 90% will skip it without going through the welcome notice. Thanks

[vlad230]

OP, that's a good list you have there, will be good for now, IMHO.

My suggestion would be to add something that would catch the eye of the reader (some flashy text, red text, increased font size etc.) to avoid having this list ignored in the same way people normally look over the TOS of any software application.

Just my 2 cents  

[hilariousetc]

My suggestion would be to add something that would catch the eye of the reader (some flashy text, red text, increased font size etc.) to avoid having this list ignored in the same way people normally look over the TOS of any software application.

How about just an image:



And/or perhaps it should also be sound-tracked by some obnoxiously loud filthy dubstep as well that autoplays as soon as you successfully sign up to really get their attention? Perhaps we could create a dubstep track with the hook or lyrics of the song just being "READ THE RULES" over and over? 50 Merit to anyone who creates this.

Alternatively, an image of a half-naked woman could be displayed, and if you look closely READ THE RULES could be edited across her boobs? I'm sure that would get their attention. 10 merits for this.

Seriously, we don't need to have everything in caps and bright colours to get their attention. If they don't read it then that's their problem. People generally don't read terms and conditions because they're often overly long and in undecipherable legal spiel. This is short and sweet for those exact same reasons. Before they even sign up or as soon as they successfully create an account here a warning to read the rules could be displayed, but there's really no excuses for not reading it other than your own foolishness

The offer of 50 merit for the dubstep track with the hook still stands and 10 for the boobs (make sure she's not actually naked or topless though and don't put it in image tags. Also mark it as NSFW).

[Thekool1s]

My suggestion would be to add something that would catch the eye of the reader (some flashy text, red text, increased font size etc.) to avoid having this list ignored in the same way people normally look over the TOS of any software application.

~snip

Wait! is bitcointalk NSFW?

The offer of 50 merit for the dubstep track with the hook still stands and 10 for the boobs (make sure she's not actually naked or topless though and don't put it in image tags. Also mark it as NSFW).

I could have hired someone to do this but I don't trust you anymore, I still haven't received my 7 sMerits.