Which method made you a better forum user?

[Die_empty]

I have been thinking about how people actually learn Bitcointalk culture and I decided to create this thread.

Some people may choose to observe the forum for as long as they can reading rules, several threads before they start making posts. Others prefer to make post from the first day they registered. They probably believe they can learn faster from mistakes and corrections.

The experience is different but both methods can create good forum users depending on user's mindset.

Which path do you think works best? Did reading without posting really help one avoid mistakes?

Which would you recommend for newbies today if they ask you?

I think it will be better to spend more time on the forum learning and also observing how things are done here. It will save you from excessive criticism because of the mistakes you might make as a novice. It will be easier to navigate the forum if you spend more time reading instead of creating threads.

But you can create a thread if you want to ask relevant questions. You can also start a thread if the information will be helpful to members of this community. However, newbies should always use the search option to check if their proposed topic has already been discussed on the forum.

[joniboini]

However, newbies should always use the search option to check if their proposed topic has already been discussed on the forum.

I think this applies to everyone. I've seen several users created similar threads before. Sometimes it's understandable since they don't check every single board before they make them. Maybe they tried but search results wasn't accurate. Sometimes title doesn't actually tell the content of the thread too (unless they're just copy-pasting an article/news title). It's definitely a good practice to at least search a bit before you make a new thread, especially if the topic is easily found on search engines or news feed.

[Rashlyowl]

When I first registered for my account, I immediately made a post replying to another post. After that, I stopped doing that and started reading what I could find. I thought that by doing all that, I would avoid violating the rules, but it turned out not to be the case, I still violate the rules that caused my account to be banned for a while.

In my personal opinion, for beginners, it is better to figure things out as you go, there is no need to appear & come with perfection, it makes you inauthentic.