Important: Member status and Advice

[jennifer]

I understand what Sean is saying.

One thing I've learned is that when someone writes a very "minimal" answer (or correction) to something, it can come across as "big-headed" or an "attack" even when that was not the writer's attitude at all. That is part of the nature of electronic communication. I understand how it feels though, as I've been in the situation of being the newbie and feeling very slammed by seemingly-rude corrections. Every forum that has oldies and newbies is going to have some of this.

From the point of view of an oldie now, I can tell you that it is certainly easier to correct a bad answer than to give a good one to begin with. I'm not saying that this is a good approach, but I see why it happens.

I think it would be nice if every post in the "help" sections got an answer. I try, but I get tired of hearing myself sometimes. Often the case presented sounds like a lost cause, or the writer doesn't give enough information to know what's wrong. From my point of view, I often don't have a complete answer to the question. But then if someone else gives a really wrong or dangerous answer, it does need to be corrected.

MY SOAPBOX: it would really help with answering newbie questions if everyone (not just mods) would just provide links to the FAQ and articles from Caudata Culture. A lot of questions come up here that are answered on CC, and it would improve this forum if more people would just hand out those links and let people find some of the information they need themselves. I get pretty tired of being the only person handing out those links, and many times that's all the person really needs. (Note: this does not apply to the axolotl section, where Cynthia and some other people do a great job handing out the links to the axolotl site.) End of soapbox.

Regarding prolific posters, yes, in most cases they tend to disappear (or conform to reasonable standards) without intervention. And in most cases, no action is taken. I don't think this new policy is going to change that, it just clarifies the fact that we CAN curtail someone who gets truly carried away.

 

[sean]

Thanks Jen.(My favorite Mod BTW)I cant say that I have helped a whole lot but when I have I usually give out those links. I just havent been around long and dont have much time on my hands. But,I will try to start helping out more to give you and others a break.I know you need it. You are one of those people that go above and beyond when helping newbies and experienced keepers alike. If there were ever an awards ceremony you would rack up... hahaha.And I really have to commend you for helping out with the madness over at kingsnake. Anyway,like I say,I never meant to sound unappreciative to anybody. Without this site I would not be having the success I am having with my Caudates now.

 

[dot]

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to respond to posts or being "holier than thou," it's more of a matter that many of the "newb" questions being asked have been asked and answered on this forum several times before. A simple search can easily take care of the repeat posts.

Granted, I haven't been around as long as a lot of others, and I only speak for myself, but having seen a lot of the same posts over and over again, it gets tiring repeating the same answers without getting cynical. A lot of credit go to the people who continuously go the extra mile to answer these same questions.

As for the prolific posters, as Jen said, eventually they go away on their own. The fad wears off and they find someplace new to flood with inane comments.

And thirdly, all seriousness aside, I've been an admin at the USCR for a while now ... I don't get contributor status? Sheesh!

 

[wouter]

The problem is that these prolific posters usually disappear after leaving a lot of useless topics, which have been dealt with in the past. Although this is in my viewpoint usually just enthousiasm, it happens again and again. There are very few newbies who just read the info on culture first, they discover this forum and start typing questions.
The same happens on our Dutch forum, and we as moderators on that forum have also decided to be more strict about this. We've had one newbie member who got a total of +300 posts in just four weeks, more than some of us moderators up till now.

Info can easily be found on culture or google for example, this has been said many times before on this forum. Sometimes newbies are treated a bit harsh, such as Sean mentioned in his first post in this topic, but must say that I can understand this in most cases...

 

[john]

One of the core values that this site was founded on was to exclude the elitism that we experienced amongst other groups of newt enthusiasts. We like to let people say what they want to say and then talk to them about it afterwards if there's a problem, rather than trim everything. At the same time, we try not to let it get to the state that Kingsnake was in before we came along. When it comes down to it, archived text takes up little space, and fostering enthusiasm in newbies has often made them turn into experts over time (many of you on this site can probably think of a few people like this).

 

[al]

I remember the "Holy Wars" at the Kingsnake site

! This site since it's infancy stage has always been a breath of fresh air! I don't have much time to post on a regular basis, but always keep up to date and will donate as much as I can. I think we have some really good people on board to keep this going and commend all that put forth an effort. In last decade, we have all come a long way. It's nice to still see some of the original enthusiest still making a difference and really keeping the original mission alive today. I remember it was next to impossible to aquire captive bred newts from the small handful of breeders. We now have a much more educated public. Folks are trying to keep their pets healthy, while breeding them to share with others. If we left it up to the Pet trade, we would never be able to aquire any specimens and be supporting an unethical procurement of species. I believe in next 10 years most species will only be available from breeders. Thanks again for keeping this site going!
Al