General 405th Problems

[Nintendude]

Ok this has been on my thoughts for quite a while now. The 405th has a lot, lot more noob problems than normal nowadays and I don't know if it's because of Reach coming out or what the major problem is there, but I have noticed some slacking on the side of the staff and this is'nt meant to be rude or disrespectful in any way a lot of the moderators do great work on here, but there are also some moderators that have'nt been active in quite a while which in turn messes up the site causing problems between members, bots coming onto the site with their cell phone ads which most have'nt been locked, and a variety of other problems. Frankly the 405th needs more moderators to handle problems here on the 405th, people that are on here at least once per day. People I can think of as moderators on here are people like Brandon McClain, Xtreme Tactics, and others to name a few. These are people which are true leaders, that can help with handling the problems of the 405th because honestly this place is getting packed with useless stickys in some places where they could be organized better, noobs running amok in other places, and there is just not enough people to handle the problems. To be short this place really needs a overhaul and to be cleaned up but when is it going to happen?

 

[kupokitty]

More mods couldn't hurt. I've noticed that a lot of 'em haven't been on much, too. They must be pretty busy.

 

[Jester1014]

Ok also just to give you a hint, Backyard FX did a piece that aired on youtube. It's numbers on views skyrocketed when Reach began airing commercials. They clearly tell where to get information on how to make armor. Hell I myself saw it and joined up; and yea I was a stupid noob, but I learned to read all the stickies. Which I too think they could be consolidated, and some of the threads that haven't seen action for over a year should kinda be deleted IMO.
Yea I'd totally like to see more Mod activity on here. Somebody accused me of trolling, almost made me start a flame match, I just like to read the threads. Ask questions, maybe help answer a few with my own knowledge.
Really kinda irks me too a bit when I'm asked the same questions that've i've answered dozens of times or people send me random PMs about armor making.

 

[dung0beetle]

I think it's just because of Reach. The mods probably have long lists of reported threads to weed through, so keep telling noobs to read stickies, and post links of the stickies for them too. People that are new to the forum concept don't know what sticky means, so keep that in mind before responding in an angry tone. It is our responsibility as veterans to guide the noobs in the proper direction and set an example for conduct on the forums. This site is getting massive, so there is a lot of content to search through. Just the stickies themselves is a huge chunk of internet real estate. The noob flood will pass, and we always get a few exemplary members that teach us a thing or two about propmaking. Give it time, and things will calm down. Yes, I'm getting sick of answering the same questions over and over again too (3 pm's with the same question today lol), but I keep doing it. I was a noob once too.

 

[ForgedReclaimer]

The real issue is that more and more new people are joining while the Mod count stays the same or as you said is decreasing due to inactivity. That sort of thing leads to anarchy that can spread fast aided by the somewhat erratic state of the threads on the boards.

The first problem can be solved by either gathering more mods to keep control or to close the "Sign-up" option for a while so everyone can get settled without worry of more joining right after.

As for the state of the boards, i think the Mods and Admin's should sit down and figure out what needs to be done with the setup that lasts into the sites future and is "new user" friendly. Like having an organized and constantly updated Pep-Hub and a section of tutorials that show the basic and majority used techniques of armor building for less confusion among new members.

All of this requires time and that's why some things just may not get done, i don't think people have enough time to all that we ask.

 

[ACDCrockr209]

I agree. A couple more active mods could help out with the noob invasion. I would gladly join in as a mod to help out as I too am getting tired of noobs asking questions in other member's build threads. There is even a noob literally asking for free parts on people's profiles.

New mods should be be able to be active most of the time and be able to keep order as soon as something like a bot shows up posting up useless garbage. They should also be a seasoned Veteran on the forum in either the rules, or in costuming, or both.

Just throwing in my two cents.

-Pony

 

[tubachris85x]

There should be a probation period for noobs where every time they click to start a new thread or PM someone, they get linked directly to the Search page.

But seriously, I have to agree with this. Unfortunatly, its not so much them being "new" to the site, but being "new to life" in general, in that, kids joining at like 11-13 years old. No offense, but this up-comming generation is the "gimme now!" generation and don't really understand the concept of self-learning. That's how I did it. I tought myself through research. Yea, I had to ask questions along the way, but only when I absolutly could not find what I was looking for.

I don't know. I don't want to sound to "control-ish" when I suggest this, but would you all agree there needs to be some type of probation period based on age? Sounds very discriminatory, but to be honest, I feel thats where a majority of these current issues stems from, aside from the mods not being available.

I just remember coming across some thread not too long ago where someone was complaining that no one was helping him not even 5 minutes after starting his thread. Another time is when someone PMed me a question, to which I answered. He didn't like the answer and kept alternating it so that he "could" try to get what he wanted to hear. Never happened, just got really annoying. Basically was trying to get parts for free, as alot of people do.

Here's another idea, they have this over on The Dented Helmet site, its a thread regarding "what you can expect to spend (money)" thread. Basically outlines general costs, wether it be pieces from makers or self built. These kids need to understand that there is actual cost involved and that they cannot have a whole freakin suit for $20. That mentality REALLY pisses me off....

 

[rundown]

As far as I know all those topics get closed/deleted and those spambots get banned. Atleast i do this imidiatly when i see one. I'm actually patrolling here all the time. The 405th is always open in my web browser when I am online. But the problem is that we can't see everything. Thats wy we have report buttons that you can actually use to notify us.
I'm doing the best I can to keep things clean. I already brought up that there needed to be a solution to those spambots. We already putted up the human verification and email verification but sadly it didn't help. Our guess is that they are being set off manually.

 

[SPRTNBD50]

Well, heres another problem...I noticed how most non-infantrymen mention that the 'Pepakura File' tab isn't working, someone should fixed that and notify everyone.
I wanna make a suggestion, when a non-infantryman logs on, there should be a page where they are directed automatically when the log on.

Btw, I notice many angry, flaming, spam bot post.....I'll report since i'm basically online for about 14 hours a day(for now since i'm on holidays)...

 

[Swift]

Just a note to add, I had NEVER noticed that 'report' button until you mentioned it then, rundown. It seems incredibly conspicuous in it's grayness, blending a tad too well into the colour scheme of the fotums.

Maybe changing that to a more noticeable design would help a lot. At least I know I'll be using it from now on.

Though I havn't exactly been a member here that long, I HAVE been literate long enough to have a feeling of despair every time I see a post titled 'neds hlp wit teh pepung' . I can't really think of a way to control this though, as there are some people with legeitimate excuses for the mis-spelling (dyslexia, or not from a primarily english speaking community). I'm not sure what we can do about this, short of the age restrictions idea above, but that will be unfair to other portions of the community...

 

[bobbio555]

Unfortunatly, its not so much them being "new" to the site, but being "new to life" in general, in that, kids joining at like 11-13 years old. No offense, but this up-comming generation is the "gimme now!" generation and don't really understand the concept of self-learning.

Coincidentally, there just so happens to be a 14 year old who was directed to the site through indymogul's video, read all the stickies, has a suit already finished, and joined at the ripe old age of 13.

Back on topic, honestly, I think the idea of more mods is great, but blaming the noobs won't help. There will always be noobs, there's no question of that. It's how we deal with integrating them into the community as contributing members that matters, and more mods definitely couldn't hurt.

 

[Madsvg]

I got to jump on the bandwagon and say that alot of the issue here is people that really don't read the guidelines and the instructions and tips before they start posting, so I've seen alot of "help, I'm a noob" and "where to start" posts over the last couple of month since I joined.
Also alot of the new pressure on the site is probably based on the release of Reach, and I think it'll continue to get people onto the site every time bungie releases a new addon to Reach.

 

[adam4472]

im a bit of a noob here but sice i joined there has been about 20 advert threads by bots and the amount of kids interested tend to go off to the next good game in a matter of days

 

[Nintendude]

I think with that "Where do I look/How much will this cost me?" thread will actually help a little I think I'll post it in the Noob Area and we will see if they get a little more information that way if I give links to the stickies also in the topic. One note is I think that the first page of the Noob Forum needs to be stickies about how it's done, help stickies and so on. No topics on the first page that belong to a new member. That way when they access that area for the first page that's all they see so it helps them a bit before they move on to the next page. The biggest thing I am hoping to avoid here is what happens with the RPF is that the registration is turned on and off from time to time, but when they do it there it helps to get new members under order before opening it back up for more new people to join. I would like to leave that there as a idea.

 

[Ruze789]

More mods is something people are always saying they want and rarely happens...

One thing I'd like to throw in here is:
Use The Report Button more.

If people have problems with something, we don't see it unless it's Reported. The only times we see Reports being made anymore are for the spambots and the (fairly) rare report of a cursing post or similar.

We simply can't read every single post made on here, and we aren't going to close every single thread where a new member posts a question that's been asked a million times. New members are going to want to jump right in and get started, and people need to politely steer them in the right direction.

There's always fluctuations in the number of incoming members, it comes and goes. More mods won't affect the number of noobs, and I don't think more mods would really affect the number of noob threads started. And as far as the spambot threads go, those are reported and dealt with swiftly, IMO. I know I delete a large number of them before they're even reported, and almost all are reported and locked by other mods.

And Nintendude the RPF has had open registration for quite some time now... that combined with it also now being listed on Google seems to have opened it up to much of the same noob problems we have here- new members joining looking for pepakura stuff, wanting to make awesome stuff for pennies, and the like.

 

[Devious]

I don't think the problem is a lack of moderators, all the noobs who come in honestly have no clue where to start. Yes Adams video is good but it doesn't tell them exactly what to do. What they want is a clear place to start with good instructions.

Create a start here forum. a new member would only be able to see this forum, and no others, as they would be hidden. There there would be 3 stickies; one would outline what the 405th is, one would tell members how to be a respectful member of the forum, and the last would give an accurate outline of what is entailed in the armor making process. To unlock the rest of the forums a new member would have to post an introduction thread, talking about themselves, and giving a brief summary of what they learned in the THREE stickies. Once they posted this, all other forums, except maybe, classifieds, would be unlocked for their viewing. What this setup does is it contains all the uber noobs in one place, and filters out the ones who actually want to learn, form the ones who don't really care. The three main stickies would have to be well written and detailed. The building outline one especially, it would have to implicate the costs and hazards of armormaking, so people know what they are getting into.

The last thing I see that could be of use is a super tutorial, with pictures, that can be downloaded as a PDF. This would outline ALL THE BASICS. From pep, to Resin, to rondo, to paint. It would have to be in a uniform format that complements each section. This would also be unlocked after the introductory post. All noobs want is information, the current setup doesn't really make it easy to find. If we make what they want to know easily accessible, in one place, we will have far fewer confused nubs.

Think about it mods, We really are grateful for your service, we just want to make things easier for you and everybody else. We don't need more moderators, we just need a better format.

 

[Hecito08]

Ok also just to give you a hint, Backyard FX did a piece that aired on youtube. It's numbers on views skyrocketed when Reach began airing commercials. They clearly tell where to get information on how to make armor. Hell I myself saw it and joined up; and yea I was a stupid noob, but I learned to read all the stickies. Which I too think they could be consolidated, and some of the threads that haven't seen action for over a year should kinda be deleted IMO.
Yea I'd totally like to see more Mod activity on here. Somebody accused me of trolling, almost made me start a flame match, I just like to read the threads. Ask questions, maybe help answer a few with my own knowledge.
Really kinda irks me too a bit when I'm asked the same questions that've i've answered dozens of times or people send me random PMs about armor making.

Well I just joined today even thou I knew of 405th for nearly 3 years and im already feeling unwelcome.

 

[Hecito08]

Thank you! ive been threatened and everything since i joined today. yet i knew about 405th since 2008. I was reading "the rules" and i feel like im living in soviat russia! Although i am youtube trash but still. These people need to lighten up on the "good" noobs like me. I ant stupid i know not to ask someone to give me or sell me there hard work if they don't want too. 405th also needs to grow some balls and stop throwing so many rules out there and take some nooby trolling insults. It only makes you stronger am i right?

 

[ACDCrockr209]

405th also needs to grow some balls and stop throwing so many rules out there and take some nooby trolling insults. It only makes you stronger am i right?

You're calling yourself a "Good Noob", yet you tell us to grow some? You didn't even edit your posts. Trolling doesn't make you stronger. It only fills threads with garbarge.

I suggest that we limit on what areas the noobs can post in. Just look at the guy that posted above me.

-Pony

 

[Devious]

My suggestion would help prevent just this.