What Price Success? Improving Posting Quality on HPfGU

[bleckybecs]

After several hours of reading threads, and a lot of note taking 
about newbies (which I distinctly am!), I have a few thoughts to add 
which I hope are helpful. I'm not good at figuring fully worked out 
solutions. I'm much better at coming up with some ideas that 
somebody else can fully shape. Please bear that in mind when reading 
what I have to say.

In rough response to
 
Admin:
>>>*We* may be tired of certain topics, but we permit newcomers to 
retread old ground because *they* are excited about it and 
retreading that ground often leads to new ideas, and we don't want 
to discourage that.<<<

As a newbie, I find myself saying `if it hasn't already been 
discussed, and if it has please show me where' a lot. If I had been 
given something like a `pit falls' email when I joined, this might 
not be the case. I am perfectly competent on a computer, but I could 
really use a `how to navigate this site for dummies'! There seems 
such a lot of it, especially when you add in sister sites. I haven't 
the least idea how to search the archive and how to work out what 
has and hasn't been asked. FAQ would help loads, if only I could 
find them! An explanation of how to search archives (instead of 
Geoff being left to answer) would also have helped an awful lot 
(still would as a matter of fact). Perhaps someone with this kind of 
Geoff-like knowledge could be persuaded to write such a guide as a 
one off job. This would allow new members to reduce the number of 
repeated questions significantly and would also encourage us to find 
old posts ourselves (other than FP) to reply to / expand on etc. 
This should help improve both the quality and interest level of 
newbies posts, whilst still allowing old ground to be covered. 

Also, another thing to mention in `pit falls' or 'a dummies guide' 
would be the amount of snipping required. This is something I'm 
having difficulty coming to grips with, even though I am no longer 
moderated. One house elf (Kranky!Elf IIRC) said to me that as a 
general rule, we should leave in about as much as we actually write 
in reply (or less). A simple rule like this in a `pit 
falls' / 'dummies' package would have been very gratefully received 
as a sound starting point. Not only that, but it would let people do 
it more effectively themselves, rather than waste house elf time.

On a slightly different note, it appears that non-mod members are as 
much at fault. I had an idea on this which probably won't be liked, 
but it's never stopped me saying something before, so it won't now.

How about putting people back on moderated for a short amount of 
time? I'm talking about a week or less. Some people will start just 
to lurk, so I am talking about people who actively post. Maybe when 
members have been posting for 9months or a year? Or maybe they could 
be chosen randomly? Possibly by selecting a number of people (say 20 
if the number of people posting is about 500) who have been posting 
for more than a year. `Out of a hat' style, or `in rotation through 
the list' style. It would almost be an MOT for people who've been 
here longer (non-UK people - that`s a check up on a car every 3 (?) 
years to make sure it`s in good working order). I mean it merely as 
a reminder of what is expected by *all* the rules, as some of the 
lesser rules may simply have been forgotten. (Ducks to avoid all 
manner of things now headed in my direction!)

I would also like to say that I think the idea of no posting for a 
couple of weeks after the release of HBP is a good one. It might be 
annoying not to be able to say anything in those 2 weeks, but it 
would give *everyone* time to read, possibly even re-read, the book, 
absorb it and come up with well thought through topics of 
conversation. It would give people time to calm down and make good, 
clear points (and that's the idea of *this* discussion, right?). I 
agree with all the points made about that idea. It makes a lot of 
sense. If this was used alongside daily post number limitations, I 
see that as the most workable way to control the inevitable influx.

Just a final (probably controversial) thought. What if the house 
elves came up with the basic posts they can foresee a couple of days 
before the ban was up and posted them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not 
talking theories here, I'm talking simple `Why can Neville see 
thestrals?' and `What is Hagrid`s task?' type questions. Not brand 
new theory type questions. I'm not suggesting that they be allowed 
to answer them either. I'm just suggesting that they put up the very 
basic, very open question. I know this would put a dampener on 
everyone wanting to be the first to show they spotted Luna was 
missing from the train (which I didn't notice!), although it does 
partly avoid that kind of mad rush and multiple posting. The main 
thinking behind that idea is to allow everyone to respond to the 
same questions under the same thread. It would allow more logical 
flow, instead of tens of different threads all saying the same 
thing. Those can't be completely avoided of course, but this may at 
least manage the worst of it.

Just my few thoughts for what they're worth. So much for promising 
myself I'd just be a reader here! I just can't seem to help getting 
involved! :)

Becky (who is considering changing her name to avoid confusion with 
Betsy!)