More Freedom for Newbies?

Hi guys! I have been thinking about how to attract more active members to the site for a while now and this is an option that I have come to and this is how I came to that option.

Now, many of you would agree that AO is not nearly as busy as it used to be. As a result, there are not as many new threads that get made daily and because of this it is a bit difficult for a new member to get those 100 posts. So what’s a new member to do if there are no other threads to post on? Well, if you are new than your only options are really just the arcade, PMing someone, or look and/or upload in the gallery. Not everyone likes playing arcade games though and not everyone is willing to just PM a random person and say “Hi! What’s up!” For some it can get very tedious just looking at gallery pics as well and not everyone is an expert or has a passion for making wallpapers and the like.

So for many newcomers a major turndown is the lack of freedom and the lack of activity or new threads which prevents them from increasing that post count as quickly as they would like. This ultimately leads to many leaving the forum and searching for another. Thus we lose a lot of potential active members.

How could we solve this problem? I have come up with two options. I think we should either reduce the amount of posts it takes to become a community member (maybe to 50?) or give newcomers more options than just posting, PMing, arcading, or viewing and/or uploading in the gallery. Like maybe opening the flashchat to newcomers. Many like that sort of stuff and it would be a great way for newbies to get to know the members. They also wouldn’t be forced to PM some random member.

So do you think my idea is legitimate? Or do you think that I need to be sent to the crazy house? Also, I would like to hear ideas from you guys. Any suggestions would be helpful.

nice idea i didnt know that until today and that reason is why i cant get help to get my story ideas.

No i dont like that its not cool because theres a reason that we have that stuff like really you have to earn being somebody who can play the arcade games and if they did this they would have to change the whole system .

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So do you think my idea is legitimate? Or do you think that I need to be sent to the crazy house?

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Clearly, your idea is legitimate, and you need to be sent to the crazy house.


I hate to beat the drum of the oldest argumentative tune that's been brought up with regards to this, but maybe even basic stuff like custum avatars from the get-go could work. Seriously, even the most rudimentary invisionfree forum comes with that feature out of the box. Its like new people are being punished for being new, and they must earn the trust of the coven before being granted the various features of AO.

I can see the logic in saying that there should be benefits for members who have stayed longer, posted more, etc., but perhaps the barrier of entry is a bit too high, and I think that can drive people away. Should it really take a month and 100 posts to be considered a Community Member(I agree with the 50 posts suggestion)? Or is it supposed to be a weeding process?

I wouldn't say just 50 posts rather something a bit more better since most will spam any old message just to get that post count as with 100 posts. I would put it to around 25-30 quality posts that will contribute towards that topic.

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Originally Posted by Violent

I wouldn't say just 50 posts rather something a bit more better since most will spam any old message just to get that post count as with 100 posts. I would put it to around 25-30 quality posts that will contribute towards that topic.

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Yes, that’s a good point. My only question about this suggestion is how we could have a system that would be able to differentiate a high quality post from a low quality post. All I can think of is if the post has more than a certain amount of words and no spelling errors than it would be a quality post. Or maybe the moderators could look a newbie’s post and decide for themselves if it is a high quality post than use something to mark that post if it is high quality. Then that mark would add to the new member’s quality post count.

I’m pretty sure you could do the first option but I’m not sure about the second one. My knowledge of computers is not the best in the world so I don’t know if the moderator thing would even work or if there is a system like that. Not to mention that it would add to a moderator’s load of jobs.

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All I can think of is if the post has more than a certain amount of words and no spelling errors than it would be a quality post.

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Doesn't the Credit system take into account how many words are typed in a given post? Perhaps something that requires a certain number of credits, or some such. Although a long post doesn't guarentee high quality(For an example, check out that Luminous guy), I suppose on average they are probably decent quality. Although that might be a bit confusing for some, and a solid post count is easier to understand.

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Originally Posted by Luminous

Doesn't the Credit system take into account how many words are typed in a given post? Perhaps something that requires a certain number of credits, or some such. Although a long post doesn't guarantee high quality(For an example, check out that Luminous guy), I suppose on average they are probably decent quality. Although that might be a bit confusing for some, and a solid post count is easier to understand.

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Yes, it does. That would also give the credit system more of a use. It is true that the length of a post doesn’t necessarily equal a high quality post. That’s why I added that the suggested system wouldn’t just take into account the length of the post but the spelling as well. Usually, if a poster is willing to actually spell out their words and use spell check than they actually care if their post is good or readable for that matter. By the way Luminous, your posts seem like high quality to me. They’re definitely better than some I’ve seen.