Yes, but the last thing I want is a cesspool of eggsongs and Kiwis in a forum I won't be looking at anyway.

I think that there might be better ways of reaching out to new members -- for instance, a comprehensive FAQ for new people. That is, of course, assuming one of the purposes of the Welcome forum would be to answer questions typically asked by new members.

Then disallow them in non-constructive posts. ;o

And thus dead is a vibrant element of the past.

Good riddance.

Moosey,

Would you feel better if I offered you a kiwi?
Or perchance an egg song?

Offering such things to the oldest active member is different than offering it to the newbie who is impressionable and developing a sense of what is and is not acceptable in the community -- without the benefits of six years experience and thousands of read posts.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 12 2009, 6:14 am by Mini Moose 2707.

Yea, but my offer is bonified, man. I started the kiwi movement. If you want a kiwi, I'll even mail it to you.

Because reading FAQ's is always the first thing I like to do when joining a site...

To this day Ive yet to hear this 'eggsong'. ;o

You read if you have a question.
If you don't have a question, you don't read it.
Is it bad to have answers lying around for those willing to look because we could just spend time answering them (and they can spend time waiting for us to answer them) repeatedly?
Again, I was assuming one of the purposes of the Welcome forum was to answer questions that new members might have. What is, in your opinion, the purpose of such a forum?

http://doodle77.dyndns.org/staticsen.php?sf=14
He's the v4 one, in case people are curious as to what they're missing.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Nov 12 2009, 3:30 pm by Mini Moose 2707.

Don't forget about making them feel welcome. Though it must quickly draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not, we must not be too formal and strict with it. Obviously, to achieve that, we need responsible posters that know the limit and strict moderation. Do we have that? If you think we do, the forum is the way to go. If we don't, stick with the topic or just allow to create 'hi' topics in Null.

My problem with this entire topic is simply this:

we're all acting like SEN is a really important website, like a company image is in the fray of whether or not we have a welcome forum. Honestly, I think it would be nice to know when new members join. I think that it would be easier for them to network with other mappers/modders after they have a chance to formally introduce themselves. Do we have responsible posters? I think we do. I really do; people treat this site just as seriously as it should be treated. Most of the members now are in late years of high school, or college (operative word most), because Starcraft has become that old of a game: the fan base has mostly grown up with it.

I don't know how much weight my words hold, especially since I have gone out of my way to troll in some cases. But I was reprimanded for it, and I never ever took it further than it's means. I don't play SC anymore - nor did I ever really get into it, that is true. A matter of fact, I am much more interested on the pending release of C&C4 than I am SC2. But I want to step back and say something to all of you: SC is just a game. That is why you are here. You are not here to make a profit off of your maps, and you're not here to be "discovered" by blizzard. This is just a place for you to sit, chat, test, and play. I really don't know why this website has become such serious business. When I joined, it was a lot of fun. This was possibly the first community I joined that I actually enjoyed showing up at. There are still people around who I enjoy chatting with, which is why I still show up. So...if you want to know why some forums related to SC aren't updated on a daily basis anymore and why some are displaying stagnating topics from a year ago, maybe we should start with community first.

Web 2.0 isn't about just information anymore like 1.0 was. Its about networking and community, with driving forces like twitter and linkedIn etc behind it. If this makes you uncomfortable, then I propose a sub-forum under Null. That way, you don't have to look at the potential eyesore, the posts don't count for anything, and it will still assert a staredit-first atmosphere you all seem to love.

Quoted for truth.

I agree that the Welcome forum was generally a good idea, despite the fact that I never used it and it was a little bit spammy.

Because it deserves being said a third time. Amen.

Just so I can join the elite group consisting of Voy, Will and DTBK. Well, and because I agree with this sentiment.

The Welcome forum helps with the community and takes nothing away. In addition, it provides new users with some information (in the first Welcome topic in your link, Moose, the welcomee learns the difference between a hack and square terrain) about mapmaking and the community. It can help with getting a person accepted - if someone iz post1/\/g l13k |)ls, he is told straight out, in a rather isolated environment, that that's not acceptable, as opposed to doing it in a serious thread. There's no downside that I can see.

I should probably clarify my position.

Like I said, I never used the Welcome forum and back in the days of SENv4 and moderatorhood I saw it as a rather useless forum which contributed little to the site and was a potential source of grief. I don't need to remind people of certain members who would get suspended or banned, make new accounts and then create trolling topics in the Welcome forum.

I do think that things are different now. Obviously I'm not in a position to say this with any authority, but the community seems more stable (if stagnant) and the troublemakers have become bored or finally been banned or moved on. The Welcome forum never really served the purpose of helping new members find their feet at the site, making any claims in that direction a little dubious, but it did serve the purpose of making newcomers feel 'welcome', with the traditional SEN rituals of kiwi giving, eggsong and so on. Many forums with distinctive communities have similar welcoming traditions - for those of you who played Cybernations back when SEN had a (shortlived) alliance there, The Order of the Paradox had strikingly similar welcoming rituals, and it encouraged community cohesion. In any case, a lot of successful forums do have a Welcome forum.

I can see the argument from both sides but would probably come down in favour of having such a forum, all necessary precautions taken of course.

However I have no desire to be drawn into SEN politics.

QFT Again.

I agree, when I joined it was a lot of fun, now it seams if you try to make a joke topic once in a while you get beheaded for it. Being as we are a pretty much dying community on a well known dieing game, why cant we just party hard till SC2 comes out and then make our policy serious when the game comes out. We've made adjustments for something that has yet to come out, and we dont even know when it will. (This is why Im looking forward to Modern Warfare 3, because I know Infinity Ward can deliver a fucking game.)

And dont tell me that "oh it takes time to make a game". Bullshit. The engine is built and we know damn well that they've made an editor. Most of the maps of SC have terrain that look like a child scribbled on a paper and they made it into a level (God help them if they really did XD). Bland, uncreative terrain everywhere and just random doodads to fix the spots that look extremely bland. In other words, Im saying I could make the Terran 1-10 campaign in a day, and Im sure someone else here could as well.


Well Ive honestly had enough talking like im a preacher at a revival all the time here, preaching about mapping and we need to try to come back to life. People are going to move on once we lose a few elites, and Im sure its going to happen soon.

I, perhaps, need reminding as the Welcome forum was never in my memory a source of any administrative grief. If strictly trolling topics were created in the Welcome forum, they are done in the Feedback forum now.

Kellimus did this at least once, if I remember correctly. Welcome topics degenerated into flame when other members suggested that his dupe(s) might actually be him.