I've been thinking (and please, no one take this to heart): maybe the introductory PM needs some work. This is based on the PM I received, so if it's out of date, I apologise
1. I don't know if it now carries a (Read This) or the like, but if not, it needs to carry some indicator that new users must read it, instead of the plain "Welcome to the WBO". Titling it "Read This" or the like, would be a good idea. It gets rid of the vibe of an easily ignored "hi, enjoy your stay" type message.
3. Also, as it's been a while since I signed up, if it's not there, maybe the importance of reading that PM needs to be made more visible throughout the sign-up process.
4. As far as I know, there is no way to read an up-to-date version of the introductory PM. We need a "thread" or even better, a page for it. A "Guide to the WBO (Read This Before Posting)".
One thing I have seen that was absolutely brilliant, was a thread that users had to read, and post that they had read and understood it before a moderator gave them the ability to post elsewhere on the forum.
We could do that with the "Guide to the WBO thread", maybe?
Maybe, some instruction hidden in the text to tell them to do something that wouldn't show publicly, but could be checked by Mods, like, PM an account set up just for that, just to enjoy they actually read it.
You then have the issue of newbies PMing you asking "Y I NO ABEL 2 POST". You need to make it very obvious that they must post in that thread to enable posting, to minimise this.
A lot of mod-work, of course (some of it may be able to be automated, not sure), but it's all just an idea.
1. I don't know if it now carries a (Read This) or the like, but if not, it needs to carry some indicator that new users must read it, instead of the plain "Welcome to the WBO". Titling it "Read This" or the like, would be a good idea. It gets rid of the vibe of an easily ignored "hi, enjoy your stay" type message.
3. Also, as it's been a while since I signed up, if it's not there, maybe the importance of reading that PM needs to be made more visible throughout the sign-up process.
4. As far as I know, there is no way to read an up-to-date version of the introductory PM. We need a "thread" or even better, a page for it. A "Guide to the WBO (Read This Before Posting)".
One thing I have seen that was absolutely brilliant, was a thread that users had to read, and post that they had read and understood it before a moderator gave them the ability to post elsewhere on the forum.
We could do that with the "Guide to the WBO thread", maybe?
Maybe, some instruction hidden in the text to tell them to do something that wouldn't show publicly, but could be checked by Mods, like, PM an account set up just for that, just to enjoy they actually read it.
You then have the issue of newbies PMing you asking "Y I NO ABEL 2 POST". You need to make it very obvious that they must post in that thread to enable posting, to minimise this.
A lot of mod-work, of course (some of it may be able to be automated, not sure), but it's all just an idea.