Timeline for What is the correct way to treat new users of the site?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2012 at 16:40 | comment | added | Alex P | Here's why I brought up "What is 1d8?" in my post. It's useful for novices running into terms that simple aren't defined in a particular book. Coming from a guy who's reading the D&D book for the first time (where they are, in the front), it shows a general confusion: he's looked at the first few pages of the book and what you do with the book (which, for game manuals, is actually a pretty idiosyncratic thing that has very little in common with how you use other books) hasn't clicked yet. So answering the question won't even come close to solving his problem. (Extended dialogue will.) | |
| Aug 12, 2012 at 6:15 | comment | added | SevenSidedDie | Actually, I should amend that: they probably not so much left as got hit with an automatic site-ban triggered by having 95% of their questions closed. | |
| Aug 12, 2012 at 6:10 | comment | added | SevenSidedDie | For an example of a good newbie question, there's this: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/11033/… . It's very, very new-level, but an excellent question. Contrast it with this question: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/15572/… . We're really not being down on plain ol' new players and basic questions, but on users who are abusing the site—even if accidentally—by posting "is water wet? p. 23 says so, but could you tell me?" questions. | |
| Aug 12, 2012 at 6:04 | comment | added | SevenSidedDie | Adam, some context is necessary here. We had a user who not only failed at basic reading comprehension of the game book, but also consistently failed basic reading comprehension here. No matter how much help was thrown their way, they just ignored us and sprayed the site with borderline-nonsense questions. The only redeeming quality was that they were obviously earnest, even if they were unable to extract any useful advice from our answers. They were unable to adapt to a reading-centric site, and left. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 23:12 | comment | added | mxyzplk Mod | Also, I'm not sure the "expand the question to encompass all D&D abbreviations" works. We tried a RPG Glossary here and eventually it got closed because people were unhappy with it, this seems like the same thing - and really it's answering another random question, not the question that was asked - in general made-up questions and answers lead to poor quality too. There's 1000 D&D abbreviations, will we really turn a "AC" question into an acceptable D&D glossary? I doubt it. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 21:54 | comment | added | David Allan Finch | I agree Adam but we seam to be in the minority. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 17:56 | comment | added | mxyzplk Mod | It's a site for everyone who isn't a help vampire and bothers to engage with the material before asking questions. It's not really a matter of expertise, it's a matter of being a good citizen. Asking people to spoonfeed you because you're too lazy to read or think is never on topic. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 16:10 | comment | added | Adam Dray | I retract the 'elitism' comment, however. It's just a matter of site philosophy. Is this a site for everyone, or is this a site for experts? | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 16:06 | comment | added | Adam Dray | See, I think "what is 1d8?" is a totally noob, reading-comprehension question. It's probably explained on page 3. If we're going to have an "expert-only" site, we're going to disagree a lot about what's noob and what's expert. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 14:21 | comment | added | wax eagle | One more thing. The series of questions that sparked this discussion went beyond "what does 1d8 mean?" (that's actually a potentially interesting, though slightly n00bish question). The series was basically someone who was quite obviously reading the 4e players handbook and asking reading comprehension questions. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 14:19 | comment | added | wax eagle | blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/02/are-some-questions-too-simple relevant SO blog post, and yes I think it applies here as well. | |
| Aug 11, 2012 at 4:42 | history | answered | Adam Dray | CC BY-SA 3.0 |