Just an idea for newcomers...

[crahak]

Just had an idea... Seeing all these posts everyday, newcomers to the site are obviously not even taking time to acquire the basic knowledge, read or anything, they just post away. They don't bother searching threads either.

This is why everyday (or just) about we get:
-what's the best capture card
-A/V sync divx/xvid to VCD
-How do I copy a DVD?
-Can I rip a DVD with my CDRom drive?
-Best settings/format to capture/encode
-VHS to VCD
-XSVCD won't play in my set top DVD player
... ... ... lots more

Sure, there is a lot of those posts that are "legitimate", but there's also a good portion of them by people that just won't look or search.

So I am wondering if it would be a good idea to add a feature such as, when someone tries to post, and they have joined, say, less than a week or two ago, it would come up with a page first asking them if they have a problem like such...


***IMPORTANT NOTICE***
BEFORE YOU POST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ THESE IF APPLICABLE
Convert VHS or DVD to VCD? Click _HERE_
A/V Sync problems? Click _HERE_
...
If nothing here is related to your problem, click _HERE_ to post to the forum.

something like that, just a way to try to force 'em to read the FAQ's at least.

Just a thought... Anyone has a better idea... Why not?

[legionpc]

You should add to that list the problem with VCDEasy where it doesn't recognise your CD-RW drive. I see several new posts about that every day

[musicman1212]

"-what's the best capture card
-A/V sync divx/xvid to VCD
-How do I copy a DVD?
-Can I rip a DVD with my CDRom drive?
-Best settings/format to capture/encode
-VHS to VCD
-XSVCD won't play in my set top DVD player
... ... ... lots more"

but those are always the topics that get the most replies! just dont relpy to 'em and they will have to search! i have posted more technical questions here and have gotten nothing! oh well...

[crahak]

Well, yes, those questions gets answered all the time cause it's simple to give 'ye olde canned answer. (Maybe I should make a textfile and copy and paste real canned answers... lol)

As far as advanced questions go, most of the time, we don't have quite enough details, or just the wrong ones. They also require more effort to asnwer, and sometimes it's a question of preferences... I dunno...

[Scarpad]

I'm a relative newbie, just picked up a DVD Burner, so I spent a few hours here reading the guides, downloading utilities, searching for the ones I could'nt find right away. Then if I had specific questions searching the forums. It took only a short time till I was up and running, all that and not posting a how to. The answers are there you just have to want to find them.

[Rodfuji68]

I'm a relative newbie, just picked up a DVD Burner, so I spent a few hours here reading the guides, downloading utilities, searching for the ones I could'nt find right away. Then if I had specific questions searching the forums. It took only a short time till I was up and running, all that and not posting a how to. The answers are there you just have to want to find them.

Ageed 100%
I just picked up a burner on black friday and have been lurking here for a couple of weeks, I never burned a dvd or ReEncoded a movie before and I haven't had any problems finding answers to my questions on this site with out having to post any HOW TOs, the answers are there but too many people are just too lazy and no matter how many warnings and disclaimers are put up, some people are going to look for the easy way out and post "how do I" also there are people who do it just to disturb people like the originator of this thread who don't like stuped how to posts. It happens in every forum and nothing will ever stop it.


Rodney

[musicman1212]

this site is great! everything i know about digital video i've learned here! the howto's are a valuable resource! i wish that other subjects on the internet had such comprehensive hubs of information like vcdhelp.com provides for digital video enthusiest! and no, i dont work for them!
musicman

[q1aqza]

Maybe do on this site what other forums do - don't allow new users to post for 7 days after they have registered. This does at least force them to do some searching if they need an answer quicker than 7 days.

[rhegedus]

Maybe do on this site what other forums do - don't allow new users to post for 7 days after they have registered. This does at least force them to do some searching if they need an answer quicker than 7 days.

This is one option which I thought about myself. What you often find is that someone will post a question on the day of joining, bump up the post on the list a few times, then once they've got an answer not contribute anything to this forum.

Now here's an unpopular idea.....

Make this site a 'subscription site'. I know that there is an option to donate but, be honest, how many people actually have? Since nearly all telephone help lines charge about 1$ or 1£ a minute, I dont think that a 5 or 10$ annual fee would be beyond anyone's reach, especially when you consider that we all probably waste that amount in coasters each year!

The fee would deter those who just want to post an 'urgent message' to get them out of a jam or those that want to use the 'off topic' section to spout off about something that no one else wants to know about (killer vaccines, anyone?).

So as not to deter would be subscribers, the 'how to' and harware comparison sections should be free to view, and anything else like viewing posts or starting a new post would require subscription.

If subscription were linked to something like a discount on software ordered via the site, say TMPGEnc Plus, then subscribers would get back the cost of subscription with a few purcheses.

How about it?

Rob

[Megahurts]

What about a feature that no one can post a question without having filled out their comupter details and location in their profile?

I think it would cut down on a lot of unnecessary replies asking what hardware they're using and Pal or NTSC.

Chas

[Wetmonkey]

This site is a utopia a regular cornucopia of information on laser media, i used the information for months without posting wack lame posts, and only began posting when i understould the basics of dvd backups, I am all for the above pre-req. To many crap posts blog down the posts from people who need real help or have legit questions/ answers

[Baldrick]

Maybe do on this site what other forums do - don't allow new users to post for 7 days after they have registered. This does at least force them to do some searching if they need an answer quicker than 7 days.

What about a feature that no one can post a question without having filled out their comupter details and location in their profile? Chas

Both good ideas. I'm working on the first one(it will be 3 days wait until you can post) and I will probably add the second one while I'm at it(at least the computer details will be required).

[Baldrick]

Now must new users wait 3 days before they can post. I hope it reduce some very basic questions and also the once who only post one post and dissapears.

[crahak]

Thanks Great move. As for the other one, well, it might be required to answer some questions, but not all the time. I'm not filling mine anyways

[q1aqza]

That's good news.

[Will Hay]

Just had an idea... Seeing all these posts everyday, newcomers to the site are obviously not even taking time to acquire the basic knowledge, read or anything, they just post away.

Jeesh, you make it sound like it's every single person who's never posted more than than ten messages.
Extract:
I am sick and tired of getting critism from experineced forum users who 'assume' you haven't done your homework.
Just because you ask a question that's been asked before doesn't mean you haven't looked.
I doubt there isn't many questions that *haven't* been asked in the past, so why don't we just close down the forum and replace it with a simple search box?
I'm not advocating the 'how do I copy a dvd ' idiots, but when I first arrived (and I'm a little more experienced and wiser now) I couldn't follow some of the guides and unless I posted 'I've searched the forum and can't find what I need' I got accused of lazyness.
Some people need a little assistance, we all have an responsibility to assist and give something back and give these people a nudge in the right direction, *not* put them off the site.
--
Forgive me but that's a message I've posted in the past but it appears to have as much relevance here as it did originally.
Getting back to your idea (rather than your generalised complaint that every newbie should be tortured), it's a good idea but what might be a better idea is a message for every established user that says:
"Please have some patience and tolerance to new users, but please feel free to ignore the 'how do I do a dvd' idiots".
Will

[Will Hay]

What about a feature that no one can post a question without having filled out their comupter details and location in their profile?

Absolutely superb idea!
Will

[SatStorm]

That's why there are newbie and advance forum sections
The problem occurs when a newbie question post to the advance section. Then, yes, even me answer more than once "read the guides!"

About the PC specifications. That's not neccessary. It is more neccessary to indicate a "PAL" or "NTSC" user under the member name IMO. So to know what to answer. Start someone talking for ITC to a PAL user for example, only makes mess...

[Cheesemeister2000]

7 or 14 days sound good as a time limit.

Machine spec sounds good - some people may have more than one machine.

PAL or NTSC sounds good - but being from the UK, i capture in PAL, but also purchase R1 NTSC DVD`s etc...

Cheesemeister2000

[donalo]

I was under the impression that this was a free and open forum.

Newbies should be treated like any other student and the maxim that "No question is a stupid question" should be applied.

Discouraging the asking of basic questions no matter how stupid is a negative stance to take.

There isn't one single member of this forum that was born with the knowledge they possess. They at one stage required someone to help them out with the basics by asking "stupid questions"!

[Baldrick]

No questions are stupid. I just want the users to first do some basic research and search before they ask instead of directly go to the forum and ask.

[Gazorgan]

I think PC specs are needed. The yahoo with capturing problems can save us a lot of problems responding if we see his PC is an AMD K6-400 with a 6 GB HD and 48 MB RAM(extreme but true example). Same thing for NTSC/PAL, it does confuse people who think using PAL is better because it can go 'higher res'.

'Other Forums' have a waiting period, that's a good thing! The other alternative is 20 sticky posts in each forum, and no one really wants that.

[Treebeard]

Here is an idea , how about a page that is basically an encyclopedia of terms and jargon commonly used on these web pages.
I see people confused in the forums b/c they dont know what a "codec" is or what the difference is b/w encoding & authoring is, etc.. you get the idea we have all seen it. It could be an alphabetical list of terminology with definitions.

[crahak]

PC specs are not required. Again, lots of people have more than one, and I can't see myself not being able to post because I have not filled it...

[Craig Tucker]

Here is an idea , how about a page that is basically an encyclopedia of terms and jargon commonly used on these web pages.
I see people confused in the forums b/c they dont know what a "codec" is or what the difference is b/w encoding & authoring is, etc.. you get the idea we have all seen it. It could be an alphabetical list of terminology with definitions.

Like this

http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/

[kitty]

Newbies should be treated like any other student and the maxim that "No question is a stupid question" should be applied.

Discouraging the asking of basic questions no matter how stupid is a negative stance to take.

There isn't one single member of this forum that was born with the knowledge they possess. They at one stage required someone to help them out with the basics by asking "stupid questions"!

From the early days of the Internet (ooops, my age is showing), this was identified as a problem. The solution was a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) format. An early example was rtfm.mit.edu (read the f*cking manual). It works quite well.

Before I started doing serious work I read up on this site and a few others. If a question wasn't answered by a FAQ or guide I would ask a question. I still ask questions - it is a good thing. But if I ask a question that is in the newbie guide then flame me as I have not done the basic homework.

The search features of this site, the forum search, and Google are all excellent and can often produce instantaneous results rather than posting and waiting for a reply (or waiting and getting a reply from someone who does not understand your question).

Ask away but we would hope that you have checked a bit first.

PS. This does not apply to the divx/xvid to MPEG posts that specifically mention Kazaa or other services. Too many people get an illicit copy of a film and expect to pop it into their DVD player with no work or thought. Ignorance plain & simple.

[Treebeard]

Exactly what i was describing. Now if we just had a link from main page or create vcdhelps own glossary and have it be on the main column to the left.

[Baldrick]

A glossary would be good...but I will not link to another site in the main menu...so somone have to write one(preferably not me...or else it will take a year or two to fix). It would be good if it was very easy to add a word and a description and it would be automatically ordered. Maybe a forum with only glossary words, that is ordered by name. And only moderators could add new words.

[Will Hay]

Now must new users wait 3 days before they can post. I hope it reduce some very basic questions and also the once who only post one post and dissapears.

I think 3 days is excessive (and the guy who said 7 to 10 days, are you ill????).
If you want an answer and you're willing to seach then you can exhaust that option in three to four hours.
I reckon 36 hours is more reasonable, that'll cover two evenings on any timeline (assuming you do sleep at some point!).
Too long a wait and you'll put users off.
And what about the new users coming from established forums such as doom9?
How impressed are they gonna' be having to wait simply because someone deems them a 'newbie'?
I'd be pissed, I can tell you that much.
Will

[fravel]

Hello! This is a recording. Press one or more of the buttons at the left according to your question.
If your question is about "What is this or what is that", please press one or more buttons under What Is.
If your question is about "How to do this or that", please press one or more buttons under How To...
Awh, never mind!