Just an idea for newcomers...

[Craig Tucker]

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

The 3 day wait was implimented because there were an increasing number of posts from new members, with 1 post, with questions that could be answered by simply 1 click on the what is or how to guides. It was discussed in the moderators forum and was felt that this would encourage new member to explore the site rather than just joining the forum and posting questions right away which could easily be answered with just a little exploration of the site. 7 days was originally suggested and Baldrick decided that 3 should be adequate.

Not to sound condasending but most "newbie" (and I don't really like this term) questions could be answered with a little searching, and by the time a new forum member has a problem or question that has not been covered somewhere on this site or forum, I am sure the 3 days wait would have long since expired. I realise this may not always be the case, but I am sure it is in the majority of cases.

[Cheesemeister2000]

Im with you on that Craig, this should hopefully mean the forums will return to use for questions about stuff that is not clearly answered in the guides.

Perhaps an idea also to make the "Forum Search" buttons stand out more ?

I seem to remember Baldrick was saying the forum database was getting a bit large. Is there a default set as to when old posts are deleted ? e.g. 3/6 months ? etc....

Cheesemeister2000

[Treebeard]

Im with you on that Craig, this should hopefully mean the forums will return to use for questions about stuff that is not clearly answered in the guides.

Perhaps an idea also to make the "Forum Search" buttons stand out more ?

I seem to remember Baldrick was saying the forum database was getting a bit large. Is there a default set as to when old posts are deleted ? e.g. 3/6 months ? etc....

Cheesemeister2000

Posts Dont Get Deleted 8)

All old posts exists...but they are in a different forum and it requires a lot of work to fix them back in some archive format. But I will try to make some kind of archive for old posts and bring posts older than 2001 back also...but it will take some weeks to fix...

taken from this thread http://www.vcdhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=135794&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&h...hlight=threads

[Will Hay]

I'd be interested to hear the offical (vcdhelp) opinion on a point I made above, about experienced user's coming from such places as doom9, and not being able to post for 3 days, and subsequently not contributing
I'd also be interested to read what message a newly registered member is faced with regarding the 3 day forum ban
Thanks,
Will

[freak_in_cage_10k]

i think the 3 day waiting period is a good idea, i also agree with the small anaual fee (£10 per year etc) but perhaps the price should be reduced depending on your Average no of posts/week. this would mean that those dedicated to the site, who spent a lot of time helping ppl would not be expected to pay as much as someone who doesn;t help much, because they are effectively paying in the form of time (by helping ppl)

[Cole]

Sometimes asking a question especially for the complete Newbie, the answers can be a little bewildering. For example, if a Newbie posts a question along the lines of my captured video does <insert problem here>, some kind soul posts an answer frameserve it in VirtualDub.

All very good that someone took the time to give some help. But in this instance (and similar has happened to me) the answer will end up causing more questions than answers.

Newibie: What is Frameserving? What is VirtualDub?

Something like this site can be pretty daunting for a Newbie; heaven knows I had a hard time understanding what it was all about originally but thankfully kept going and have now a fair understanding for the system that I use.

The point here, if some of the answers could be a little more "fleshed out" and to a greater detail, then it would make searches easier. Find a search result of 450+ postings of little detail can be too time consuming to trawl through.

<Although I do agree with the essence of this thread, this was a point worth mentioning> 8)

[streetskater]

Probably no way to get newbies to refrain from asking newbie questions. I have a few myself. More to the point the answers to a lot of question regarding encoding DVD and VCD formats are somewhat fluid due to the fact that there are few clear frontrunner standards and a bunch of contenders. There are tons of tools to fix the same problems--and the solution set changes monthly.

[Will Hay]

Sometimes asking a question especially for the complete Newbie, the answers can be a little bewildering. For example, if a Newbie posts a question along the lines of my captured video does <insert problem here>, some kind soul posts an answer frameserve it in VirtualDub.

All very good that someone took the time to give some help. But in this instance (and similar has happened to me) the answer will end up causing more questions than answers.

Newibie: What is Frameserving? What is VirtualDub?

Something like this site can be pretty daunting for a Newbie; heaven knows I had a hard time understanding what it was all about originally but thankfully kept going and have now a fair understanding for the system that I use.

The point here, if some of the answers could be a little more "fleshed out" and to a greater detail, then it would make searches easier. Find a search result of 450+ postings of little detail can be too time consuming to trawl through.

<Although I do agree with the essence of this thread, this was a point worth mentioning> 8)

An excellent point well made.
I could've written the exact same thing when I first joined although one comment on the problem of not understanding an answer:
There's a facility on the site which lists words and the meanings, the glossary which I find very useful
Will

[afwasborstel]

I thougt that this was a place to help each other in times of need...not a place to show off how good u are. Never forget where U came frome...we all started once...