We DO have an off-topic/humor "section". It's 12 pages long!
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=688

But I know many of you hate when that thread gets bumped back to the first page. Regardless of what we do or how we do it NONE of you will be happy.

I've said it many times already but even if we create a newbie section those post are still going to show up on the first page along with everything else. So 17 of 20 threads would be newbie questions, for example.

Being a newbie has NOTHING to do with not being able to do YOUR OWN RESEARCH. You don't even have to do a search really because when you type a title for your question the forum automatically gives you suggestions of previous threads. You guys don't even bother looking at the suggestions because you still start threads with the exact same question that was asked before. Sometimes the same threads are right next to each other?! I have tried to be polite about telling people to "Please Do A Forum Search" but I guess I'm just wasting my time and we should do like other forums and simply delete instead of close threads.

Anyway this thread was suppose to be about the forum software update but it has instead brought some wicked demons out of some of you and there is no need for it.

Time to move on.

poster said:
All of the newbies need to grow a thicker skin.

I cant believe you would say something like this

HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!

lol....just kidding

poster said:
All of the newbies need to grow a thicker skin.

I was a newbie here a couple of years ago and I owe what success I've had since then to this forum and it's member, and I'm not kidding. A newbie has to have thick skin and be able to take a shot or two now & then, just as I did and still do. A newbie isn't going to learn anything from a newbie forum, they can only learn from the best.

As we say here in Oklahoma, "If you want to run with the big dogs you have to learn to pee in the tall grass with them". lol :-)

All of the newbies need to grow a thicker skin.

I see that some of my comments were taken to a different direction than the one I meant.

First of all, thanks to the NR team for providing this forum, a place from where we can interchange information regarding to Nikon.

As TaoTeJared said, good luck with the upgrade, running a new software not always runs smooth as they should.. (We software engineers always have some bugs ... or features as we call them)... and hope that the upgrade will lead to a new era in this forum.

Agree with imua hawaii, and that is exactly my feeling, based on my personal experience here in NR.

I hope that the NR administrators and maintainers will take up the glove we have thrown here. That is, we all are giving here ideas/suggestions that may improve the way we all use the forum.

Have a wonderful day to all

--- Ricky Marek (From somewhere in the Galilee)

interesting thread.. i take it this site was not meant for "newbies" asking stupid "newbie" questions. but if you dont teach the newbies about what to buy or how to do this, how will we learn to be experts like the "oldies"? i've been told to do a forum search and made to feel pretty stupid. so what do i do now? wait for some other newbie ask the stupid questions instead. thank you though to the few who actually gave excellent advice and tried to share their knowledge.. those of you who didnt forget that they were once a newbie too.. much aloha to you..

poster said:
You want something constructive?
Put a restriction on newly registered members.
For example,
In order to start a topic, the must have made at least 20 posts/comments.

I scoffed and then stopped and thought, that's a damn good idea.

It might be helpful if there was a section just for the "what should I buy". That would help clean stuff up quickly.

Good luck with the update! I know that those things are not always as easy as it sounds.

You want something constructive?

Put a restriction on newly registered members.

For example,

In order to start a topic, the must have made at least 20 posts/comments.

Create a STICKY thread with guidelines of the forum, to search before asking, not to post stupid shit like Canon vs. Nikon vs. Pentax. What should I buy err? Ohh my god I have been to the beach and now my D3s has pebbles of sand inside, OMG what do I do!!!?

They need to LURK more!

We don't need not moderated sections. Because then it will be full of spammers and other shitsticks wasting the bandwidth.

What we need is an offtopic & humor section. Where mods are softer on the the rules in regards to going off topic, etc. We need more "fun threads". There needs to be balance between fun and serious more "technical" topics. Not everybody is here to talk about patents and other technical stuff, some want to loosen up a bit after a day of hard work.

That's my suggestion, I hope somebody reads it before it gets deleted.

Spaced, the way this forum is set up questions from a newbie section would still show up with all the other discussions on the first page. It would be worse because 17 of the 20 threads on the first page, for example, would be "What should I buy" threads. We already have something like 15 different forum areas. (D7000 section, DSLR Video, Nikon Software, Weird &fun, etc.)

Rbid, as Adam said we don't have time to hold everyone's hand and guide them to every single discussion. You guys need to do your own foot work! We do this site FOR FREE and on our own time.

This thread should have made you guys happy and appreciative to hear an upgrade is in the works but instead some of you took advantage to toss a few tomatoes. We don't pay admission to play here so no one has a reason to be so upset over this.There are more important things in the world to get worked up about.

However, to those who have given us constructive feedback, thank you.

some good points and suggestions, although registration wise im pretty new here i been reading for over a year, took me a while to register up, just a thought why not just have a Newbie section that way they can ask these questions and if someone answers great if not no loss that why old timers dont have to read them if they dont want too :)

rbid - most of the threads that are closed right now have a message why it was closed, if the user who opened the thread wish to contact mod who closed it she/he can do it w/o any problems. Trust me, neither me or Niko has time to PM every single user whose thread has been closed.

@SuperShooter: You have good points here :)

As a way to "Bridge" between the ideas, Why not create a section called "closed-threads", and when an moderator decides to close a thread, it will do three things.

1) Move the thread to the "closed-threads" section. This will keep the other forum area cleaner.

2) PM the author of the thread that his thread has been closed. This will allow the victim user to know that his/her thread was moved (This could be a fixed text sent just to acknowledge the user, maybe containing a link to the closed-section or/and to the forum rules)

3) (Nice to have for the ones who look on closed-threads like today) Post a termination message. This will give others who look on the closed-threads why the thread was closed and also find a hint for more material related to it (e.g. example of a search as some moderators provide today).

No threads/messages can be created in the "closed-threads" section. Only moderators can post there. (Like today with the [closed] threads.)

Silent deletion is not good due that it may cause more confusion than advantage.
(newbies will re-post and more dirty work for the moderators)

Searching the forum should exclude the closed threads section :)

I've been around a long time too but I would never say this forum is more serious then dpreview or other photography forums. You guys never EVER talk about the tech stuff that gets posted on the blog page. I would much rather discuss Nikon's new patents or the latest rumors then help some lazy noob pick a new lens to photograph his cat. It's a fing rumors site for crying out loud. If you just want to post your photos and Like photos then go to FB or flickr. I want to see more rumor talk.

I don't come around as often as before because every time I stick my head in here it's always the same newbie question. I don't like hang out in the blog comments as much either because it's the opposite of this forum and full of haters. I tried to joke around and have a good time with you guys but instead I get mail telling me I'm being immature and that this is a serious adult forum.

Some of you guys just need to get over yourselves! If you don't like the way the forum is run or enforced then bye bye. I've had my threads closed before and I didn't cry or hold a grunge? Nope, I just move on. Even with all of it's faults this forum is still a lot better then other tech forums. If you guys want to see a bad forum go spend sometime in 4chan or some of the abandoned and non-moderated flickr groups. I guarantee you'll be running back here begging for your thread to get closed ;)

But my suggestion to the admins of this forum would be to just delete the closed threads. Why bother keeping them around to clutter up the place. Just delete them after a day or two.

From what I have read about this BBPress update, I'm also willing to see the changes :)

admin said:
@rbid - I know some forum offer "non-moderated" areas, I just think it will turn into a very ugly place. After all, the mods are here to make your experience better, otherwise this will be just another dpreview forum.

Common sense can help a lot!...

I do not think that this forum will become that populated or polluted as DPR forums, due that is more dedicated to Nikon, and also people here are more focused than there :)
(You see more serious photographers here than there)

Again, my purpose was not to "blame" or to "be-negative" over here, just gave an idea on how to improve this forum, in making it more "kindly" place for everybody.

@Bland has a nice idea imported from Facebook: Like on the photos-of-the-day thread :)

I enjoy reading and learning, and even more sharing my experiences over here.. but some times I feel the same as @sevencrossing in this forum, and not because stuff is repeating or getting bored as @NikoDoby mentions. Even from repeated threads you can learn a lot. (BTW, most of the users that walked away are active in NikonCafe... another kindly Nikon forum)

I know (as former sysadmin that hated BOFH work) that being a moderator is not easy, and even more if this forum contains members from different cultures, users here not always have English as their native language and some sentences they write could be not always be interpreted in the same way.

I have been following this forum for more than two years (although I only joined this year), and I can feel that was a change on the kindness and mood on the forum, I guess other "older" members can also can feel it, that some kind of "non-tolerant" actions are surging, more than in the past. (just a feeling), and the reason can be written in a single word: inconsistency. (I saw that some moderators will close a thread because is "similar" (but not equal) to other topics, while others will not tolerate "off-topic" talk that is similar to the main thread... leading to a catch 22 loop).

Have a nice day to all.. and say good words to me: I just got a new job in the world of "gastrophotography". (As embedded software engineer in Given Imaging)

sevencrossing said:
Yes, but the way a forum is "divided up" has a big effect on what gets posted
and read. At the moment, this is a simple single thread forum , more sections, or boards, will affect its future

Same rules will still apply. Remember it's an update and not a complete rebuild.

sevencrossing said:
Yes, but in life, only a few people bother to complain, most just walk away and dont come back

exactly my point. Most of the active members now only joined a few months ago. So these topics are fresh to you guys. Those of us who have been contributing for years get bored reading the same topics and back and forth "commentary".

PM me seven and we can continue there.

NikoDoby said:
. I get more complaints about .....

Yes, but in life, only a few people bother to complain, most just walk away and dont come back , then again maybe you are happy with that . As has been said , its your forum

NikoDoby said:
.
Anyway like I said before, this thread is suppose to be about the BBPress update and not about the rules or "discussion management".

Yes, but the way a forum is "divided up" has a big effect on what gets posted
and read. At the moment, this is a simple single thread forum , more sections, or boards, will affect its future

alchse said:
If people feel like rehashing a topic that has already been discussed....whats the problem with that?

The problem is that frequent and long time members get tired of seeing the same conversations over and over and over and over again. I get more complaints about "stupid topics" and repeat discussions then I do about closed threads. Many of those members have stopped contributing to the forum because they see us as just a "newbie" site with the same "what should I buy" or "what's the best..." discussions every week.

Anyway like I said before, this thread is suppose to be about the BBPress update and not about the rules or "discussion management".

There has to be some middle ground on the "do a search" policy.

There are what? 1 or 2 new threads a day here....maybe 10 or 20 posts on a good day.

The close every redundant thread policy stifles conversation.

If people feel a question is overly redundant or not interesting...they wont post on the topic and it will die a natural death.

If people feel like rehashing a topic that has already been discussed....whats the problem with that?

its your board and you can run it as you see fit....thats just my 2 cents

guys, please understand that once You see the same question popping over and over again (sometimes on the same page only because someone didn't care to search), blood boils. I know it's much easier to ask a question than to go through different topics but please save us (older members). As admin wrote noone wants to have another dpreview.com. The rules over here are very simple and very clear, but only if You dare to read them.

admin said:
@rbid - I know some forum offer "non-moderated" areas, I just think it will turn into a very ugly place.

How about, moving closed threads, to their own section. People might be allowed to continue to add posts, for say 3 days, then the whole thing gets deleted. This would allow a bit of feed back and perhaps retain more new members . When I joined this from, I did find understanding the very strict rules difficult . "Do a forum search" is not a particularly friendly welcome, to new members first post

Ok, it's working now - the search function will return only results from the forum. The main blog search will return results from the forum and the blog.

I changed the Google search to give results only from the forum. I think it will take few hours until the change takes effect.

@rbid - I know some forum offer "non-moderated" areas, I just think it will turn into a very ugly place. After all, the mods are here to make your experience better, otherwise this will be just another dpreview forum.
@PB PM - I think I can change the search to only cover forum topics. Let me research this.
@Bland - I hope the new design will allow Facebook integration. I will download the beta version locally in the next few days.

NikoDoby said:

*I'm referring to posts that have since been deleted*

cute