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The other day while cleaning my dorm building's laundry room after putting to much soap into the washer (which I had never used before), I was thinking about our n00b problem and came up with an idea.
What if we split the entire forum into age groups? 12 and under, 13 to 16, and 17+.
You can post in a lower age group, but you cannot post in a higher one (everyone can read all the forums, though). Thus, little kids would have a forum where they could learn how to use the forums without interfering in older forum members' affairs, and older members could talk among themselves without any problems.
We have a n00b problem, but I think it is completely understandable. I remember when I first came on to the internet - I was a n00b and was like 10 or whatever, and I had to learn the hard way. I did not understand the concept of a forum (just like how now, IRC confuses the heck out of me), and I had to get yelled at, e-bullied, etc. to learn. That is not the kind of place we are going to have no matter what anyone proposes, and I think it is much easier if we do it this way. When I read posts by "n00bs (young ones, that is - you older ones have no excuse)," I think of my youngest brother posting the comments, and I can understand why they are asking the questions they are asking and why they are posting the way they are. They are young and do not understand everything yet, and that's okay, but we shouldn't be sarcastic toward them or mean (usually), because they won't learn and will just be deterred, as I was.
The little kids will have their very own forum where they can ask their questions many of us consider to be "Duh" without having to be bullied and without clogging up older people's forums. Everyone would be around people their own age, with their level of competence, and with their level of TCG knowledge. This is what I think it would look like (for the first two age groups):
COMMUNITY FORUMS (all ages post together)
News Capsules
Wi-Fi League
Trading Corner
Site Discussion
HELP FORUMS
Forum Help and Questions
TCG Questions
TCG FORUMS
Deck Garage
Card Combos / Strategies
TCG Discussion
Organized Playing
POKEBEACH.COM
General Pokemon Discussion
Miscellaneous Discussion (?)
Animé Talk (?)
Fan Creations
The oldest forum (17+) would not help the two "Help" forums, and possibly not the "Anime Talk" forum, since not many old people (besides me) like the Anime and it would probably just be dead.
Now, here is the fun part. If you prove to us that you are "beyond your years," we will let you post in the older forums (not all 12 year olds act 12 - some act 16, or even 18). If you act like a little kid when you are not (in terms of the way you post and what you say and discuss), you will be put with people of your "smartness," and thus in younger forums (everyone develops in different intervals, so it is understandable sometimes).
The goal will be to act smarter so you can move up in rank, which should help the n00bs in wanting to improve.
All-in-all, though, I think this would be good for all age groups. The "older" forums could talk without distractions and grow (since we do not have many 17+ people due to the n00b problem scaring them away). The younger groups could ask questions without fear and learn so that they "graduate" to the higher forums.
This may also require us purging (restarting) the forums, but this will be discussed at a later time.
What do you guys think? Play the devil's advocate, too.
The other day while cleaning my dorm building's laundry room after putting to much soap into the washer (which I had never used before), I was thinking about our n00b problem and came up with an idea.
What if we split the entire forum into age groups? 12 and under, 13 to 16, and 17+.
You can post in a lower age group, but you cannot post in a higher one (everyone can read all the forums, though). Thus, little kids would have a forum where they could learn how to use the forums without interfering in older forum members' affairs, and older members could talk among themselves without any problems.
We have a n00b problem, but I think it is completely understandable. I remember when I first came on to the internet - I was a n00b and was like 10 or whatever, and I had to learn the hard way. I did not understand the concept of a forum (just like how now, IRC confuses the heck out of me), and I had to get yelled at, e-bullied, etc. to learn. That is not the kind of place we are going to have no matter what anyone proposes, and I think it is much easier if we do it this way. When I read posts by "n00bs (young ones, that is - you older ones have no excuse)," I think of my youngest brother posting the comments, and I can understand why they are asking the questions they are asking and why they are posting the way they are. They are young and do not understand everything yet, and that's okay, but we shouldn't be sarcastic toward them or mean (usually), because they won't learn and will just be deterred, as I was.
The little kids will have their very own forum where they can ask their questions many of us consider to be "Duh" without having to be bullied and without clogging up older people's forums. Everyone would be around people their own age, with their level of competence, and with their level of TCG knowledge. This is what I think it would look like (for the first two age groups):
COMMUNITY FORUMS (all ages post together)
News Capsules
Wi-Fi League
Trading Corner
Site Discussion
HELP FORUMS
Forum Help and Questions
TCG Questions
TCG FORUMS
Deck Garage
Card Combos / Strategies
TCG Discussion
Organized Playing
POKEBEACH.COM
General Pokemon Discussion
Miscellaneous Discussion (?)
Animé Talk (?)
Fan Creations
The oldest forum (17+) would not help the two "Help" forums, and possibly not the "Anime Talk" forum, since not many old people (besides me) like the Anime and it would probably just be dead.
Now, here is the fun part. If you prove to us that you are "beyond your years," we will let you post in the older forums (not all 12 year olds act 12 - some act 16, or even 18). If you act like a little kid when you are not (in terms of the way you post and what you say and discuss), you will be put with people of your "smartness," and thus in younger forums (everyone develops in different intervals, so it is understandable sometimes).
The goal will be to act smarter so you can move up in rank, which should help the n00bs in wanting to improve.
All-in-all, though, I think this would be good for all age groups. The "older" forums could talk without distractions and grow (since we do not have many 17+ people due to the n00b problem scaring them away). The younger groups could ask questions without fear and learn so that they "graduate" to the higher forums.
This may also require us purging (restarting) the forums, but this will be discussed at a later time.
What do you guys think? Play the devil's advocate, too.