Forum Rules not being displayed in a newbie friendly place

[Heirukichi]

I know this comes a bit late since we had a forum update just two days ago but there is not a single day when at least one thread is posted in the wrong place.

New users are often lazy (or too hasty) and not everybody wants to take a look at the rules as soon as he/she ends submitting his/her registration form, but for those that actually want to read them I think they are too easy to miss.

I have been in this community for a few years already and whenever I want to check something I always have to think a while before remembering where those rules are.

Since this post is not meant to complain about how things are, here is my suggestion:

• forum general rules might be more visible with a pinned thread in each section that points to them;
• it would be useful to pin a post with a little description of each section of this forum so that new user might see if there is a more appropriate section where to start their thread.

Another wonderful option would be having a button right below the header (after the Help button) that links to rules an other useful informations about forum sections and where to post what you want to post. This is much faster compared to having to read the rules of each and every section to know if that is the most appropriate for your thread.

Among those users who post in the wrong place there are those who apologize and remember that later on. Those users might be willing to read the rules before posting so I think those two suggestion might reduce the amount of work for moderators at least a little bit thanks to them (those users) posting in the right place.

As I said I know people are hasty and/or lazy so I am not sure this might solve the issue at hand (there are users in this forum who constantly post in the wrong section even after having their threads moved more than once) but I am sure that making things harder is not going to get rid of their laziness.

 

[mlogan]

The rules are linked in the Help tab.

 

[Heirukichi]

That is true but there is no link to each section rules nor anything to explain where to post what you are going to post. I might have missed this of course but if I missed it does it not prove my point as well?

As far as I know rules for each section are explained in the section itself. To read them you have to go there and actually read them. A brief list of sections and their respective description (and possibly a link to their rules) visible in the same (highlighted) place might make things easier to understand.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

I'm a bit confused. When you're on the main page, you can already find some info about each section under its title. For example this is what it says under the Tutorial section:
Are you looking for tutorials? We have a lot over here! Come join us in our pursuit for knowledge. Do not post "How do I...?" questions here. That's for Maker Specific.

Or do you mean something else?

 

[Andar]

there is a description line at every single forum subsection that tells you what to post there - more obvious than that as to answer "what to post where" isn't possible.

and no, placing general rule posts inside each forum (other than the special rules that are already pinned there) is also a no-go because it increases the administrative load of managing those posts.

And besides - no matter where they are posted, most people will still ignore the rules. That goes to the point of users claiming that general rules never apply to them because of
- they're friends with the japanese programmer,
- they have chronical mental illnesses and we would have to adapt to them,
- because otherwise they call the company by phone and demand the unreasonable rules to be changed,...

and no that is no joke, all three cases including the telephone terror calling really happened...

edit: ninja'd

 

[Heirukichi]

@slimmmeiske2 I was talking about something similar in a way that also links to the full rules for that section while at the same time being in a very obvious spot at the beginning of the page. That way even those who registered for the first time would see it. That is because to read section descriptions you have to scroll down and since people are lazy they just post in the first section that sounds nice.

Here is a little example:
After the update the board for MV is above that for JS Plugins. This means that even if the JS board description is this:
"Do you need RPG Maker MV Plugins? Wanna learn how to make your own? Or maybe you are having plugin troubles? This is the board for all of that!"
people might still read the one for MV and post there without scrolling down enough to read it.

However honestly after reading what @Andar said I completely gave up.

Those things look so unreal that I could not think of them even if I tried so if people are able to come up with those excuses I guess everyone who does that is beyond salvation and no matter how you try to guide him/her to know the rule he/she will not follow them.

Once again humanity never ceases to amaze me (not in a positive way though).

NOTE: I am not trying to say that the way the forum is organized is wrong. Honestly I think this forum is quite practical and I have never had troubles finding where to post things. But it is a matter of fact that many people keep just posting in the wrong section. This week I saw the same person posting in the wrong section two or three times...people with OCD (not me) might really die because of that (as I said not me, not at all XD).

 

[Kes]

@Heirukichi There are also the people who are quite blatant and say (this is a real example) "I'm too lazy to look for the right place. Mods, move this to where it should be."

Or those who simply ignore what is there. My pet peeve is the forum for 'Scripts' where there is this:



and



That doesn't stop a significant number of people posting script requests there, together with a wide assortment of threads which have nothing to do with scripts.

 

[Heirukichi]

"I'm too lazy to look for the right place. Mods, move this to where it should be."

Strangely enough I remember a similar case when you moved a post where the OP clearly asked mods to move it because he didn't want to look for the right place. Honestly I have always thought that those people were borderline cases...after reading your replies I realized that they are not so borderline as I thought.

Taking that into account I have to review my position and accept the fact that people do not like reading rules at all. Well, this thread helped me widening my field of view at least.

 

[Sharm]

I really wish that statement was more uncommon. Unfortunately, this is the problem in any field with a lot of random people. In most cases, people will be very reasonable, read the rules and try to follow them. But the more people there are, the more you come across those borderline cases, until they get to the point where they're regular enough that you have to plan for them. The stuff we get that's actually unusual? That's the really scary, fear for your life and wellbeing sort of things. This is why anyone working in the customer service industry talks about how it will make you lose your faith in humanity.

 

[mlogan]

Yeah, it's not that we don't appreciate the suggestion and wouldn't love to find a way to drastically minimize having to remind people of the rules, but there's only so much we can do.

 

[bgillisp]

@Sharm : I worked in customer service for a phone company for 2 years, and yep. The stories I could tell.