To remind newbies to read the guides...

[BasharOfTheAges]

Any problem can be solved with judicious use of the mod hammer and possibly large flashy embarrassing text in their titles when they fuck up.

like this? =P

Somewhat. You have the color and font size correct, but...

1) When they fuck up "In terms of asking stupid questions."
2) As a custom title under their avatar or on their profile page.

[Gepetto]

Something like "Brainless SOB" or something more comical, on the lines of "Sold Brains on eBay"?

[Lyrs]

Here's a solution:
Add Required subject Tags to the Create Thread function. Threads should have a minimum of 2 tags. Maybe more tags if the member has 0-25 (etc) posts.


For example:

Subject: This is a subject about newbs and sticky threads
Tag: newbs
Tag: sticky
Message body: blahblahblahblah


Replace the Submit button with a Search/preview button/function. The message will be previewed and a search is performed on the forum.

A message and list of threads can be displayed to inform the member of threads that meet their tags.

Example:
Your subject is similar to these threads:

thread1
thread2
thread3

Please check these threads. They may contain the subject you wish to discuss. If they do, please refrain from creating a new thread. Instead, discuss your thoughts, ideas, or problems within these threads.


Now, you can put a submit button and a cancel button.

[Gepetto]

The number of people that skip right through it will still be big, though. Bu then again, there's nothing we can do to pigs like that.

[Shazzy]

We also see a good deal of pre-teens who just want to make a video for fun. Stupid questions are stupid questions, but think of your 12 year old sister or cousin and how intelligent they sound on forums :p

[JaddziaDax]

if i recall a long time ago when the internets were still fairly new (and aohell was a good $3-$4 an hour to be on it) i might have still had terrible grammar (pretty much like i do now ), but i knew then to lurk till i got the hang of a place, it seems that some people dont seem to understand that concept though..

i also had to walk up hill in the snow barefoot (both ways up hill)

[Lyrs]

Of course, but they're also in a position to learn proper forum "etiquette;" we happen to be in a position that can help emphasize a "correct" forum behavior. Using the search function is one of those behaviors.

By making it completely accessible, self-apparent, and painless, we can keep them lurking more and posting less.


However, if such a process is incorporated into the forums, the problem I am concerned about is not human, but rather technical. I have no clue as to the statistical average of threads being created per a duration or the bandwidth/CPU cycle cost of a database query. A per-thread query may dramatically increase the frequency of the phpbb database queries, usage of CPU cycles and bandwidth.

We do have bandwidth, CPU cycles, and data servers to spare, right?

[BasharOfTheAges]

We also see a good deal of pre-teens who just want to make a video for fun. Stupid questions are stupid questions, but think of your 12 year old sister or cousin and how intelligent they sound on forums :p

How you'd act if you were related to them shouldn't make any difference.

Some mods here might be able tell you how I tried my hardest to get my little brother banned for being a complete noob.

[Gepetto]

We also see a good deal of pre-teens who just want to make a video for fun. Stupid questions are stupid questions, but think of your 12 year old sister or cousin and how intelligent they sound on forums :p

or in real life.

[Shazzy]

How you'd act if you were related to them shouldn't make any difference.

But many people do temper themselves if they know someone beyond lines of text. It's stupid to let basic decency slide and flame the hell out of someone because they're a) young b) ungrammatical and c) it's a forum, what do we care, we don't know who these people are. Such behavior makes this environment unnecessarily hostile.