I think we should add an amendment to the rules

[aoi_neko]

Umm, can I ask a dumb question? I'm dead certain that it's something that must have been suggested and rejected, but before my time.

Why on EARTH don't we have stickies in General AMV called

"Just getting started: how do I make an AMV?"

telling them which guides to read and in what order, and to go post in the correct help forums if they don't understand; and

"Where do I get footage / clips / anime?"

politely heading off the "where do I download?" questions?

Of course they'd be offtopic in that forum, but might it not cut down on those questions showing up over and over, which is equally offtopic and far more annoying?

re: Instabans, not horrible in theory, but in practice I wonder if people might not be a bit quick on the trigger. I think there'd be a tendency to interpret every "where do I get source clips" question as a violation, when it's just as likely to just be an idiot who honestly doesn't know yet that the preferred method of getting clips is pull them off DVDs.

[bum]

Their was a "get started" thread. It got deleted due to old age and the great amount of guides easily available to thoughs with more than a single brain cell. If someone is stupid enough to ask a question without bothering to search a bit beforehand, then a sticky aint gona prevent them from posting a new thread.

But you'd also have to put it on a timer, as in when the page loads to read the rules before joining, you can't proceed until say 2-5 minutes has passed, because a lot of people (myself included) when it comes to reading rules or license agreements, just skip through and click the "accept" button.

That would just anoy people, and wouldnt do any more to get people to read the rules. If someone chooses not to read the rules, then breaks them, its their fault. They were shown the rules and have no excuse. Most of the rules are comon sence, so anyone who breaks them deserves a ban just for being an idiot.