New-Member Registrations

mmm4444bot

Super Moderator
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
10,902
It's been a while since forum issues forced me through the new-account process. I had the impression from Ted that new members were told about the forum guidelines. I think Ted had also mentioned that new members are notified twice (by email and PM) about the moderation of their first few posts. I recently registered as a new member, to see how the process now works.

There was no mention of the forum guidelines at all.

I did not receive any PMs.

I received an initial email containing a confirmation link, to complete the registration. That email mentions nothing beyond the link.

Four hours after clicking the link, I received a welcome email. That message mentions the moderation of posts, at the bottom (like an afterthought).

Therefore, we ought to assume that many new members don't know about the guidelines. I'm guessing that a lot of people post as soon as they click the confirmation link. At that point, they haven't been informed about guidelines, so they aren't looking for a 'Read Before Posting' link.

People will not necessarily expect a welcome message by email, either, and for people like me (who receive it hours later), they probably won't see it before posting, anyway. (Now I understand why moderators still regularly remove a lot of duplicate threads and replies.)

I'll try to keep bumping the guidelines thread, so that its link displays on the forum front page as much as possible, but let's be patient with new people who don't following the guidelines; it's almost certain that some would have posted differently, had they been given notice during registration.

[imath]\;[/imath]
 
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