Donating Member subforum suggestion - improve the experience for HF newbies

[DanglingModifier]

More carrot, less stick - where off-topic threads created by non-donating members are concerned.

Problem: New blood routinely posts on subjects that are not specifically hammock related. The posts get moved resulting in a bad experience for the new visitor, who otherwise should be appreciating their honeymoon period with HF. They think the forum is broken, that they are being persecuted, and they resent the apparent deletion of their posts. Some certainly move on without getting to the bottom of what happened or upgrading to "donating" status. Friendly folks at HF continue to answer their questions despite the fact that they OP has been effectively severed from their own thread. Since the questions are often beginner questions, the value of the thread to other donating members may not be high. Everybody's time may effectively be wasted.

Solution(?): Is there a way to allow an original poster to see the threads they started regardless of what subforum they end up in? Allowing that to occur would give them a way to get at their posts even if the thread was moved behind the paywall, while still restricting them from seeing or participating in the giant archive of non-hammock threads. There would still be the carrot (lots of great threads if you donate), but not the stick (we moved your thread and now it is held hostage until you pay).

It would help donating members too, because we'd be less inclined to waste our time answering questions when nobody is home OR ignore those newbie posts that land behind the paywall because we don't think our responses will be received by the OP.

[SilvrSurfr]

Sounds like a system specifically designed for people who don't read the HF TOS, and whose feelings are easily hurt. If the questions were "often beginner questions" about hammocks, they wouldn't get moved to Roundtable OffTopic.

You can call it, "your non-hammock-related post is being held hostage until you pay," or you can call it what the TOS calls it: "we offer an option for members to help cover the server and bandwidth costs through an annual donation. As a reward, donating members get access to a Roundtable Off-Topic section where non-hammock topics can be discussed. Semantics aside, this is not meant to be a subscription for additional access – we’d be perfectly content if the only content on HF were hammock-related – it’s merely a reward for donating members to further participate in the community they helped to create."

The TOS is pretty clear - all a noob has to do is read it. If the noob feels persecuted or picked on because they didn't read the TOS, that sounds like a personal problem.

[ccolclou]

I think it might be more carrot, less stick to give newbies an automatic 2 weeks free access to the donating member section, but then you'd have a bunch of threads asking where all the other forums went once those 2 weeks expired!

[Gresh]

Sounds like a system specifically designed for people who don't read the HF TOS, and whose feelings are easily hurt. If the questions were "often beginner questions" about hammocks, they wouldn't get moved to Roundtable OffTopic.

You can call it, "your non-hammock-related post is being held hostage until you pay," or you can call it what the TOS calls it: "we offer an option for members to help cover the server and bandwidth costs through an annual donation. As a reward, donating members get access to a Roundtable Off-Topic section where non-hammock topics can be discussed. Semantics aside, this is not meant to be a subscription for additional access – we’d be perfectly content if the only content on HF were hammock-related – it’s merely a reward for donating members to further participate in the community they helped to create."

The TOS is pretty clear - all a noob has to do is read it. If the noob feels persecuted or picked on because they didn't read the TOS, that sounds like a personal problem.

Being hurt is being hurt, no matter who is at fault. If that can be alleviated, why wouldn't you?

[SilvrSurfr]

Being hurt is being hurt, no matter who is at fault. If that can be alleviated, why wouldn't you?

I think it's a bit different if it's your own fault and there is nobody else to blame. Stupid people gotta pay the stupid tax. Ignorance of the law (or HF TOS) is no excuse. What might be nice is before one can make one's first post, one has to read and acknowledge the TOS, but I doubt that would do much.

Reminds me of when I was a basketball coach, and one of my players kicked a member of the opposing team. I suspended him. The parents actually came to me and said I was being unfair because their son didn't know that it was against the rules to kick another player in basketball.

[Gresh]

"Stupid people gotta pay the stupid tax" isn't exactly the best way to foster an environment of mutual respect and furthering of ideas (presumably the idea behind being a part of this or any other forum), but I'm cool us with having different opinions. We can still be pals.

[SilvrSurfr]

Problem: New blood routinely posts on subjects that are not specifically hammock related. The posts get moved resulting in a bad experience for the new visitor, who otherwise should be appreciating their honeymoon period with HF. They think the forum is broken, that they are being persecuted, and they resent the apparent deletion of their posts.

"Stupid people gotta pay the stupid tax" isn't exactly the best way to foster an environment of mutual respect and furthering of ideas (presumably the idea behind being a part of this or any other forum), but I'm cool us with having different opinions.

Well, if "they think the forum is broken, that they are being persecuted, and they resent the apparent deletion of their posts," then it's not the brightest reaction to one's own ignorance. There's really no other way to phrase it. If a firearm, political, or religious post is deleted, we often see people upset about it. There's really nothing one can do to help those people deal with their feelings - they have to deal with it on their own. By the same token, if someone starts a thread called, "What's the best sugarless bubblegum?" and it gets moved to Roundtable Offtopic, are we supposed to have special rules for people who simply don't read the TOS? I don't think so.

[SLCpod]

I posted some things before donating that got moved. I totally understood why when I got a PM explaining why it was moved. Those who are offended by the rules usually choose to be offended by them. When I used the site more I decided to donate not for the off topic threads but rather to give money to support the community. The off topic threads are great but I hardly visit them compared to the hundreds of other threads on the site.

[Shug]

I think a two week Grace Period would be a fine idea as long as it is made clear to the new member that it is two weeks. Takes a while to get the feel of a Forum. I remeber my first days. Then they can clearly see what they will not have access too after the Grace period.
Like getting to go First Class on a flight and back to coach on the return. One can see the possibilies. Though Donating Status is only $10.
Depends on your feeling about this particular forum. there are many out there to get the info we keep classified but one has to decide if they enjoy that experience.
My 4¢.......
Shug

[OutandBack]

Sounds like a system specifically designed for people who don't read the HF TOS, and whose feelings are easily hurt. If the questions were "often beginner questions" about hammocks, they wouldn't get moved to Roundtable OffTopic.

You can call it, "your non-hammock-related post is being held hostage until you pay," or you can call it what the TOS calls it: "we offer an option for members to help cover the server and bandwidth costs through an annual donation. As a reward, donating members get access to a Roundtable Off-Topic section where non-hammock topics can be discussed. Semantics aside, this is not meant to be a subscription for additional access – we’d be perfectly content if the only content on HF were hammock-related – it’s merely a reward for donating members to further participate in the community they helped to create."

The TOS is pretty clear - all a noob has to do is read it. If the noob feels persecuted or picked on because they didn't read the TOS, that sounds like a personal problem.

I'd like to post a snippet from a member I hold in high regard from a folder none of you get to see but I think it's appropriate to this discussion.

We have to remember that new members don't understand our unusual culture and razor sharp focus on hammocks. Most just need a bit of guidance.

Your mods write several PM a day to try and help the new members navigate our community. You guys never see that.... it's all done in the background.

Now where's that sound track? "Work your finger to the bone and all you get is boney finger"

I'm not one of the technical guys here so I have no idea if a temporary all access is do-able but I'll bet the team will look into it. Thanks for the suggestion DM.
hth