Create some sort of incentive scheme for people who start non drug based threads that get to 10/20 pages etc. Maybe get to choose to ban any member of their choice for a week or something.
Hehe. I see no potential for abuse there whatsoever and can't conceive of any senior staff raising an eyebrow when I suggest it
Some other forums do run competitions and the like though. "Prize" is generally a custom title for a certain period. It's not much but it does bring a bit of extra traffic cos you'd be surprised how sought after a custom title is however shitey it may be (actually they're often genius). Not really sure what type of thing we could have as a competition but some form of contest or the like with some form of recognition for it ain't such a bad idea. We have a number of social threads and perhaps we could tie it in with one of those. I noticed earlier we have an
Erotic Writing Thread (oh yes we do - and no I didn't know that either) so maybe we can run a competition to see who can come up (fnarr, etc) with the best offering to be judged by the rest of us posting pix of the pile of used tissues. Or something like that.
Incidentally, we do actually have a shitload of what could be quite decent and interesting threads in the (soon to be prettified and clarified a bit)
Index Thread. If more bored EADDers had a trawl through some of the older threads and bumped any that take their fancy that could encourage more traffic - it's great creating new threads but there are also some old ones that could perhaps do with a dusting down more often.
To be brutally honest, if a noob posts in Gibberings people instantly assume it's an alt, and they're right 99% of the time.
As for ignoring posts elsewhere, if it's a question then obviously there should be a response, whether it's a noob asking or somebody with an eight-figure posts count. Other than that, however, it's a difficult call.
Some kinds of posts just don't invite a reply or any kind of acknowledgement. In such circumstances, is it really reasonable for somebody to feel hard done by because they don't get a response?
I know what you mean but I also think it's a bit much to expect an actual noob (as opposed to an alt - the difference tends to be fairly easy to spot cos there's such a difference in confidence and self-assuredness) to come in firing on all cylinders from day one. I know I didn't and I bet you didn't either (although must admit I did spot you as "one to watch" early on - partly cos I couldn't quite tell if I liked you or you annoyed me but I could see your posts were worth reading either way). Not everybody will make an impression early on and I do know what you mean by it being tricky to actually think of any way to respond to posts sometimes.
For myself, if I see a noob post that there really is no way to respond to I'll not respond to it same as anybody else wouldn't. I do try to quote and say
something if possible (and if I remember to do so 8)) purely cos I do remember how left out I felt when I tried to break in to EADD. I'm sure I posted some horrible drivel then just as I do now but I also made some decent points I think and nobody ever picked up on them for the first few months. It is easy to feel like nobody even bothers to read anything you post when you first start posting. Whether that is true or not I don't think it hurts to make a little effort with noobs. A simple acknowledgement can mean a lot to somebody new. I remember how I felt the first time somebody quoted me and gave a direct reply. It was many, many months after I started posting but I'm bloody-minded like that.
I think you're being a wee bit overly cynical on the alts thing too. Yes we do get our fair share but so what? They get found out soon enough and it will be confirmed and they will be gone. Why presume guilt?
