RE: FN-FORUM: Open Message to Forum

date posted 26th November 2007 22:57

Dom wrote:
> There are guidelines, as already mentioned, and I think that quite a =
lot
> of the sarcastic replies come in response to people who haven't=20
> followed them.

Hi Dom - one problem with this I'd point out is that the guidelines are
*not* apparent to new members until after they've made their first =
mistake
and promptly been boiled in hot oil! Not a nice welcome, yet this is the
first introduction many new members receive to the list.

I remember signing up in May '05. My first post was in reply to an =
enquiry
about CMSs; I advocated bespoke systems and made the mistake of =
"pimping" my
services in this area. As a na=EFve Outlook user, I also top-posted, not
knowing better. Queue silence before the storm!!

I was, of course, ripped apart. A "first offence" pointer to the =
WorkAlone
FAQ would have been sufficient, as the Freelancers.net sign-up page =
mentions
nothing about top-posting, pimping, etc, but some members seem to await
mistakes from new members with glee!

If it wasn't for private consolatory messages from members like John =
Anslow
(who had the same experience himself!), I probably would have =
unsubscribed
immediately and gone to look for a friendlier forum! Credit to you, Dom =
-
you guessed I was new and pointed me in the right direction on
top-posting/pimping. Others were outright rude.

I wonder if Dan/Andy would be up for updating the guidelines on the =
sign-up
page? If they mentioned no top-posting/direct soliciting and perhaps =
linked
to the/a FAQ, it would be a huge help to new members.

Cheers, Ben