New Members?

Norkie

Norkie

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It does annoy me when I see posts from a ‘new member’. And the first post is a question.

It just feels to me that all they want is information, not to enhance the forum, not to add anything to the community.

Is it it me? Or does anyone else feel the same?
 
Norkie said:
It does annoy me when I see posts from a ‘new member’. And the first post is a question.

It just feels to me that all they want is information, not to enhance the forum, not to add anything to the community.

Is it it me? Or does anyone else feel the same?
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There are plenty of longstanding members who neither “enhance the forum” nor “add anything to the community“.
 
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It would be nice if they introduced themselves first, then possibly ask a question or two. Provided they are going to participate with their own thoughts and ideas.
 
Sorry guys, just me getting grumpy I suppose :mad:

Might change my username ;)
 
Doesn't really bother me.
I think I found the forum years ago whilst looking for some answers....
 
It does not worry me, some of them may stay on and become more involved.
I must amit that I have done the same on a computer forum and on a bird forum when I could not find the information elsewhere.
N.B. Not the same question on the two forums :p
 
TBH, it depends how the question is phrased. "How do I set speed on my camera." would bug me but "Could someone tell me how to set the shutter speed on my Nikon D3500 please?" probably wouldn't. What bugs me more is no thank you for any helpful answer.
 
just post a question on faceberk and get answers from every corner of the world , or ask on a u.s.a forum and get several essays of gobbledegook
 
That’s probably how I found the forum. I know that when I joined a bike forum last year all I asked was questions. As a newbie to cycling I had nothing relevant to add.
 
Does it bother me? not really.
From the one ( and only) post member, that doesn't return, to those that flood the forum with questions, the latter, the members soon get fed up and stop responding anyway.

Ricardodaforce said:
There are plenty of longstanding members who neither “enhance the forum” nor “add anything to the community“.
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Well said that man (y)
 
Yes and no. Mostly it depends on how it's been asked as Nod has said.

It may seem daft and old fashioned and they are only words, but please and thank you carry a lot of weight with me.

I'm more than happy to help anyone if I can, but without basic manners they can just go straight back to Faceache as I won't help them a second time.
 
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Questions are often a reason for people joining a forum, and if they're genuinely after information/help then that's great. The ones I dislike are those who either ask a question because they're trying to answer school work ('why would you use anti-vibration settings' is one that comes to mind) without any personal interest, or even more those who ask in order to create an commercial opportunity.

I came here originally because the forum was recommended as a place where to pick up a good deal on second hand kit. I was quite up-front about this at the beginning, and the reaction was a little like I had confessed to a preference for performing acts that were corrupt and deeply anti-social - many struggled to believe one might admit to such a thing! Online communities are weird sometimes.
 
Norkie said:
It does annoy me when I see posts from a ‘new member’. And the first post is a question.

It just feels to me that all they want is information, not to enhance the forum, not to add anything to the community.

Is it it me? Or does anyone else feel the same?
Click to expand...

I'm with you.
Are you talking about recently?
I know there was post about a Uni lecturer in South Africa sending his students here and doing exactly as you said.
 
Well, in the last few weeks there have been some posts where I have joined and it seemed to appear as if they were asking examination questions rather than general photography questions?

I’m more than happy to help anyone :)
 
hashcake said:
I know there was post about a Uni lecturer in South Africa sending his students here and doing exactly as you said.
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there certainly was - and many of the members got involved, helped the students out, and even mentioned that it might be a good idea if the people came and actually tried to get involved with the forum rather than just treating it as a very well curated subset of google.

I know I certainly joined in on many, many many of the threads, and engaged a few of the new student members on PM's - I also asked them to feed back to their tutor that while we didn't mind answering questions from genuine members who were going to stay around and put something back into this place, that if he wished us to do his tutorial duties for him, then the least he could do was send us a percentage of his salary...

Strangely, it seems that those questions began to dry up after this was communicated. :naughty:
 
Norkie said:
Well, in the last few weeks there have been some posts where I have joined and it seemed to appear as if they were asking examination questions rather than general photography questions?

I’m more than happy to help anyone :)
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that lots of these were to be found (now) in Talk Beginners... ;) - we moved most of the SA contingents queries over to there for convenience.
 
About time the management doubled the staff wages... :P
 
I'm new. so far, Ive asked questions and made one suggestion that people with MFT kit just might find useful.

I rather thought that questions are useful to a forum as well as to the person who asks them. The discussion that results can help other many other people with the same problem, who just have to search for the answer.

Maybe students looking for an easy grade are pushing it a bit... but even then, if they an interesting question the resulting answer can help others, and maybe encourage them to participate...
 
Mike_9000 said:
I'm new. so far, Ive asked questions and made one suggestion that people with MFT kit just might find useful.

I rather thought that questions are useful to a forum as well as to the person who asks them. The discussion that results can help other many other people with the same problem, who just have to search for the answer.

Maybe students looking for an easy grade are pushing it a bit... but even then, if they an interesting question the resulting answer can help others, and maybe encourage them to participate...
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Mike, you're correct, however in this specific case the questions were better answered in some cases by looking at publicity materials or just thinking about how a camera works - ie not questions asked that would generate useful answers to other photographers. There seemed to be no interest, other than taking data.
 
thing is, if someone's just bought (or thinking of buying) a camera, and getting into this as a hobby, naturally they're going to have more questions than answers - and we were all noob's once (even those of us who've been at this lark 40+ years used to ask stupid questions of someone back then - either their friends who'd been at it longer, or people in camera clubs (they were a pretty good resource back then) or pestering the life out of the sales bloke at the camera shop. Now, we take it for granted that we can find a forum or facebook group for every hobby we may take up - and have access to the collective input of lots of others. And thats wonderful. However, even as a newcomer, there's places you can put things back into the community. You may be new to photography, but have run your own business for 20 years - great - help out in Talk Business. You may be a builder/sparky/plumber/Mechanic - why not chip in on something in the OOF section - use your current talents, and let us help you expand your new ones.... Put something back into the community, don't just take, because thats how communities start to falter.

And of course, I say this every time when it comes to "giving something back" - if you've eyes to see, fingers to type, a heart to feel, and a brain to put things into words you can give critique. It doesn't have to be technical - it can be as simple as "i really love the pastel tones, it makes it feel so serene", "I love that Still Life - the fruit makes me want to go raid my own Fruitbowl" or "Wonderful Vista - it's a real shame you didn't notice that coke can right in the corner of the frame and pick it up out of shot - could you possibly crop it out, or maybe even remove it digitally..." - none of that needs knowledge of a camera - just a little observation and thought.

more of my thoughts and musings on how to join in here...
 
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Norkie said:
It does annoy me when I see posts from a ‘new member’. And the first post is a question.

It just feels to me that all they want is information, not to enhance the forum, not to add anything to the community.

Is it it me? Or does anyone else feel the same?
Click to expand...

Ive no problem with people asking q's. Im sure I asked some pretty dumb things starting out. I know Ive welcomed help both here and in other forums. Its when helps offered and not acknowledged I object a little
 
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