New forum members

Some of you may have seen the “discussion” I was involved in on The Chandos thread. I’ve read it back and I think I can identify how it all went wrong. I was a brand new member of the Forum and wasn’t aware that the decision on pizza was set in stone or that The Chandos was re-opening in just a week (as far as I was aware it had only just shut down). I know someone told me I should have read the whole thread, but it was a long thread and from previous experience of forums long threads tend to veer off topic and can become very tedious, plus as a new member there’s a lot of information and a lot to get used to in terms of finding my way around - and I was just eager and excited to put forward some ideas I’d had when I saw the topic of this particular thread.

Anyway, to my point - reading back over the thread, the gentleman who responded and said “Just give it a chance!”, and who then said it was mean to rubbish the business plan, probably didn’t realise I had only just joined the forum and probably thought I was going back over old ground (hope that’s a fair assumption). In which case I can understand the context of his response a bit more - whereas as someone brand new to the forum it came across as very rude and dismissive. So my suggestion is that when someone is new to the forum, would it be possible to flag this somehow to other members for an initial settling in period (New Member or Joined X days ago for example)? I think this may make it more welcoming for new members and also provide some context for existing members to respond accordingly (Hi Lin, I see you’re new, welcome, this has been discussed before, as you’re new on here and I appreciate there’s a lot to take in, can I point you to…).

Just a suggestion - not a problem if people wanna disagree.

Fair point for sure Lin, and all taken on board.
A visible new member badge could have its merits. It will be discussed.

On the flip side I would also encourage new users to introduce themselves on the forum when joining, nothing too intrusive, but just enough to get conversation flowing, and help people notice you are new.

Sorry your first experience was not as pleasing as you hoped, as someone who frequents forums quite a bit, I know what that can feel like.

As you say… [quote=“Lin, post:1, topic:1574”]
from previous experience of forums long threads tend to veer off topic and can become very tedious
[/quote]
As was the case on this occasion. Thanks for taking the time to break down what happened, and here’s to all future encounters being far more pleasant.

I think it is also fair to say to ALL users, where possible, please try and read as much of the thread as possible to gather the direction of the thread. This helps avoid any repeated discussion or misunderstanding of a situation or discussion.

I think that may be a good idea @Lin. When I get back from holiday I’ll look into the new user badge.

Hi Lin, fair play to you for posting this. I had a similar negative experience as a newbie on other forum (a technical one, nothing to do with SE23), and I ranted a bit less politely than you have.

Thank you so much for your kind response