I took an online class a while back that included a basic "netiquette" section as part of the introduction. The course material recommends "lurking" for a while to understand the culture of a forum before posting since a bad first impression is hard to overcome if the poster wants to be taken seriously in the future.

If I sign up and post "My Mr Coffee died - HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!" as my first "contribution" to a forum, I would find myself in violation of the netiquette rules described above.

An appropriate post in response to this hypothetical post would be to point a user to a FAQ providing basic internet 101 instructions and any other requirements the forum providers see fit to expect from contributing members.

I joined a MSI computer parts forum to get help with a rebate a while back. A very targeted question produced appropriate and helpful responses. Something I did take away (I remain a member there and try to contribute when possible) was a picture of a fortune teller looking into a crystal ball with a link asking the poster to provide appropriate system specs in a manner clearly described by the FAQ. Many basic questions (by the use of additional links) are answered while explaining why each piece of information is necessary.

What the forum was asking for is simply for the poster to complete the work ticket information (just like a regular repair shop even though it is not company run but instead strictly user-to-user) before providing help - makes sense since computer parts can get complicated.

Maybe there needs to be a "work ticket" type FAQ for certain, very non-specific first timer posts...

peacecup wrote:It seems that many people start out posting a lot, then slow down and more or less disappear. How many "regular" posters from 2005 are still here five years later?

I try hard to avoid combining sociology and coffee (the last thing I or anyone else needs is forum participation as "fieldwork"), but sometimes some tidbits of the trade come in handy. A common distribution of seniority in jobs or membership time in groups is bimodal, lots of newbies, a middling group of long time members, but relatively few people in between. This type of age distribution is generated if the survival rate (i.e. the probability of being around for another day, month or year) is proportional to the prior length of membership.

I would not be surprised if the distribution of membership length was like this for HB and other fora. Most people who join up have a short term agenda, to get buying or fixing tips. People needing operating tips may stick around a little longer. For a few, membership turns into a coffee and espresso hobby; and they become the long time members. But even hobbies compete with other hobbies and real world necessities; so hobbyists eventually drop out too. For them the length of membership is an indication of how much they have invested in the coffee hobby, and how much longer they are likely to be here.

If this survival curve holds, then Jack is right: while newbie noise may be annoying, it's also self repairing.

another_jim wrote:If this survival curve holds, then Jack is right: while newbie noise may be annoying, it's also self repairing.

Self repairing in the same sense as the seasonal flu. Yes, you do (hopefully) get better, or self repair, but the lost week dealing with the symptoms is not something worth repeating (neither is dealing with crap threads and posts) over and over when a "vaccination" might solve the problem.