Job Discussion Forums

[Shonai Ben]

How about the " Scoobie Doobie Newbie Forum"?
It's catchy and maybe newbies can relate to it.

[R]

That's great! can we have Newbie Snacks?

Newbie-doobie-doo!

Ahem....

[Shonai Ben]

Sure.How about newbie party favors or newbie T-shirts or newbie hats or newbie noise-makers or newbie name tags or newbie balloons or newbie note pads or newbie key chains or........
I'm too tired to continue.

[R]

Hi Glenski,

firstly, thanks for the help that you've given me both here and, if I recall, on Gaijinpot.

To respond to your points in special, out-of-order order:

1: I don't imagine this will make much difference to the number of posts and splitting some enquiries into one new forum shouldn't greatly increase the time taken to go through everything. If anything, a reduction in flaming should save everybody time (including the flamers) as threads may find it easier to stay on topic and get to the point.

2/3: Definitely country-specfic would be out of the question. As you say, it would swell the size of the overall forumm to ridiculous proportions and lead to information being hard to find and constantly repeated. This proposal is certainly for just one new forum, to come next in line under 'General Discussion.'

Bare in mind that nobody would be forced to post solely in the newbie forum. A newbie that wanted to know a) whether a CELTA was better than some random TEFL certificate on offer at his local college and b) whether JET or Nova suited his personal situation could post a) in Newbie Discussions and b) in Japan.

4: It's a bit hard to respond to this point without gutting into a conversation on censorship but I'll try to keep it brief as, if anything, a Newbie Forum is a way to sidestep some of the issues of censorship that have been coming up of late. Personally, and I may be in a minority here, I don't like the idea of solving problems with flamers, etc., by resorting to moderators having to edit, delete and ban. As I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, by introducing a Newbie section we may be able to ignore a little of the flaming, secure in the knowledge that newbies who want a little information but don't fancy getting into an e-brawl can do so.

5: I agree that FAQs would be useful and I agree that many Newbies won't bother reading them. Did I hear a rumour that you were doing some kind of Newbie's introduction to Japan to sit at the top of the Japan forum? Sounds like a good idea.

I think there was something else I was going to say, but I got interrupted by a phone call and have completely lost my train of thought. Oh well.

Rob.

[Glenski]

[R]

Glenski,

regarding your first and third quotes: moderating WOULD be more severe in the newbie board. If you know your flame is going to be removed, why post it? If you do, it's removed, so we still end up with fewer flames. When I express a distaste for moderators' edits and deletes I'm referring to the other/current forums. This said, I still believe that people would behave themselves more in a Kiddie Pool.

We also end up with fewer flames because flamers can no longer pick on the newbies.

Regarding your second quote, the Newbie forum would be the place for innocent, naive (ok, 'dumb') starter questions. The kind of questions that newbies would be most likely to post elsewhere (say, "where should I live in Tokyo? Shinjuku?) don't have that ring of stupidity so beloved of our flamers. The Newbie board would be a House of Infinite Patience. Hey, that's a good name for it...

Fourth quote: Great! I look forward to reading it!

Rob.

[johnslat]

Dear R,
" The House of Infinite Patience? ". Well, that might be a bit over-optimistic. How about " The House of Correction ", which, by the way, is what I call my apartment, especially when I'm teaching writing.
Regards,
John

[bnix]

Has a certain ring to it...a certain cachet...I know, I know...still,it sounds more evocative(and goodness knows,more provocative):

"Oh.mothers,tell your children...not to do what I have done..."
As for the newbies...we could call them "Fig Newbies"...if they used some naughty words...perhaps a mod could be dispatched to Japan,Equatorial Guinea,Malta(wherever) to wash out the offending poster's mouth with soap....like the teachers used to do in grade school.What an idea.Well,who would foot the bill for all of those trips is another question...but maybe the forum could take a clue from the US Senate...and start taxing people.What an idea.A post impost...so to say.Oh-oh.I think someone is getting a gleam...

[Glenski]

R, Here are more of my replies...

[R]

Glenski,

as you say, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. Regarding the potential flamers' response to a Newbie forum, perhaps I am being overly optimistic, perhaps you are being overly pessimistic, perhaps both. Ditto our expectations of the usefulness of a Newbie Forum.

if the idea doesn't work, it will have been a waste of time on Dave's part. If it does work it will be a great asset to the forum and a useful resource for newbies. For all the batting back and forth we do, there's really only one way to find out which way it will go...

Let's see what Dave has to say.

Regards,
Optimistic Rob.

[xnihil]

My last message appears to have been cut off in mid stream. I don't know why. So I'll post the rest of it here (and also append it to that last message):

What I was wanting to say is that any message not relevent or not worth replying to may safely be ignored.

We don't need to feel a responsibility to answer those who say: I've had half of my brain severed from my head and have limited speaking and moving abilities but I'd like to hike the Andes and find a classroom on top of a mountain from which to teach, can anyone give me some good advice?"

I know how temptiing it is to give such posters advice that they could really use (take your computer and insert it into your....well, you get the idea) but isn't much easier and nicer just to ignore the idiot and hope he goes away? After all, maybe someone else knows about a handicap accessible classroom on top of a mountain for the telepathic where our unfortunate poster might be able to work (of course, for big money).

[richard ame]

Come on guys and gals why does this issue have to be pulled and mulled over ad nausum,can I just make the point that if the new kids on the block can't handle the rough and tumble of the forum that is there to help them despite the daft questions some of them ask,how the hell do they expect to cope with all the stress and strife that goes on in the classroom,this is basic training and if its too tough for them here how can they survive out there?We can't wrap them up in cotton wool,we were'nt we survived,so can they!!

[R]

Civility, civility,
it's our responsibility.
Don't offend their sensibilities,
and they might.
come.
back.

[Glenski]

[richard ame]

Come on Glenski we are not talking about starry eyed teenagers here and who said the classroom can't be a battlefield ,depends where you teach ,some people tell me they won't do group work without a flame thrower and an AK47 . so who's kidding who? Let em sweat,we did so why shouldn't they? It's all good character building stuff and it would be good practice for them to cross swords with the best (?) in the business .