Greek Chat - should membership be closed?
 

I get the impression from some people who have been around the GC block (and like to prove it) that contributions from new GC members are not so appreciated. I'm starting this thread so that both new and old GCers can post about the community and whether new membership to the site should be encouraged or discouraged.

The reason I think that this subject needs discussion is because I have seen a number of new posters (like myself) get their a$$ handed to them because they were trying to meaningfully contribute to a conversation, but used the wrong word or were not able to give as much insight as some of the veteran-posters.

I'm sure that some moderator will think this is an attempt to personally attack and delete this thread, but I honestly think there needs to be a conversation about being nice to new posters. Yes, we don't know everything, but just because we're new doesn't mean we don't have anything to contribute. I've even read in other threads that we (new GCers) should refrain from posting for a matter of months before contributing our own thoughts. How lame would that be and how many great minds would be deterred from becoming involved in GC chat if they had to go through the motions so that they were deemed worthy to contribute?

I understand that a lot of new posters start discussions that have already been discussed (and many of you find that annoying) or say things that you may agree with as a whole but don't think are 100% right, but what good does it serve to rub it in new posters faces and possibly drive us away from the site altogether? But maybe some of us want to start a new discussion on an old topic because we don't just want to read a thread back from 2002 and call it good. Maybe we want to have a dialogue and that is why we came here to a FORUM.

So do the new GC people need to just suck it up and get whipped into shape? Should GC have stages of membership where you have to earn your right to post (members for 1 month get 1 posting a week/day or something)? Should old GCers have a little more patience and just laugh at all us newbies on the inside, knowing we will eventually learn?

This is kind of hilarious - you basically tear up "old" posters, then at the end shift it to be a 'discussion' when it's essentially a rant. Good stuff.

It won't surprise you that this exact topic has been both a problem and a discussion in the past - and the situation isn't unique to this forum. It's kind of an Internet Meme at this point, a sort of fanciful David v. Goliath where both sides claim a non-existent high ground.

I would just chill and enjoy it - anyone who's a douche to you is probably a douche, until proven otherwise. It's kind of like life - sometimes you get along, sometimes you don't.

New members can have some really awkward threads - googletarding, abusing anonymity, asking questions the forum can't possibly answer, and similar. Not surprisingly, OLD members can have some really awkward threads - googletarding, abusing anonymity, asking questions the forum can't possibly answer . . .

It's all good, guys. Life is not a puzzle, just go with the flow and waste some time on the internet, yo.

I think that some people may see this as a personal attack, (or whatever), but I think in a way, you are right and in another way you are wrong. I have been on GC for a long time, but I also was gone for like 2 years because I was sick of people saying that we were niave or just plain being mean. It wasn't until I came back, and was used to the way things were done, that I really felt comfortable enough to post what I thought. I do think that perhaps a more easy going style would be preferable and more conducive to the "community" setting for new people.

ETA: However, as AlphaFrog said, you are paying for the sins of the trolls before you (you being the new posters), which I think sums it up, everytime a new recruitment thread is opened up, I tend to avoid it like the plague (b/c for
1. I don't know nearly as much about national Orgs as the other members and

2. I don't have NEAR enough patience in order to respond to the same questions each and everytime) I give the posters that do respond a lot of credit, for being patient, explaining the processes and supporting the new posters, only to have them disappear.



(I am also VERY grateful for the advice, support and "communication" of GC and enjoy being a member of this community)



off topic: p.s. whyyy doesn't posting allow you to copy(paste) anything??? grrrrr

This is the exact thing that drives people who have been here crazy.

GC has been around for almost 8 years. Why should it change for the people who have been here 8 days?

No, I don't think there should be stages, and I do think that first time posters can have valid ideas, but it's up to them to learn the atmosphere/posting style (which is NOT 13 year old AOL chat-speak) before they post or, yes, they will get their ass handed to them. There is a reason why new posters are treated the way they are - they are paying for the sins of the trolls who came before them. Right or wrong, it's probably not going to change.

People here take themselves too seriously. And, they especially take other posters here too seriously. To quote another GCer (who I can't think of off the top of my head): If someone is snarky to you, take a look at their past posts, chances are, you're not special. I'm sorry if people can't tell that I'm being sarcastic 90% of the time. I would think MysticCat's quote (which BY THE WAY, I used with permission:rolleyes:) in my signature would help a little.

As for people perciving your post as a personal attack, since I'm the person you're talking about, I'll go ahead and say MODS, I don't care if you leave this post up. It doesn't bother me in the least. I'm sure, skylark, you'll get a bunch of PMs saying "Yeah, there's a bunch of mean, nasty girls on here, I'm glad you're nice". (Feel free to share with us how many you get, that's always entertaining.) It's a messageboard. To quote another GCer, "It's not Happy Pony Rainbow Land". Most of us who have been around are straight-up and don't sugarcoat.

Yeah (to Ksig), this is admittedly a rant, but I really do encourage people to rant back, if they'd like. And I have participated in other internet forums, always make an effort to learn about the site-culture before sticking my neck out, but I have never been belittled in the ways I have either on threads or by PM like I have on this forum.

Sometimes I want to ask these people, when you were an active in your GLO, did you jump all over your new members when they tried to contribute? If you did, how did that work out for ya?

And yeah, I know this isn't a new topic, but I think that it needs to be discussed again. Why is that a problem?

Pretty much what ^^she said.
AND
Yes.

I didn't read the whole thing, but I don't think there should be a probationary period or anything.

But i DO believe that you should have to register before you can lurk.

I joined greekchat in April because I had trouble finding appropriate clothes for initiation. I have to say that no one attacked me or tried to pull rank on me and that everyone was incredibly nice and helpful, and I'm nor talking about just the ASAs.

Yes, as KSig RC says, rookies and old timers on this, as on all, boards can be jerks. Welcome to life.

But personally, I don't think it's a matter or newbies needing to be quiet at all. Still, the reality is that old timers may have experience and see things that the newbies don't see.

You may think of it as simply using the wrong word or not being able to give as much insight as some of the veteran-posters. But others who have been around longer have seen that sometimes, lack of precision on things like whether someone can join a second NPC group has caused major headaches and misunderstandings.

I don't think anyone has ripped you a new one, at least not in the thread that I imagine gave rise to this one. In fact, I think that more than one person said they weren't trying to attack you, but were trying to avoid misunderstanding that has been seen in the past.

Alphafrog, if you were the only person I saw on GC that I thought needed to hear my thoughts I would have just PMed you. I am not isolating my criticism to you, but yes, your comment in another thread did become a last straw.

And yeah, I do realize this is the exact thing that drives you veterans nuts, and you know what? I don't care. Furthermore, I hope you were talking about someone else when you were referring to AOL chatspeak, because I always try to make sure I post in complete sentences, without typos (as much as could be expected on a forum) and with correct capitalization, even.

And as far as learning atmosphere/posting style, I have something I think can be added as a search function feature. There isn't a way to look up an abbreviation on this site if the abbreviation is 3 characters or less. So I am sorry for having to ask what certain things mean sometimes.

As far as getting PMs saying that I'm nice, if I get any I would certainly not share, but that is honestly not even close to the reason I am posting. I am posting because I think that some old posters should check their self-righteous attitude at the login and learn to let something go if a newbie poster says something you find annoying because of our inexperience.

I'm not asking for GC to change for me, I'm asking whether the attitude (however long it has been around) is beneficial to the purpose of having greek chat.

i second that...i joined a non-traditional sorority and was already out of college when i did so, and wasnt 100% familiar with how things worked. this has been one of my favorite things to do to help kill time at work ;), inform myself of both collegiate and greek issues, and have a good laugh!

Absolutely not. And I understand the abbreviations take time. It's not irritating when someone asks about something like that when they don't understand. It's irritating when someone posts about NPC unanimous agreements that they don't fully understand.



No, not just for you, but for all the newbies who have come before and who will come after. How nice of you to martyr yourself. Speaking of self-righteous.

Go to Google, then click on advanced search. Fill out the domain as greekchat.com and then search however you like. Its quick & easy & searches for any number of characters.

I agree with both of you, for the most part. I have had some very valuable advice given and I have enjoyed many of the people on here. I have also been pretty annoyed though, that I keep reading about how annoying it is for new GCers to be involved in conversations.

And you know what? This does not have to do with what happened in one forum earlier today. There was another forum (that I searched for, but may have gotten deleted) that was all about the dos and don'ts of GC and new posters (not me, but I read them) got reamed for even voicing their opinion on the thread. And I've also watched as other newbies have gotten their a$$ handed to them for really only trying to participate.

This is not about what a couple people said to me in one thread this morning. I have thicker skin than that.

Thank you -- that is extremely helpful.

You're right -- I don't fully understand them. Is that a prerequisite to making a comment when I knew more than the original poster? I'm sure there is someone out there that understands the unanimous agreements even more than you do so maybe you should let them post for you.

If you take a look at the original poster's posts in that thread, I think it will be clear who she was talking about.

It's been explained to you - there's a reason why that's one rule that we must be 100% crystal clear on. Yes, there's probably a lot I don't know about the unanimous agreements, and if I make a mistake posting about it (or any other NPC rules), I fully expect to be corrected. I learn from my mistake and move on. Depending on who it is that corrects me, I may banter back and forth with them, just to mess with them, but it's really not that big of deal.

I think it important to differentiate between being corrected for an error in a factual discussion, and a personal attack.
Too often newbies confuse the two.
Not that I'm an old-timer or anything.

In one instance where the OP got her ass handed to her, so to speak, is because she was posting blatantly wrong information that was pretty elementary knowledge. That's going to happen.

It's teh intarweb. Get over it.

Then honestly, why are you bitching? If you don't care that certain things drive the "veteran" GCers (btw, do I qualify as a veteran? lol) nuts, why did you make this post?

Did you really think we were all going to applaud you for what you said?

Yes! If your going to give advice to someone, GIVE THEM ACCURATE ADVICE!


You're not the first, nor will you be the last to bitch about this topic, but we aren't changing. So deal. (And I don't care if I sound bitchy).

ETA: BAITY?....lol (Sorry, just had to ask)

See, my point is that it wasn't "blatantly wrong information." I was essentially saying the same thing in a different way (that everyone pointed out was less clear).

No, you weren't.

"The dog usually doesn't bite" is not the same statement as "The dog never bites."

Now that you know what this means:

USUALLY =/= NOT EVER. PERIOD.

You were wrong. Not "less clear". Wrong. Let it go.

ETA: Look, you are essentially putting a target on your back. You can forget it and move on, or you can continue to argue, and continue to be wrong. You're not helping your case.

No it wasn't. It's a hard and fast rule. There's no maybe or exceptions. It's one of the few areas in NPC stuff that isn't grey.

Maybe one of the helicopter moms will let you cry to them and take up your cause, but seriously- WHAT IS YOUR POINT?

Better yet, how can you yourself not be a hypocrite? You're whining about people criticizing and making comments to you and other newbies, but here you are criticizing everyone here. It's not a good way to endear yourself to a new group.

I'm not trying to endear myself, that's for sure. I would have sat back quietly if that were the case. And I am pretty sure I made clear that I did not know of any exceptions to the rule. When it was clear from my other posts that my use of the word "usually" was not because I thought there were exceptions, why was it necessary to dwell on using the wrong word in super 42pt bold font? Why not just PM someone?

http://www.movieactors.com/photos-60/supergirl.jpeg

Power of Shadows.......send this thread to the Phantom Zone!

u know what...

as a new GC'er who 'had his ass handed to him' on a silver platter with matching spoon and cup.....and managed to make out pretty ok...

I got 3 phrases

1. get over yourself

2. Man up

3. It's (and you too) are not that deep...move along please

What happened with that was once you posted your picture they started treating you better because your hotness approaches mine.

Because we don't know when you're going to be back on GC to correct it, and if it's up there being wrong people are absorbing it.

There are threads on here with effed up info that you can still google, unfortunately.

u too funny man.....LOL

I agree... I honestly wanted to have a more meaningful conversation about online decorum and what unintended effects well-meant "corrections" might have on newbie-posters, but it is obvious that everyone just wants to re-hash what happened in another thread and prove to me the error of my ways. I erred in my choice of words and admitted it -- that wasn't the point of this discussion though (or at least my intent in starting it). I just hoped that maybe this thread would caution people from unnecessarily being too harsh to people who are just getting started here.

Seriously speaking, certain people on GC started treating me better when I became an Alpha. (I was on the board for two years as strictly an Alpha Phi Omega member.)

Alright, Skylark.... what are you wanting here? Are you wanting an apology for being corrected publicly? Are you wanting "old" GCers to say, "You know, that Skylark really has a good point, what have we been thinking for the past eight years?" Are you the (new) GC-newbie TOS police? What's really driving this thread of yours?

I lurked here for about a week before I first posted; I thought that was enough time to understand the GC-atmosphere. I was wrong. I made a fool of myself. But, after getting a better grip on what GC is like, and what it's for, I have (hopefully) made less of a fool of myself over time. And when I'm wrong... I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong. I don't try to brush it aside with phrases like "my use of the term "whatever". And although you say you admitted you were wrong, it sure doesn't feel like you mean it. I don't remember such an admittance from you; I just get the feeling that you're ultra defensive and trying to convince others you've been victimized.

GC is what it is, and as much as you might want it to change, it probably won't. If you don't like that, then by all means, feel free to leave.

You want meaningful discussion? Shall we dredge up the Primavera thread?

Seriously, if you thought you were going to get a favorable reaction, and people were going to jump in on your side, you thought wrong. If you want to stop re-hashing the other thread STOP BRINGING IT UP. Let it go.

Welcome to G C!:o

so you pretty much trying to start chit?

word! that's awesome!

umm, exactly. Dionysys = my hero. well, she usually is. whatever, you know what i mean.

umm, link please? how'd i miss that?

Honestly, I remember helping hand you your ass. And you got the message, and I can now say that you are one of my favorite posters. Above being a good example of why.:D:D

dude...u knmow what..u are ragging on your own 'newness'

it's like you are waering your very own kick me sign...


do you do this when you are out in public?

"Hi I am a n00b...kick me"

Yeah, I remember that, too. :mad::p

But seriously, some lessons just have to be lived in order to be learned. And thinking GC is going to change for you is one of them. And someday, if you're lucky Skylark, you'll wonder why you wanted it to change. (Well, at least I do, and I'm always right...now.)