no not irate, just well, if that had been me new to the boards; having both of my initial posts locked straight away, i might not have stayed long enough to discover that this place is worth hanging around. it seems there’s only two outcomes, me lurking around out of the action or making that new thread and stepping on some more toes posting to the wrong forums etc etc.
i guess my initial kneejerk at what had appeared to be a curt lockdown carried some momentum. still, i’ll bet you a cookie that that’s the only two posts we’ll see out of what might be a new addition to the dope. it might have been a drive-by posting in the first place, but we sure didn’t encourage him to slow down.
It seems to me that there are two types of new posters here: those who find our board, read for awhile, decide we’re cool, then join and start posting; and those who find us through a Google search of some topic or through a Google alert they’ve set (as was the case with Blinkie).
Those posters in the second group may jump into a thread about their particular topic of interest to correct misinformation or give advice without realizing that it’s an old thread. These people may be less likely to have read the FAQ before posting (or even participated on a message board before) and more likely to be scared off by a less-than-welcoming response.
How about if, in addition to the standard welcome/thread closure, moderators include a link to the FAQ there in the thread?