Re: [NTLK] Special treatment for newbies?

From: Jim Anderson (jiman_at_microsoft.com)
Date: Tue Mar 25 2003 - 08:43:14 PST


Dylan wrote:
> Perhaps some sort of mentoring system. When a new user signs=20
> up, a message is automaticaly sent to one of a few volunteers=20
> who help the new user with his initial questions. That way,=20
> newbies get a real person to help them.

        I think this is a really good idea. When I first started using
Newtons a couple of years ago I quickly found this list (in a previous
incarnation). A couple of guys on the list spent quite a bit of time
answering my newbie questions, getting me to the point where I felt
comfortable using my Newt (thanks, guys!).

        Another possibility would be to use macros to make answering
newbie questions easier. This sounds weird, but think about it. If you
wrote a macro for your email program that wrote out a reply like Doug
Parker mentioned ("Hey, I totally understand your question. There's a
great Frequently Asked Questions list (FAQ) at..."), then it would be
faster and easier to reply by firing off the macro than it would be to
type out a terse "Check the FAQ." sort of reply. The folks who use their
Newts to read NewtonTalk (I'm not that much of a masochist, myself)
could just write out a generic reply like that in a note, and reply by
sending the note.=20

        What do y'all think?

Jim Anderson

Blardy blar blar blar...

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