What's with the newbie flood?

[Namco]

I've been noticing lately that there has been a flood of some really basic questions around here lately. People asking really naive things like how a push button is wired, how a monitor works, or where to buy a cam lock. I can't cite anything off the top of my head, but it's just that over the last few weeks/months I've been noticing it.

I think it's kids who are looking to build arcade sticks for Street Fighter 4 but don't know where to start. I just wish they would read through the thousands of examples before asking a dumb question.

[Space Fractal]

I think it fully fit the rule 4:
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_message_rules.html

newbie is welcomed in the board and you have a newbie once before. so don't answear the post if you doesn't want.

The main problem is propenty many goes directly to the forum and miss the other sections of the boyoc which is a problem.... like the wiki and the main section.

Please make a top links to these sections with a banner to make clear.

[SG Jaycurl]

I think it's kids who are looking to build arcade sticks for Street Fighter 4 but don't know where to start. I just wish they would read through the thousands of examples before asking a dumb question.

I suspect you're right about that, as I'm one such newbie - though I don't know if 30-something can really be considered a "kid."

I hope I've not asked too many dumb questions that have been answered 1000 times, though I suspect I probably have at some point. And I really try hard to search first, but you have to admit that no search engine is flawless, and a lot of times you give up after the first couple pages of results.

It's a good point about the wiki and main section, as the google searches that initially brought me here plopped me right into the forums.

I'm a moderator on a different gaming-related forum, so I can relate to concerns about a big influx of new people. But, I've found that if you have a good community, self-policing tends to weed out the folks who don't belong, and you'll often end up with some good, contributing members after it's all said and done.

[Namco]

I think it fully fit the rule 4:
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_message_rules.html

newbie is welcomed in the board and you have a newbie once before. so don't answear the post if you doesn't want.

The main problem is propenty many goes directly to the forum and miss the other sections of the boyoc which is a problem.... like the wiki and the main section.

Please make a top links to these sections with a banner to make clear.

I posted this thread here to speculate on the possible cause of the new newbie traffic, not to complain about newbies. I feel like I am still a newbie in regards to 15khz monitors, transformers, and LED wiring. We're all learning all the time. My brevity above is thanks to the chat room, because I was trying to finish typing the opening post of this thread at the same time as chatting in the chat room.

I totally agree that people are directed here to the forums and don't get the chance to check out the examples page, which is where I started. I read page after page after page and built my first stick before even messing around with the forum. I blame the search engines and the overwhelming difficulty of keeping a page with hundreds of external links current.

When I started this thread, I neglected to state that I've observed some regulars on our forum answer some of the most noob questions with the utmost respectfulness and care. Which makes me proud to be a member here.

I think it's kids who are looking to build arcade sticks for Street Fighter 4 but don't know where to start. I just wish they would read through the thousands of examples before asking a dumb question.

I suspect you're right about that, as I'm one such newbie - though I don't know if 30-something can really be considered a "kid."

I hope I've not asked too many dumb questions that have been answered 1000 times, though I suspect I probably have at some point. And I really try hard to search first, but you have to admit that no search engine is flawless, and a lot of times you give up after the first couple pages of results.

It's a good point about the wiki and main section, as the google searches that initially brought me here plopped me right into the forums.

I'm a moderator on a different gaming-related forum, so I can relate to concerns about a big influx of new people. But, I've found that if you have a good community, self-policing tends to weed out the folks who don't belong, and you'll often end up with some good, contributing members after it's all said and done.

You're doing great, man. That stick you built blows my first stick away by far. You are not one of the newbies that I'm talkin' about . As far as that kid comment, the post that I had in mind was the one where the kid has somehow gotten a hold of an arcade cabinet and is asking the most basic questions like what kind of paint to buy and where do you buy paint?, and that they'll ask their mom to drive them to the hardware store. I've seen a few and they're hard to read because I just want to say "Dude, get a clue!", but I refrain and instead read some very helpful responses from our community instead. Ultimately for the helpful poster, their advice is usually wasted because the kid has no means or opportunity to complete the project correctly.

On the SF4 tip, I have to say that the Street Fighter franchise has done it again. Once again it has breathed new life into an industry. In this case it has made the art of arcade control building an interest in the minds of millions of new fans and has made fighting games fun again. I think that's happened in much the same way that Street Fighter 2 singlehandedly saved the coin-op industry for a few more years at the same time as it defined a new genre of gaming, the 2D vs fighter.

[SG Jaycurl]

When I started this thread, I neglected to state that I've observed some regulars on our forum answer some of the most noob questions with the utmost respectfulness and care. Which makes me proud to be a member here.

Yeah, I meant to say something about that, too. I've been hopping around to a number of sites as I tried to figure this whole custom stick thing out. Everyone here has been great, and if there were any repeat questions asked, folks were really cool about it-usually just pointing to the other thread where the question was already asked. On one site, one of the high-seniority members who is obviously very knowledgeable on the subject was, frankly, a condescending jerk to me and many other folks.

You're doing great, man. That stick you built blows my first stick away by far. You are not one of the newbies that I'm talkin' about .

Thanks much - I really appreciate it.

I didn't figure that the question was aimed at me, specifically. I think that my main point was just that a noobie invasion can lead to some positives, like new contributing members to the community.

I moderate a site for adult gamers and I remember once or twice where our name came up over at Bungie.com, and we'd get a huge influx of new members. Inevitably, there'd be some --bags of cream-filled twinkies--, bug there were also some good folks who found us that way. But now I'm being repetitive.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for the help you've given!

[SavannahLion]

I hope I've not asked too many dumb questions that have been answered 1000 times, though I suspect I probably have at some point. And I really try hard to search first, but you have to admit that no search engine is flawless, and a lot of times you give up after the first couple pages of results.

I think where most noobs fall on their face isn't so much the lack of using a search engine (one forum I moderated had such an atrocious search engine that never worked properly, such as pulling up results that were over five years old, locked and buried, and never dig out more recent posts. No noob ever had a chance to succeed using that search engine), it's a failure or inability to spend a little time lurking and browsing around.

Noobs that show an effort on searching for answers (and failing) are better than those who show zero effort  in researching even the most basic questions. How to wire a simple switch? Please, if you have to ask, find some other hobby. It's akin to working on your own car and having to ask how to put on the tires or change the oil. Or writing software and asking how to declare a variable, start a loop or build a conditional. There are some very very basic things that must understood when dealing with specific things, a forum is often a poor choice to ask those questions. Can you imagine if I went into a C forum and asked out to do int count; on the forum? I'd have ---my bottom--- handed to me.

On one site, one of the high-seniority members who is obviously very knowledgeable on the subject was, frankly, a condescending jerk to me and many other folks.

:\

You are (were?) a forum moderator you know that every forum has different mores and different people. That's just an unfortunate fact everyone has to accept.

Sorry about the bad grammar. Made some changes and now I'm all ---fouled up beyond all recognition--- up. 

[supadave]

I'm a noobie to this site but not forums in general. I do my searches first but sometimes its easier to get a fresh look at an old problem. Sometimes there are just newer and better updated ideas that haven't been posted yet. Also, I think its nice to get the activity and to have more people showing interest in our hobby. I started collecting arcades about 10 years ago but since then my machines have sat in storage turned off. Only recently have I got back in the swing and i'm finding myself needing alot of help on monitor issues more than anything.

[SavannahLion]

I'm a noobie to this site but not forums in general. I do my searches first but sometimes its easier to get a fresh look at an old problem. Sometimes there are just newer and better updated ideas that haven't been posted yet.

Arcade technology isn't exactly an ever changing technology... OK, well it is technically. What I think the OP means is that a switch is a switch and there are some pretty basic ways of handling switches. In terms of arcade cabinets, we went from leaf switches to cherry switches. What's that? About twenty years to figure out how wire a cherry and to document how that's done? What kind of new ideas can one possibly come up with on how to wire said switches?

Same goes for monitors. The gist of it is we have your vector and raster CRT's and your raster LCD (and related ilk). You have your basic frequencies, resolutions, orientation and so on and so forth. It's not like most of this technology just popped out of China in the last year or so. Sure, there are new technologies, new designs, but the basic principles remain the same.

It's cool to ask for a starting point, it's not so cool to ask someone to do your homework for you.

[protokatie]

As a test, I decided to pretend to be a newB for a bit and did some searches for some basic questions (such as how to wire up a switch) and I based the terminology of my searches on words a newB would use. I came up with butt-kiss. The search on this forum sucks (as I am sure most of us know), and I can see newBs posting such simple questions.
Also, when it comes to the concept of "if you don't know how to wire a switch, you should find another hobby" I highly disagree, as someone has to start somewhere and there are always "stupid" beginner questions. Although it would be nice if they read through the arcade controls site before hitting the forum.
Meh, in all actuality this is one of the best forums on the 'tubes, and I am no expert but I will atleast try to help any poster regardless of newB-tude.

Edit: Irony; this is my first post in this section of BYOAC, so I am actually a NewB here (Also, BYOAC is rather large  (many sub forums) and I now remember how daunting it was to navigate back in my earlier days)

[saleem]

one noobie sounding off.

hello!

and i am 40 something.