[wp-forums] More on tongues and stickies

[Podz]

Petit Publications wrote:

> To make the advice more effective, I think we should make it a bit more
> likely that users read them.

Having been in this forum for 2 years, other forums and sites before
that and usenet also, getting people to read stickies or FAQ's can be
like pushing water uphill.
A side-effect of having very prominent stickies (I think ours are
noticeable but don't scream at you) is that when (not if) someone posts
and has not read the sticky they will be met with a post of "Can't you
read?" which instantly makes the atmosphere hostile.

The link to my site was - I think - from when we didn't have stickies.

I think that regardless of what is written down the forum is and will
always be judged on the language of the participants. The fact that
there is a behaviour sticky is a backup, a bonus, a pointer in the right
direction. The people who _really_ need to read understand and follow
that sticky are the people coming to help. I can perfectly understand a
new poster saying something like "What the f*ck has gone wrong with my
bl**dy blog again!!!!!!!!!!!" because frustration could have driven them
to that state and we are here to help. I cannot understand a helper
doing anything even remotely similar - we have a choice to be there,
someone with a problem does not.

The WP forums must be lead in the direction we want by consistently good
advice along with a consistently good attitude. We all lose it
occasionally but on the whole it's down to us, not a list :)

P.