Posted by lucie lu on November 11, 2008, at 16:46:20
In reply to Re: Research project, posted by Dr. Bob on November 11, 2008, at 15:44:52
> > > a large influx of new posters could be disruptive. Do you think there should be some sort of limitation?
> For example, the number during a particular time period could be limited, and beyond that they could be asked to wait.Bob,
Thanks for the clarifications. I think a limit might be a good idea, at least for the Psych board, if a satisfactory mechanism can be found. (I really can't say anything about the other boards, which perhaps present less of a problem in this respect; my comments really only concern the Psych board.) Apart from the more abstract concern of disrupting the community, there is a more practical consideration: we can only respond to so many people at a time! The usual response to new posters is to welcome them but also to respond to their threads. This initial response is really important to help someone enter the community and feel that they might really matter. It is important enough that many of us still remember our first posts and people who responded to them! The reality is that there is rarely enough time to produce a considered reply to than a handful of threads at a time; this in addition to any we might introduce ourselves. Let's say we get three new posters one night, for example, and one or all start threads that require something other than "welcome to Babble." If they are new, I would want to respond to them. However, I want to still have time for the people I know who have threads going, and there are often a number of those too. I realize that the "burden" (pardon my saying that, you know what I mean) is spread among the community but in reality there are a finite number of people who actually post regularly at any given point in time. We all feel guilty when we get busy and don't have time to respond to the threads of people we know and care about; then add in new people as well and, well, you get the picture. There wouldn't seem to be much value for the study if the new posters overwhelmed the board so it couldn't operate as business as usual.
It might be helpful to hear from others, specifically from the Psych board but maybe also people who post on other boards, how many new people they think the board could handle, say, per week? Specifying the board they are referring to would be helpful; clearly they do not all have the same issues.
Lucie
poster:lucie lu
thread:861412
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20081003/msgs/862360.html