...an area for new people to ask questions or introduce themselves without fear of being reprimanded or wasting the time of other users.
The “Ask Question” feature is meant to give people a way to ask questions about introductory EA concepts (or other questions, of course).
When I communicate with new people, I try to emphasize that they aren’t wasting anyone’s time, and I hope that our About page also helps to get this message across.
It’s possible that a dedicated “introduce yourself” thread could be useful (though I’d probably want to disable voting, as it’s a bit weird to have your introduction voted on). Forum bios are also a reasonable way to do this without a dedicated thread.
----
Also, I’ve been happy to see that the Forum hasn’t developed a pattern of “reprimanding new users”. I wish this were easier to communicate to new users! (As I mentioned elsewhere on this thread, it’s understandable to feel intimidated when you join a new community.)
The “Ask Question” feature is meant to give people a way to ask questions about introductory EA concepts (or other questions, of course).
When I communicate with new people, I try to emphasize that they aren’t wasting anyone’s time, and I hope that our About page also helps to get this message across.
It’s possible that a dedicated “introduce yourself” thread could be useful (though I’d probably want to disable voting, as it’s a bit weird to have your introduction voted on). Forum bios are also a reasonable way to do this without a dedicated thread.
----
Also, I’ve been happy to see that the Forum hasn’t developed a pattern of “reprimanding new users”. I wish this were easier to communicate to new users! (As I mentioned elsewhere on this thread, it’s understandable to feel intimidated when you join a new community.)