One specific point about the “first post” / “first comment” idea:
If someone asked me for advice on how to get good at writing EA Forum posts, the most succinct advice I could give is this:
write!
You get better by doing something by practicing, so I would encourage someone to produce more content.
Which seems to suggest that a first post/comment prize is bad because it holds people back from taking the first step, and therefore discourages people from getting better.
I appreciate that there’s a counterargument to this (we don’t want to flood the forum with bad content), but I don’t feel like we have that a problem with this now, so I’m less worried about the counter.
I agree with this and also expect a “best first post” comment to probably be net harmful.
If there were to be some sort of “best new user” prize, I think it should probably be awarded less frequently, say every 6 or 12 months, for someone whose first post was within that window. I still think this would probably not be the best use of the available funding, but it seems to fit the spirit of the “best first post” idea while avoiding some of the worst side-effects.
One specific point about the “first post” / “first comment” idea:
If someone asked me for advice on how to get good at writing EA Forum posts, the most succinct advice I could give is this:
write!
You get better by doing something by practicing, so I would encourage someone to produce more content.
Which seems to suggest that a first post/comment prize is bad because it holds people back from taking the first step, and therefore discourages people from getting better.
I appreciate that there’s a counterargument to this (we don’t want to flood the forum with bad content), but I don’t feel like we have that a problem with this now, so I’m less worried about the counter.
I agree with this and also expect a “best first post” comment to probably be net harmful.
If there were to be some sort of “best new user” prize, I think it should probably be awarded less frequently, say every 6 or 12 months, for someone whose first post was within that window. I still think this would probably not be the best use of the available funding, but it seems to fit the spirit of the “best first post” idea while avoiding some of the worst side-effects.