Dani,
I think that it seems repetitive because the major category has an amalgamation of topics from the subcategories (e.g. Community Center conatins items from Geeks Lounge and Community Feedback). I'll get over it. Only a minor thing.

@ deceptikon

I think you're being overly sensitive here. too

I'll keep doing what I'm doing learning at Daniweb. Post a thread a learn something from some other Daniweb member. I won't be posting anymore at Community Center. It's useless now. I'll be doing what other members do come and go. Leave me alone, that's all I want. I'm not starting trouble but now leave me alone!

I am very happy about comments made by mod/admins and Dani on this thread. LastMitch is expreciencing quite strongly about response to his threads. I do not know if he can be counted as newbie as he likes to be called IT profesional. That he shows of course by the standard of his postings by which everybody can form an opinion on him, like for everybody of us. I agree that these last posts did not give me any new ideas of how to be more welcoming to newbies and help their growth to contributors and sharers of information and experiences.

OK, now the childish ramblings seem to have stopped and people have stopped rising to the bait. how about getting back to the issue?

Two ends, as mentioned previously: welcome new members (not necessarily noobs) and retain current members.

Welcoming new members - big splashy email. How about a return to badges and promo stuff for new members to place on their own sites? The first 'rank' for a new member is what? 'newbie poster' or something? Some may feel that that's a little condescending. OK, it's directed at no. of posts, but not many people like to be called a noob/newbie.

I like the idea of upvoting questions - something I should do more of myself. What if a good question gets a 'star' of something extra which means a 'mod/admin liked this question'. Unfortunately these types of questions are few and far between on the php forum - they tend to be rehashes of previously asked questions.

If we take the php forum as an example, there are about 3 or 4 what I would call 'experts' regularly contributing (I do not consider myself as an expert), so high level threads are a bit difficult to support. And, as reported previously, most sought-after solutions usually already exist in other php-dedicated forums (SO, being particulary useful), blogs and sites.

So how to engage and entice higher-skilled programmers? What about a return to code snippets - create the best login snippet etc. Post your code and let the community rip you to shreds - as poor old sknake found a few years ago! However, timely requests on a topic (snippet contest on a very small scale) may engage the intrepid. Snippets could be posted and then honed and 'perfected' to build a generic (or specific) solution. WHo knows, I'm just typing out loud here.

Do inactive members receive "you've been inactive for ... weeks" mails. I'm sure they do...

How about merchandise? THis has been mooted a few times over the last few years, but I've yet to see a merchandise link so I can get my DaniWeb mug. The donation button needs to come back. You buy into something, you'll be more prepared to contribute.

I particularly like Davey's articles. Long may they continue. I like articles with opinion, not just wishy-washy reviews that score everything 3 out of 5. :)

The activity page is invisible. Unless you click one of the understated links in the profile page. Why would somebody ranked 944,749th bother with these? Can they be made more relevant to the new members? Posts/week? View 944,741 - 944,760 so user casn see their progress over time? Again typing out loud

There's a link to the Member Badges in the footer

<sarcy>Oh - that link was so hard to miss! I feel like a fool now.</sarcky>

That's synonymous, IMO, with a moderator giving reputation and having it weigh a hugely decent amount, as compared to the reputation power of an ordinary member.

I agree, but it's not visible or ego-boosting enough if the rest of the community can't see it (unless they go snooping into the user's profile page). Again, just typing out loud.

I'd also ask the question, apart from posting questions / answering questions, 'is there enough to do?' To the initiated, the answer would probably be probably. To a new user? Who knows. I can hear the immortal lines from the Life of Brian sketch, 'What have the Romans ever done for us...' :)

I think you're a victim of your own success to an extent as this site strives to be all things to all (level of) user(s). I think it will attract fly-byers and beginners in the main due to its catholic (small 'c'!) nature. Does the sister site concentrate on the advanced stuff?

I'm not a regular, so my input won't be as pointed or valuable, but you might want to rethink part of the design. For starters, why do you call them "articles"? They're not articles - they're "posts" or "thread." You might want to think about whether the forums are too splintered - or, in the case of the Community section, not splintered enough.

I'm not a regular, so my input won't be as pointed or valuable,

I think you're exactly the sort of person that we should be listening to. What do we need to do to make you a 'regular'?

Well, thank you, Diafol. I think I'm an unusual case. I found my way here when I had a specific question, and perhaps a couple more questions since then - but this site strikes me as being for people far more techie than I am. Your nice answer made me take another look, though, and it now does seem to me that tech forums are too splintered and the Community/Geek one not splintered enough. A sign of too much splinter is when there are no new posts for a long time.

Speaking as someone who has registered at quite a few forums, I can say that:
1.Something is very screwy with this posting mechanism. Why does it keep erasing what I'm writing? Why is there a window underneath with the same text? Why when I click to reply on the last page does it give me a different form? It must it very frustrating to try to post. And, by the way, why don't you have a "quote" mechanism, in case there's a reference to something specific in a long thread?
2.Instead of one Geek forum (maybe not the best name), what if you had one forum for sheer off-topic sociability, but another one for issues related to tech/internet? For instance, a forum where people could discuss the politics of internet regulation or the ethics of Wikileaks? I rarely come for real tech-talk, but that might make me stop by more often.
3.For small tweaks, I'd stop calling posts "articles," I'd stop labeling posts "new" (what does that mean, anyway?), I'd stop what ever it is that makes every black out if the cursor runs over an ad, I'd stop saying "Reply to this article" at the bottom, when what I think it means is "Post this reply."

But that's just me. As I said, I think the others here are a lot more tech-savvy than I am.

But that's just me.

Yes, but we need to know. I hope more ''just me's" contribute to this thread - sorry, article!.

Your first and third points have been debated vigorously. IMO, DW must face reality if more contributors like yourself are getting mad/confused with the editor or peeved at the use of the word 'article'. I won't weigh in with my own opinions here :)

Why does it keep erasing what I'm writing?

That certainly shouldn't be happening. Can you provide reproduction steps as well as your browser and operating system (including full version numbers)?

Why is there a window underneath with the same text?

That's the live preview, it shows what your post will look like after you submit it.

Why when I click to reply on the last page does it give me a different form?

Could you post up some screenshots?

And, by the way, why don't you have a "quote" mechanism, in case there's a reference to something specific in a long thread?

Our quoting mechanism is totally unintuitive if you're used to other forum, but it's otherwise very natural. Simply select what you want to quote from the original post, then click into the reply editor and the selected text will be pasted in with Markdown quote tags.

2.Instead of one Geek forum (maybe not the best name), what if you had one forum for sheer off-topic sociability, but another one for issues related to tech/internet? For instance, a forum where people could discuss the politics of internet regulation or the ethics of Wikileaks? I rarely come for real tech-talk, but that might make me stop by more often.

The Geeks' Lounge is our Misc forum. Perhaps it's not the best name, but that's what we've used for the last ten years. ;)

3.For small tweaks, I'd stop calling posts "articles," I'd stop labeling posts "new" (what does that mean, anyway?), I'd stop what ever it is that makes every black out if the cursor runs over an ad, I'd stop saying "Reply to this article" at the bottom, when what I think it means is "Post this reply."

Yikes, tons of stuff there. Anyway:

1. Posts are posts (or replies), threads are articles. This isn't new nomenclature, but the recent switch from threads to articles has caused a few raised eyebrows. I'm amenable to changing the display names as appropriate for discussion threads, but Dani makes the final call on all things UI.

2. I'm assuming that you're talking about the purple NEW icon next to articles with new posts. And that's really all it is: a way to differentiate between articles with posts you haven't read, and those that have no new activity.

3. The black out effect isn't anything we're doing, that's probably an effect of your browser. Do you use Opera?

4. Now we're splitting hairs. I'd go with "Submit this reply", but once again, I don't make the calls on UI design. ;)

The black out effect isn't anything we're doing, that's probably an effect of your browser. Do you use Opera?

Deceptikon, I think webecedarian is referring to this. Dani said she added this effect.

http://www.daniweb.com/community-center/daniweb-community-feedback/threads/423090/fade-effect-when-hovering-over-ads

Deceptikon, I think webecedarian is referring to this. Dani said she added this effect.

Ah, I see. My bad.

I'm assuming that you're talking about the purple NEW icon next to articles with new posts. And that's really all it is: a way to differentiate between articles with posts you haven't read, and those that have no new activity.

Would be nice if the "mark as read" actuallly works (yes, am aware that this and the related bugs are on the list ;). But it may avoid confusion.

I'm a newbie and I feel welcome! I know I don't have much to offer (yet) but I will once I feel more comfortable with my .NET coding practices. For forums like this to be successful, the gurus and long term members (whatever they may be) need to be actively helping noobs out (which I'm hoping you all do). The other forums I frequent have seen success because people like helping people. This site seems (at first glance) to be of the same type of site! I am hopeful.

I'm curious, will I always have to type in an answer to a questions just to post or is this a noob action that I must do until I hit a certain number of posts?

I'm curious, will I always have to type in an answer to a questions just to post or is this a noob action that I must do until I hit a certain number of posts?

It's an anti-spam measure. It'll go away quickly as the requirements are very lax: 15+ reputation points or 5 posts + 5 days since joining.

Thanks for that decptikon. Everytime I have had to deal with these types of anti-spam measures, I feel inclined to answer but answer wrong. For instance, right now I see the question "Are you human" and I wonder what will happen if I say no? Hmm. LoL, apparently I cannot post if I am not human. Now I have to figure out the device on the computer named after a rodent! That's a tough one! ;)

After using this site for a day now I have to say that I like its funcionality. However, I don't much care for how my screen blacks out when I hover over an advert. While I know that adverts are important and generate $$, I find this kind of advertising somewhat annoying. Other than that, you have an excellent site cscgal.

Could you please tell how the reputation points increases???

Even after posting threads to help our daniweb friends or when others mark the thread as solved or even vote us up I dont find my reputation point increasing....

There is a joy within us when we see that the thread is marked as solved and the reputation points also increase, if we have helped someone....

But if it does not happen that interest could be lost....

This is not only for newbies but also the existing members....

this is according to my experience....I just feel the joy and the enthusiasm to post threads to help others....

The site is excellent for me to surf and find everything handy....

Somebody must hover over arrow and type comment to the text box. They influence by their reputation power, so some newbies do not give you point as they have not yet power to influence other's reputation. Old timers have around 12-17 points positive power, and some 3 points negative power