Seperate Window

A lot of the forums have a "sticky" post with a title like Please read this before posting. The sticky posts remain at the top of the thread list. If newbie posters took the time to read these stickies we might see a dramatic drop in the number of silly questions. If people bothered to read through the rules we might see even fewer. I see no problem with downvoting or berating (or both) a user for ignoring the stickies and/or rules and posting things like

• how do I get a free copy of (commercial software)
• what's wrong with my code (and not posting any code)
• please do my homework for me

In some cases, a user will post an assignment verbatim and not even bother to ask for help. To me, that's the equivalent of a user saying, "Here. I can't be bothered. You do it."

I think an appropriate response (punishment, to use your word) is warranted.

I think there's just a balance between providing a service / platform where someone can receive free help, and actually realizing and understanding that there's a community of other people just like yourself, volunteering their time, powering the other end of it.

Well... look on the bright side, daniweb users are not like stackoverflow users... when I answered a question there a while ago as a newbie, i literally was downvoted so many times that my account was in position to be banned... what was my mistake you ask? I simply answered someone else's question and my answer basically just gave him the answer and i provided him some sources but what ticked me off is that another person (a person who is popular in the forum) posted the same thing i wrote, just a bit different, he got all the up votes... Stackoverflow, to me, just sucks in almost every way when it comes to the treatment of their newbie users (code project is nearly as bad too, but it has other benefits). The way daniweb is set up is perfectly fine by my opinion. The only time newbies get bombarded with downvotes and criticism is when they are disrespectful or if they ask us to do their homework for them without them showing their work.

ٰٰI agree with all the valued comments above, but my question was not that they shall not be given response in order to make them accountable for the mistakes they commit.I respect and Love how daniweb works my only request to admin's is that whenever a newbie enters after signing in first thing he shall see must be rules and regulations in brief.we do explain and give them links but after they are downvoted.I think it may not give a good impression to give a down vote instead of welcome note.

New members receive a PM immediately with a link to the rules as well as a link to the Community Introductions forum where they can introduce themselves.

Hmm, is that a new thing? I never got a pm that refers to that because I never did a community introduction...

I'm not sure, Michael. It looks like you joined during the same month we did our massive migration off of vBulletin onto our own platform, so things were really in flux back then.

I even never got one.And that is what i want to convey.It will take them time to get accustomed with Daniweb.Sending P.M is what i want but instead of P.M i think message shall pop-up which will show them and guide them .Either rules shall be mentioned in that message or they shall be informed to check messages before starting to participate.And rules and regulations shall be Brief ,long messages usually people dont read.
Thanks

Our rules couldn't be much more brief, to be fair.

I've always felt that new posters should, for the first few posts, be presented with a pop-up such as

As a new poster we would like to remind you that it benefits everyone if you are familiar with the DaniWeb rules. After your third post you will no longer see this reminder.

We can't force anyone to read the rules or the stickies but at least that way there would be no legitimate way for a poster to claim ignorance of them.

I dont disagree with any of the above opinions.However , i support what Reverend Jim says.And that is what i want to convey from the first post.I dont say Daniweb needs any change i just want to help newbies so that if they are downvoted we can give them one single answer .Why did you skip rules and regulations.In this way newbie wont feel he is being bombarded with downvotes .That will give us enough reason to downvote him.