We just created a new usergroup - the New Member. It is not meant to describe your knowledge of DSMs or cars in general. It's more about what you've done to contribute to our forums since you've registered. You might run 10's in the 1/4 mile, but if you don't post helpful info for others, you can't get a good reputation among our members. For the most part, everyone who has been here for less than a year is now a New Member - though there will be some exceptions and we will be constantly moving people out of this group who don't deserve to be there (and vice versa). New members will have all the same access to view and search for tech info on our site as other members, but will have limited posting abilities in our forums. They will be able to view and Search all public forums but will be limited to posting in the following forums:
- Newbie forum
- Problem Diagnosis forum
- Appearance forum
- Tech Articles section
- Site Feedback forum
(forums that allow New Member posts will have a light blue note in the description)
They will also be limited in other ways - no signature capabilities, limited private message storage, and they won't be able to post in the Events Calendar or in the Classifieds. This may or may not change. More info about the New Member title and other member titles can be found here:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/faq....faq_usertitles
The reason we've created this usergroup? Two reasons. First of all, our forums have been geared toward Newbie members for quite a long time. We've been pretty lenient (contrary to popular belief) on what we've allowed Newbie members to post in our forums. The soft approach hasn't taught people to read the rules, the FAQ's or the Tech Guides and the longtime members have grown tired of all the same questions being asked over and over with people refusing to do their own research. Second of all, there is too much misinformation and hearsay being blurted out without thinking. The last thing the DSM community needs is for people who do not know what they're talking about answering questions. Unless you have firsthand knowledge on the subject, you should keep your mouth shut and/or post a link to a thread where someone does know what they're talking about.
How do you get bumped up from New Member to Proven Member? From now on, we will be employing a combination of our new Reputation points system, registration date, and post count to automatically promote users from New Member to Proven Member. Once you receive 10 reputation points by Wisemen, Moderators and Proven Members, plus you've been registered for more than 30 days, and you have at least 25 posts, you'll automatically be promoted to normal Proven status, it's not difficult at all. It will be the people know their stuff that will be handing out the bulk of the points. We also will handpick New Members who display signs that they have a clue and can handle being a Proven Member and allow them to skip the New Member phase. On the flip side, if you're a Proven Member and post misinformation and hearsay, you'll quickly find yourself back in the New Member group with your permissions limited once again. To avoid that, follow the rules about hearsay, don't post misinformation or repetitve questions, and stay on topic.
New Members - you will be on thin ice from now on and are expected to follow the forum rules to the "T". You will be expected to have read all of the DSM FAQ's in the FAQ Forum, all of the Tech Articles in the Tech Guide, the VFAQ.com articles, and to have done a SEARCH on the topic before you ask a question. If you ask a question that is answered in the FAQ Forum or the VFAQ, you will be warned. If you post a thread that is exactly the same as 5-10 other threads before yours, it will be clear that you did not search. You will be warned or even suspended. People will be expected to do their own research and not flood our database with useless or duplicate info. And you will be expected to stay on topic in a thread. If you have not read everything on this page (the Rules), you better do it now:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/faq.php?faq=faq_rules
Your membership on our site depends on it. We've posted a description of all user groups in the Forums FAQ. Read up:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/faq.php?faq=vb_faq
