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Now that my ridiculous title has caught your attention, I think there is a small problem that we might need to address. I'm not trying to spread any blame or seem persnickety or fussy, but I would appreciate it if you would bear with me for a moment.

In the past few weeks, many users (myself most certainly included) have expressed annoyance with the never ending number of brand spanking new users who, apparently for no other reason other than laziness, rudely demand us to do their homework for them. I have very little respect for such people, especially since we almost never see them again after their attempt fails.

That being said though, I have also noticed that our responses to such users are growing steadily more sarcastic and condescending. I am most certainly not excluding myself from this, as I've posted more than a couple sarcastic comments within just the past week, but I'm quite sorry that I did so. By responding to their (albeit pitiful) attempt at participation in the Forum with (entirely justified) sarcasm or rudeness, we are driving them away.

This may not necessarily be a bad thing, as it would certainly alleviate many a headache among the Mods, but it does deprive of us of new talent and ideas that, if only given the space to slowly mature, might well be useful to us. And even if they will never be much help on the Forum, even if we all dread their participation, they still have the right to do so (presuming that they don't break any rules).

I am in full agreement that sarcasm or forceful reminders can/should be used on a member who continuously breaks rules or acts inappropriately, but not on a brand new user who may not know what this site is about. As far as they know, this is a site for doing people's homework, and young users are always trying to fit in.

A good reminder, a display of the rules, and a recommendation that they really try their problem will usually send the lazy and rude people scampering to the hills, while retaining the ones who truly wish to participate!

Sorry, this thread got a little out of hand. But to summarize, I would like to caution many users (again, myself most certainly included) to be careful of how they respond to newbies and the like. There is some excellent talent that we might accidentally drive away!