kaholland4: tifanico: I think that nee posters should lurk for a while, respond to other posts and then make a thread if the want advice for their situation.
Even if the new posters are not MUD, a lot of them just post, get lots of replies and then disappear so its pretty much a waste of time because they are not really adding anything to the board.
In defense of us new posters, a lot of us don't have anything constructive to say in comments because we haven't been through this as long as some of the 'regulars'. So sometimes our comments aren't as informative and we don't want to waste your time reading something that is so far off the mark, or even worse, be attacked because of an answer that may not be right. I'm not saying anyone in particular but I've seen some posters flamed for their comments. Oh, and also, I don't get a lot of time to come on TB. So while I read all the threads and comments, and sometimes I do have something to contribute, I won't post a comment on a thread that's been dead for a few days. No one will read it anyway.
But then you don't see how annoying it gets for the regulars (not specifically me, since I post from time to time) to respond to post after post from new people that come and never post again?
Even if you don't have a lot of experience, you can just say what you think about the situation, whether it will be a good answer or not, it might offer a different POV. Even if its a bad answer, you will get called out for it but then you will have learned something.
I started posting on this board with absolutely nothing to contribute. I was a young and inexperienced single mom. I have been flamed several times but I learned from it. So the newbies shouldn't be shy and respond to other posts!!
FWIW, I have seen you responding to other posts so what I said was not necessarily directed to you.