With the increasing number of stupid call outs on MetaTalk of late, the general lowering of the standards of debate in MeFi and seemingly more and more attacks on #1 and #292 for their admin decisions, I respectfully and tentatively suggest that now may be the time to close off new user sign-ups for a while.
posted by Effigy2000 on Mar 23, 2006 - 130 comments

Can we close the door now? I'm genuinely happy to have some new blood, but here's the problem. Pretty much everyone who's been reading the site with their noses against the glass has been let in. Hereafter, we're going to get a bunch of folks who happen to be wandering by, and know nothing of how things are done around here. (I don't know if that's the case with notmtwain, I'm only using his/her post as an example because it glares so.) We can always open it up again later, but can we have a moratorium on new users? Just for now? Please?
posted by jpoulos on Dec 1, 2004 - 129 comments

Did anyone else noticed the membership count changing in the blue? It seemed like it dropped from the 17000's down to 16896.
posted by phyrewerx on Aug 6, 2004 - 28 comments

20 neophytes a day - and I'm one of yesterday's crop. Fresh-faced, clean-skinned...

As a Content Editor at Everything2, I'm intimately acquainted with the stickiness inherent in introducing new people to an online community (especially a content-oriented community, as opposed to activity-, hobby-, or interest-oriented ones). There seems to be a dearth of documentation. I guess this site is pretty self-explanatory, which is refreshing - I've been an E2 user for two and a half years and I still occasionally scratch my big, fat head. Also, after such a long, long time with no new users (I know it was a long time because I spent a long time checking the new user page), you guys must be experiencing something of a shock, too.

Any ideas as to what could be done to ease the transition for newbies and allay the angst, if any, of the old guard?

Feel free to kill this if I'm out of line, long-winded or otherwise. I'm a new at this.
posted by bingbangbong on Aug 2, 2002 - 86 comments