05command Mirror
Heya everyone, after about a year and a few months of writing, rewriting, scrapping, and screaming at people, we're finally proud to present the belated Guide for Newbies Rewrite.
Why a rewrite?
The current newbie guide is kind of a mess. It misses a lot of information new users would need (such as what to read, where to start, etc), gives them way too much info than most would actually want (half of it is devoted to writing processes, which most users will not use), and is kind of condescending to the reader. Reorganizing the guide so it's easier on the reader, and rewording it so it's less intimidating to the new user, could help new users feel welcome to join the site and help staff not have to answer the same question twenty times in #site17.
What does this rewrite offer over the previous guide?
- The guide has been split in four. Many of the issues of the previous guide came because it tried to put one guide for everyone - how to join, how to write, how to everything in one big Frankenstein's monster. This guide has been split into four relatively shorter guides: The Guide for Newcomers, Readers, Joining, and Writing. This split will hopefully make people more interested in reading said guides (since they can read specifically the info that's relevant to them) while also allowing us to fit more information in.
- The guides are now more welcoming as opposed to many other guides onsite that are cold and clinical. A lot of onsite guides are precise, cold, and at some points even somewhat condescending, treating the reader as someone who must fit in or leave rather than someone we want to make part of our site. This guide aims to have generally more relaxed wording and structure, so that people don't feel like even the walls want to kick them out.
- Each guide has a different focus. Guide for Newcomers is basic info you need to use the site and understand it, such as "There is no Canon", what an SCP even is, how to contact AHT, etc.. Guide for Readers is a guide on how to start reading and find new reading material on the site. Guide for Joining is.. well, how to make an account and join the site. Guide for Writing is a general guide on the fundamentals of posting anything, while giving very minimal and general advice when it comes to any specific topic.
- The guides are each half the length of the current newbie guide. Even though, as a whole, they're longer than the current guide for newbies, each one is shorter and easier to digest which could help people get through them.
Alright, where's the link?
Here's a direct link to the Guide for Newcomers, with the other three guides linked at the bottom. I'd really appreciate if you could comment on all four guides if doing so, but if not, even just commenting on one or two will help a lot.
Also just as a preemptive - if this does make it to the mainsite, the current Guide for Joining will be archived instead of edited over, due to how wildly different the format is.
This discussion will be up for a week and is open to all staff and all site members.
