Rule and T and C talk came up in the SB again and it triggered something I remember from another pet site that I think might be a good idea to implement here. Think of me as you will, but it may help to avoid a lot of upset and/or confusion from new players.

During their registration, people should be made to read the rules from all different areas of the site, all the Terms and Conditions and the Guidelines. After that's done and they click the Continue buttons, there should be a multiple choice quiz that comes up after. This quiz would contain a combination of 20 questions in total taken from the Rules, Ts and Cs and Guidelines. They'd need to get 100% on the quiz prior to continuing the sign up process. If they don't, they would have to re-read the Rules, Ts and Cs and Guidelines again and re-take the quiz until they get 100%.

This is exactly the protocol from another site to help you learn the rules and Ts and Cs. They actually made you take the quiz a second time some time later on after you become a full-fledged member so that the rules, etc, stayed with you better.

There'd be a master list of questions that 20 would randomly be taken from. Once they get the quiz wrong the first time, when they go to take it a second time new questions may appear. Some may be the same or they may be all different. This would be so that they wouldn't get too comfortable seeing the same questions over and over again. The other site just used the same questions over and over again. That, I felt, was too easy as you could easily remember the answers. The rules, Ts and Cs and Guidelines should also be inaccessible after you read them until you complete the quiz and each time you read them thereafter so that you can't cheat. You read the rules and click the continue button. The continue button cannot be right-clicked to enable you to open the new page in a new tab, either. You also wouldn't be able to hit the back button to try and find them again. You'd be met with a "This document has expired" message. Same holds true with the Ts and Cs and Guidelines. You can read them as much as you'd like, but after hitting that Continue button, you would no longer be able to.

It would save a lot of newbies saying, "Oh, I didn't know that" or "Where are the rules?" or anything along those lines. It would also save a lot of needless warnings to be given out to new players due to them not reading the rules as the rules and Ts and Cs aren't the most up-front and center to find (aka in minuscule font at the bottom of each page).

I don't know why it's not a requirement put out by staff to make newbies read the rules, etc, upon signing up, but there should be some better way of ensuring that the rules, Ts and Cs and Guidelines are read prior to signup. The multiple choice quiz would probably be the best way. Anyone can click a button to pass over the rules, etc, and continue on. You can't do that with a quiz.

If things have changed since I signed up and you are asked to read the rules, Ts and Cs and Guidelines prior to signing up, I still feel as though a quiz should be implemented so that it's not so easy to just breeze past them and start playing.

Someone in the SB said that newbies naturally would be aware of some rules, etc, when they join but shouldn't need to be aware of all of them. Isn't that the whole point especially when you're new (rhetorical question)? That newbies should be aware of all the rules, etc, when they first join so they know how things go (also rhetorical)? I've seen so many new players post in the SB, "Oh sorry, I'm new. I didn't know" or similar, when a rule gets broken without their knowing. This would help to completely eliminate this. Newbies will only know if they're made to know. This especially holds true with the no advertising rule in the SB. They advertise their shops/trades/etc, older players tell them that that's not allowed and newbies use that "I'm new, I didn't know" line. That's only one example, but a bigger one. Make new players aware of the rules, Ts and Cs and guidelines before they play so that they know proper etiquette and protocol as they play. It'd make things more enjoyable for everyone.

Disagree -- it's in Subeta's interest to grow the site (new members), and having to pass a quiz before you can actually start playing is a barrier to entry that will probably turn some people away. I don't think it's a big deal to let people know if they make newbie mistakes.

Honestly I think most of the rules on the site are pretty straightforward; I don't even see newbies making mistakes often, besides maybe accidently necro'ing an old thread because... quite frankly, subeta's forums aren't too active so if you aren't paying close attention, it's a mistake just about anyone can easily make.

Now, if we're going from the SB's rules, that is probably digging further at the fact that the SB is incredibly impractical and unless it's been recently changed, it's one of the first places a newbie can actually interact with the userbase... Which I think is hinting at another problem, when adding a quiz would just deter a lot of people (which subeta seriously needs), instead of addressing what is actually needing to be fixed.

No it won't. Just like students studying for an exam it would be in one ear and out the other.

No support, most of the rule breaking is done by old users.

I don't think it's a terrible idea to have a quiz on the rules, but I agree that it could be very off-putting to new users if they're forced to go through it before they can get stuck into playing.

Maybe make it optional, but with a clear warning that being ignorant of the rules doesn't exempt you from them. It should also be available to all users at any time, so anyone can brush up on their knowledge of the rules. This would be especially useful if the site rules and guidelines are altered.

Noooooo thank you.

1. Retaining information for 5 minutes for a quiz =/= retaining information forever

2. I had to do this recently for a moderator position on another site, and it sucks. I went in with pretty clear knowledge of the rules already, I was able to look at the rules page in another tab while filling out the quiz, and I still had several answers that I had to discuss personally with whoever was in charge of that sort of thing because I didn't get them exactly right/there were multiple answers that could be considered right depending and I picked the "wrong" or "less right" one. Granted, the whole thing wasn't multiple choice so that was part of where the issues were but if I had to do that suddenly to use the forums here I would probably stay off the site for awhile because tbh that's crap and it's nothing but frustrating, and I've been here for 3+ years with no warnings so I'd be going in with obviously some form of understanding of the rules already, and I still don't want to do that shit. (tl;dr No one actually wants to do this shit and it's going to put off more potential new users than it'd ever prevent rulebreaking)

I don't think I'll ever really like any suggestion that makes subeta more like school than a game. can we please start making subeta like a game again?

A grade doesn't define who you are. I don't support nor agree with this. It seems pretty pointless to me.

That would definitely alienate people from joining.

casually sits here and waits for it to become a Debate Forum post

You agree to terms and conditions for every game, program, and web service you use. How many times have you been quizzed like this? If it was really that effective, more companies would do it, and you'd have more than one example of it.

This just sounds gross and annoying. :/

Unless you just want the quiz for the SB, in which case it doesn't affect me, so go for it. :P. That seems to be where most of these discussions originate, so maybe you guys need it?

No support. I think this has a really high chance of turning people away from the site and a pretty low chance of stopping people from breaking rules.

But disagree. People aren't likely to join when you put 'must take a quiz to register'.

What's to stop people from opening said quiz in another tab and then just ctrl f and copy-pasting the answers so they didn't have to read it in the first place? Not going to lie, if this were something I had to do, that's how I would do it. The terms and conditions here aren't much different than any other site I play on so, for the most part, they are pretty straightforward and easy to follow. If I for some reason forget a rule/forget what is allowed then I go and look it up, it's rare, but it does happen.

No, but as much as I want to agree with OP, other users here have made good points. Maybe an optional quiz game or something would be okay. We could replace many of the more useless games with something like that. If something as painful as Pete Says can be a game, then why not.

Oh and let us make this very clear, your rules will not save any of you from my unholy wrath. Gremlin was barred from the forums, Gremlin did not need to reagree to the guidelines to post again, Gremlin is omnipotent, Gremlin will rein supreme.

Subeta's come a long way as far as access to and consistency of their rules go. Unlike in the past, I can't think of any now that aren't listed somewhere convenient to the part of the site they apply to. The link at the bottom of the page might be tiny, but it's a lot better than, say, forcing you to click a random shop on one of the maps or tucking them away somewhere in the general navigation where it would be easy to overlook the link.

It's not Subeta's job to babysit us if people choose not the read the rules that they're presented with and I really wouldn't like to see them start doing that. Sorry, but no. : / New users gotta read or take responsibility.

Want to join our site? First you must take a test so we know you are worthy! No I'm sorry this seems like it would just be a huge deterrent for new members.

It's surprising coming from me, but I haven't had a warning in the last three years or so?

I do step on the line between what is alright and what is not, but I don't actually cross it.

people come to pet site to escape life things like problem and exam. i don't think people like to join us if we give them quiz about rules around here. kinda against the laid back atmosphere. even a simple survey can turn a user away.

besides, passing a quiz won't stop an asshole from being an asshole.