New Forum Catagory--"Newbie--New to Sailing/Have Questions"

[svHyLyte]

Not long after I originally joined the forum, in 2006, I proposed a new forum category focused on "Things that Work". Out of that evolved the Forum Category "Product and Service Reviews".

Since 2006--when we had all of about 2500 participants, most of whom were somewhat if not quite experienced with varying knowledge and/or skill levels CF has expanded enormously. That's good and bad. Good for the sponsors (I assume), not so good for the core membership because of the redundant inquiries--"I searched but could not find...". Leading the pack, it seems, is the "Hi! I'm new, don't know anything about boats or sailing but want to buy a boat and sail to ______ (fill in the blank with anywhere that come to mind) and will appreciate any help. Frequently followed by responses that, while undoubtedly well intended, are too superficial to be very helpful. Often, later, the same "Newbees" are back with new posts something on the order of "I bought a boat but discovered ______ (fill in the blank again) and NEED HELP! (or "a tow to 'Open Water'..."). These later threads responded to with sometimes predominantly unhelpful remonstrations on the order of "...you should have...could have...ought'a ______ (fill in the blank)".

I'm thinking it would be worth compiling all of the "Newbie" threads in a new category: "Newbie--New to Sailing/Have Questions" where the new Newbies could be directed (and any threads they start relocated) with the possibility that they might find answers to their questions from previous responses to other earlier newbies and, hopefully, learn from the mistakes of their predecessor Newbies.

The recent thread by the person with the "Nom de Plume" "Carebear" comes to mind. That lady came looking for help after she and her husband had already gotten behind the 8-Ball. In the event, when they were presented with a material modification of their Purchase and Sale Agreement, they should have stopped right then and there and asked questions here or elsewhere before weakly acquiescing. A right to remain on the seller's dock at no charge until the new owners had completed the necessary repairs to ensure the boat was serviceable for its intended purpose was a material element of consideration in the transaction and when denied/withdrawn, changed the deal invalidating the prior "meeting of the minds" in the Agreement. Water over the dam (for them) at this point but....

Maybe, if there is a specific place on CF for new Newbies, they can find answers so that the same things don't have to be repeated over'n over'n over, to no good effect and wasting bandwidth...

FWIW...

[Stu Jackson]

Good idea. Why not add a NEWBIE (or noob?) section.

It would save a lot of retyping.

[tkeithlu]

The advice is repetitious and necessarily shallow, because a full answer would take a book. But a forum "So You Want to Cruise" with an organized set of threads outlining the tasks to be completed and perhaps links to sources of the necessary information would be a very useful addition to Cruiser's Net. Threads might include "Types of cruising boats and their pros and cons," "Propulsion engines," "Types of navigation and redundancy," and "Energy and ways to get it," " Communications," plus a bunch of others. None would actually teach any of the topics, because that would be writing the book. The central point would be that there are a bunch of topics to master before cruising, and that "Learning to sail" is one out of many, not the whole task. Anyone would be welcome to add critical points to any of the threads, based on their areas of expertise and experience.

[Racoon1960]

As a newbie myself, I love the idea!

[Sandero]

good idea.... mods will likely have to move things around...

[boatman61]

Methinks a joint Project for Steadyhand and Polux..

[UNCIVILIZED]

I'm thinking that a section on boat buying would be near the top of the list, as said question comes up in "new" threads a good twice a week or more. And I Have written a book on it. Okay, an unpolished, extensive (DIY) Sticky. Which, the concept of a thread or section for newbys, as well as on boatbuying, got fielded in depth less than a week ago. So it might be wise to use much of the info & discussion therein in generating a new subforum such as seems to be being entertained here.

Also, in it I commented that it wouldn't be tough for the wizened CF regulars to propose topics for a section for new folks. So again, it would be easy for the moderators to put up notice asking for sub-forums/themes in such an area. Or even to create a few polls on what we'd like to see. And when doing so, make them prominent so that everyone who regularly visits CF will see them regardless of what areas they regularly frequent.

[tkeithlu]

What if we started simply by listing topics? Again, we should not write the book; we should describe the task to be mastered and reference good sources for help.
Buying a boat
sail, motor sail, or motor
monohull vs. multihull
weather
off shore navigation
pilotage
gasoline vs diesel
VHF radio use
anchors
radar
AIS
liferafts
dinghies
fiberglas v. wood v. steel
fire and extinguishers
solar, wind, and genset energy
energy budgets

[jimbunyard]

Since we're all newbies at something, I'd rather see one entitled 'Adults Only' or maybe 'The Playpen', where all smart-ass remarks are moderated to. That way the moderators don't have to close threads, and those of us who are, shall we say, contentious, get to call each other names and otherwise revel in our contentiousness in new and marvelous ways yet unimagined...maybe they could start with this one (mine I mean).

[Pelagic]

I agree with jimburnyard... That we are all Newbies at something.

The ' CHALLENGE" Section I think is really underutilized and could be a great teacher on all levels if we were to pose more questions in problem format and let the debate begin.

You can find it under scuttlebutt

[meatservo]

Great ideas. I would like to see some brutal, unbiased reviews on catamaran construction, value, performance, for us newbs contemplating our boat purchase...


meatservo