I think a New Member forum would be a really great addition to the forum lineup. A flyfishing forum I am a member of added a forum for new members and it really made the forum run much smoother. Anybody else agree?

Is the forum not running smooth as is?

Your suggestion has been discussed before.....here's a link to that thread

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1167228266/8#8

Enjoy!

I like the intergration of the longer term members and the newbs.  One thing I have noticed is that when a newbie asks a basic question like "What's a Texas rig"  it's the more recent members who are quick with the replies.  They are enthusiastic and eager to share their newly acquired knowledge.

I have also noticed that there are people who are long term members who I hardly know at all because they like to hang out on a particular forum that I may visit much, like their regional fourm.

Nothing wrong with this of course, but one of the big attractions for me about BassResource.com is the feeling of coummunity I have with so many guys from so many places.  

New to the forum in no way means new to fishing. Perhaps someone that makes his/her first post might make one that is of such import that all that read it catch more fish because of it.

I get a lot of PM's about different techniques and such from people that are trying something new. Some of the "newbie" questions are from knowledgeable fishermen that never had confidence in different ways of catching them or wanted a different perspective. Sometimes the "I don't get it" becomes "AHHH wow now I got it" it just takes a little direction. Many times when you have one asking a question you have 20 others that wanted to know the same answer. This site also has a whole list of articles geared towards new fishermen. Many times if you point them in that direction then let them post specific questions on stuff that they don't understand it tends to work out better. Many of the topics have been covered in other posts and that is another way to direct them. I think the integration is healthy because it exposes the newer fishermen to other ideas and other perspectives. Having a page just for newbies would be counter productive because there is a page for just kids so that's covered and another separate page for anyone else that was new would just isolate them and make them feel unwelcome. Heck PM me your questions if you want I'll answer them.

FlyPhisher, were you talking about new members meaning new to fishing OR new members meaning just joined the website?