# Make the expectations more clear on the "Create Thread" page



## User With No Name

As I said in a thread I posted a few minutes ago, I like this forum very much, and I appreciate the people who make it possible. But with all the rules, many of which only make sense once you know what the long-term plan is, and the rather enthusiastic enforcement of said rules by the moderators, I honestly don't think it is as welcoming as it could be.

I think one way to improve the situation (and cut down on the moderators' workload) would be to put more emphasis on keeping people from making mistakes in the first place and less on chastising them after the fact. One concrete way to do that might be to add a little guidance to the page that pops up when people click on "New Thread." Why not include something like "Put the phrase you're asking about in the title and in the body of the message, and include your own attempt at translation"?

Even responsible contributors are not always going to read and internalize 15 rules (1467 words!) before posting. Making the highlights available at the point in the process where they are needed most could, I think, reduce frustration for everybody.


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## tsoapm

That seems very reasonable to me, if it isn’t too hard to implement.


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## atcheque

Bonjour,


User With No Name said:


> "Put the phrase you're asking about in the title



_and in the body of the message:_ Put the *whole sentence, detailed context and background*.


> and include your own attempt at translation"?


No a must in the French-English forums, but a clear specific question.


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## tsoapm

This reminds me of a suggestion of mine from a while back: Thread Templates


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## mkellogg

This is a good idea. We used to have something like that that shows to new users creating a thread.  It might still show to new users, but I can't find the text right now. It was probably lost in the transition from vBulletin to Xenforo software.

I will try to put something together in the next few weeks.


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## mkellogg

OK, I've added some guidance for first-time thread creators.  It is a notice that shows by default to users with fewer than 5 posts. I am sure that we will refine this over time, but here it is:

*Creating a Thread*

*Please look for the answer first before asking for help!*
Searching is easy on WordReference: Just use the "dictionary and thread title search" box at the top of any page. You'll get dictionary results followed by a list of relevant thread titles at the bottom of the page, if there are any.  If you find your answer, great! If you find an existing thread about your question but you still need help, you can reply in that thread to ask for clarification. If you don't find anything, you may use this form to create a new thread.
*For your thread title, type the word or phrase that you wish to discuss.*
You want to avoid making any mistakes in your thread title, so use the original source language instead of your attempted translation. 
*Ask a specific question*.
The body of your message should include a specific question about the word or expression that appears in the title of your thread. 
*Provide sufficient context.*
Help us help you! Context is essential, so you must provide information about the situation where this word or expression occurs. 
For more information about how our forums work, please refer to the universal rules. We also recommend reading the "sticky" threads at the top of the homepage of each language-specific forum. These "stickies" contain lots of guidance and useful links. 
Our moderators work actively to keep our forums running smoothly. If you have questions or concerns about how the site works, or about how to find the information you need, they will be happy to assist you.


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## tsoapm

Thanks, that seems good.





mkellogg said:


> for first-time thread creators. It … shows by default to users with fewer than 5 posts


So not, unfortunately, to users who have created fewer than 5 threads, more specifically? I ask only out of curiosity.


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## mkellogg

tsoapm said:


> created fewer than 5 threads


Created? That isn't an option in the software, unfortunately. I can only match on the number of posts.


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## tsoapm

I had an idea that might be the situation. Thank you.


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## User With No Name

Just a quick note to thank the administrator for his attention to my suggestion. I hope it was useful.


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## mkellogg

Thank you! It was a good common-sense suggestion that I was happy to get improved. We plan to further improve our instructions in the spring when we plan to move to the next version of the Xenforo forum software.


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