[Beaten Valve]

I only got bothered once when I was a newbie, so then I stepped back and did more reading than posting.

Maybe you need some type of way to alert people that someone is a new user, like a little avatar or something else distinguishing fortheir first 30 days?

[Windflier]

I only got bothered once when I was a newbie, so then I stepped back and did more reading than posting.

In my case, I arrived here because someone who I greatly admired suggested I stop in. Once here, I was very impressed with the high level of discourse, compared to the places I haunted at the time.

I was so impressed, in fact, that I simply didn't join for about a year, but read here every week. By the time I actually joined, I had a very good feel for the community, and didn't make any egregious newbie errors in posting.

To tell you the truth, I'm sometimes surprised at the abandon with which some new people dive right in, on day one, before ever really getting a feel for the place.

Naturally, a lot of those newbies make terrible faux pas, right from the start, and are quickly sighted down on as trolls.

[potlatch]

Beaten Valve, if you hover your cursor over someone's name it will show the date of sign up! If you click on their name it takes you right to their Profile Page.

[Yaelle]

Maybe you need some type of way to alert people that someone is a new user

Run your cursor over their name. It will show you their sign up date. For instance, mine shows that I have been here exactly 10 years and one day. :)