Michael Mrozek asked: New users often are not accustomed to the Stack Exchange system, and sometimes struggle to present themselves properly, either in the way they use the site or their attitude. How willing are you to work with "problematic" users, and at what point do you decide that someone isn't worth the effort?
minitech answered: I'm absolutely willing to work with problematic users. Guiding them through the way the site works, cleaning up anything problematic in posts with a helpful edit summary, and properly explaining closing, if applicable. I decide someone isn't worth the effort when they're insulting or if they don't show any signs of improvement after... considerable... effort on my part.
Andrew Barber answered: New users are vital for the site to continue, and SE is certainly a different paradigm than "forums", so it can take some effort. I think it's important for moderators to be patient and make sure new users have been made aware of the differences. But once it is clear they have been told, but still don't make an effort... it's time to move to 'moderation' as a tool.
jcolebrand answered: for new users, aside from spam users, I'm quite willing to work with new users, both in linking them to pages they may not have seen (such as faq) and I often edit their questions, demonstrating via comment that I clicked the edit button) and then I leave edits in the question that demonstrate the kind of information they need to include in the question. I then encourage them to vote and mark responses as "answered" via comments.
jcolebrand continued: For problematic users, who have demonstrated some ability on the site (say past 500 rep) I'm more ready to condemn their actions and invite them to chat for gentle reprimands, and corrective activities.
kiamlaluno answered: I am always willing to help new users, and I cannot decide a limit until I don't know exactly of which problematic user we are talking of. Users are all different, and I cannot apply the same limit to all the users. If the user is willing to understand what I am saying, the limit is higher.
awoodland answered: that depends entirely on one key point: are they well intentioned? That's a pretty subjective thing to call sometimes, but with the exception of malicious users "giving up" is not really a call for a mod to make. There are mechanisms in place that handle this sufficiently well through community action on the content alone (e.g. question ban/answer ban), not the users themselves.
Sathya answered: I make use of the proforma comments user-script extensively, pointing out what's correct, whats not; what's acceptable, how a post can be fixed or what the user can do to salvage it. Ultimately, some posts are very bad - there's pretty much no way to get them correct - that's when I shut the door
Brad Larson answered: Unfortunately, we have many users who are unwilling to put any time into being reasonable members of the site. We can provide some help (comments to not leave questions as answers, etc.), but many choose not to learn from this. For those who put some effort in, I tend to go the extra mile to help them become acclimated.
ThiefMaster answered: Usually you can guess the intents of new users from their first contact (in this case, their question and reaction to comments). Especially site usage issues can usually be explained easily, both by a quick explanation and a FAQ link (e.g. to the editor help). If the attitude is an issue it depends on the case. If it's not serious a simple comment might suffice. If bad attitude becomes more of a problem a chat, private message or even something stronger might be needed.
Dennis answered: Patience is the key. Every new user deserves a new nudges in the right direction. In general, editing their post (if salvageable) and pointing to the corresponding Meta questions should be enough if they don't know how to use the site. The attitude can be a bigger problem, but unless the user is completely out of line, I'd let his peers (the community) attempt to correct it. A remark about someone's attitude from a moderator can be viewed as an imposition.
Lix answered: I think that it all depends on your (and the users) mood. As long as all interactions are civil I think that an indefinite amount of time can be spent nudging a new user in the right directions.. A user might need numerous "nudges" over the course of his "infancy" as a member. I am very willing to work with so called problematic users, language barriers, cultural differences and even the hell-bent users simply looking to vandalize posts.
George Stocker answered: New Users are both the ones that need the most patience and the most moderation. When I can, I try to salvage borderline questions with good edits. When the question is too bad to be salvaged, I'll leave a comment and vote to close. That won't change as moderator: I'll still take the time to edit those questions that have good potential.
