I think TheVillageIdiot summed up my problems best:



I understand your policies. What I don't understand is why they're not stated. I had my boyfriend register an account, to check the registration process -- the email verification is explained, but there is nothing that tells you about the manual approval. Again, I don't care that accounts need to be approved, I just think people need to know.

I also know that searches are taxing. If you add one line to the search page, telling people that there's a time limit, they won't be frustrated like I was.

I'm not complaining about the people here. I've since read through some stuff and I understand that people are very helpful. I'm also not complaining about the game-related information here, and the information I was looking for is no longer relevant. What I'm complaining about is the lack of info about the forums.

Anyway, to douse any flames I've started, I'm gonna stop posting in this thread.

Edited to add: Thanks to everyone who welcomed me, offered help, or empathized with my frustration! I really have no complaints about the people here

I hope you will find things easier as time passes for you. I hope this frustrations wont keep you from returning to this forum... good luck on seeking what you are looking for.

I have answered many questions here and have asked some questions as well. the people here are very nice and will help you if you need it.

Agreed.

By the way, in spite of all the shortcomings of our forums software, a time-limit on searches is something you will find at almost any forum. Try world of warcraft or any public forum, and you will find that many of them limit to one search per minute.

This is to prevent 'flooding' or other denial of sevice attacks on the forums, because searches are very processor intensive.

We added manual approval because some users would hop in, leave inappropriate ads or comments, and offend users before we could remove the posts. Blame those bad apples for that particular policy change.

In any case, we'll make the best of what we've got, and try to make it a fun and safe place for our valued community and fans!! Yay!

I think it would be helpful to have a one-time "Welcome to the Forums!" page when you first log in after registering and verifying. I was also a little confused when I first joined.

The welcome page could cover forum FAQs like how to post a screenshot, etc. It could also have a "Top Three FAQ's" from each LDW game so that if someone registered just to ask that question, they'd have their answer immediately.

Just a thought

I registered, and got my verification email, before I could even get my email open, and was approved instantly, and that was just this week.

I do have complaints about the searching though. I've never had a notice that I'm searching too much, but I never can find what I'm searching for. I too get tired of going thru forum pages and pages and still no answer to my questions.

Then I can't figure out where to post my question.

It's much better to use the Advanced button, which allows you to change the date range. The default search window only looks at posts in the last 7 days, and you're not likely to find what you're looking for.