Well as a 'newbie' (oh dear) it already seems like you have to 'be friends' and placate the right people just to keep your posts open and/or not get harangued by the sabetodo experts. I realize that some topics are controversial, but those also seem to me at least to be the ones people SHOULD be talking about. True, maybe someone does just want to know 'where to get a good drink in Sosua' (...) and this board provides a certain level of practicality for getting help in that context, but when a REAL issue is being discussed it is generally discouraged.
Just from the short time I have been a member of this forum I have noticed that 'newbies' are usually DISCOURAGED more than encouraged to ask simple questions.
Ok, let me say this - I am WELL AWARE of how to use the 'search' function, and believe it or not MANY 'newbies' do too, the 'search engine' process is not unique to DR1. So when a 'newbie' asks a question that has already been answered, it is not always that they are just oblivious about the process finding information, perhaps they just want some NEW, UP TO DATE INFORMATION!! Perhaps they want the viewpoint of ANOTHER person, or other people instead of the usual 4-6 people who dominate (intentionally or unintentionally) every other post. Personally, if I ask a question that has already been raised, I'm not trying to perform a resurrection, I just want to know how people feel about it NOW, not 4 months ago. Opinions changes, information changes, viewpoints change etc. If it thats painful to answer, guess what? You dont have to. I don't understand how one question can turn into a board meeting about its relevance. The same time a person takes writing a 'eulogy' for the dearly departed question or thought since its been closed by a moderator, is the same time you can answer the question and be done with it. I can see if its something like 'Where is Punta Cana located?', and even then there is a RESPECTFUL way to answer such a question, that is still helpful.
Instead of just jumping on the persons post with all this 'tag team, your not part of the club, you big dumb stupid gringo who knows nothing about nothing, sarcastic nonsense', you can just not even bother. I mean really, if you wanna make your OWN post about how much you hate newbies and there newbie questions, go right ahead. I mean if I think a post is stupid, I'm not going to spend my time convincing myself how stupid it is by commenting about how stupid it is to other people....thats stupid. Just leave it alone. If its that offensive or controversial I'm sure a sleuth nosed moderator will close it down.
But have the common decency and reasonableness to realize that not everybody knows about the Dominican Republic THAT is WHY they ask questions. You can either answer help, or shut up and mind your business, but its not really that serious to get all bent out of shape about anything on a forum board. After all isn't that the objective?? Allowing people to SHARE thoughts, ideas etc...?? Some people treat it like its some kinda of intellectual boot camp, say the wrong thing and its 50 pushups.
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