http://www.byond.com/forum/?post=812415

This post is really bizarre. What it should be is a succinct and informative set of pointers to help new developers understand the Developer Help forum and how it is used. Instead it's a generic and bloviated diatribe about how new players should just Google stuff and old players shouldn't actually provide real answers.

A good rule of thumb for posts like that is that if the advice you're giving will be met with "no duh" by 95% of the readers, then don't waste your time writing it. Treating new developers like they're stupid and then instructing them that they shouldn't expect actual answers to their questions is downright weird. The inclusion of the term "Help Vampire" is incredibly off putting, and implies that anyone seeking answers to simple questions should just go jump off a cliff.

If you're looking to attract new developers and get them to stick around, crap like that is exactly the wrong way to go.

I was trying to think of ways to improve the post, but the reality is that it's so poorly suited for the job that it just needs to be axed and redone. It doesn't contain a single link to one of BYOND's many valuable resources, most notably the DM Guide or the Reference. You don't need to tell developers to Google stuff; instead you need a quick explanation that years worth of valuable archived help posts are searchable here on the BYOND boards.

The whole post needs to be about 20% the current length and written from the perspective of someone who isn't so jaded and burnt out. A post like that is not the place to say something like "don't provide people with simple answers". Your audience should be the people who are going to use the system to its fullest potential. Don't talk down to them.

When I was a new developer one of BYOND's most appealing assets was the friendly community ready to answer my initially stupid coding questions without acting like I was doing something wrong by not knowing everything right off the bat. If I had read a post like that on day one, I would have never come back.