This is just a patch for a bigger problem, which it does nothing for. Similar to using a rag to plug up a hole in a sinking ship. You are fixing a side effect of something rather then fixing what is broken.
How I shoop woop fix noob?
The only community I've ever seen come up with a moderately working solution is Kingdom of Loathing.
The principle is simple. Before they can post, they have to read something and take a quiz. It would work like this:
You read a short paragraph. It goes over the rules, and then states a few things that are annoying, such as posting a non-contributive post in a topic on a previous page (bumping), smiley spam, and unreadable text.
Then you are asked a few questions.
Is smiley spam okay in off topic?
What is bumping?
Where do you post new images for bricks and players?
Where can you post pictures of things you build?
Where is the edit button located on a post?
Choose the right answer: _______ (ur, You're, Your) car is parked in the fire lane. ______ (You, Your, u) have a traffic violation. _____ (your, ur, you) car was towed. You'll need to go ____ (too, to, two, 2) the police station to get it back. I'll give you a ride (their, there, they're) _______.
It's a pass/fail quiz, if you don't pass, you can't post. It has an added bonus of making registration really hard for spam bots.
Poll