# Better solution to help TL0 / new users?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-solution-to-help-tl0-new-users/23799>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Created:** [9 Janeiro , 2015 02:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-solution-to-help-tl0-new-users/23799 "2015-01-09T02:30:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![gingerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@gingerman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gingerman)\
**Post date:** [9 Janeiro , 2015 02:30 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-solution-to-help-tl0-new-users/23799/1 "2015-01-09T02:30:18Z")

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I understand the below topic is closed after lot of deliberation about using private messages to admin (moderator)

> [@I would like a site setting that allows TL0 to PM staff](https://meta.discourse.org/t/i-would-like-a-site-setting-that-allows-tl0-to-pm-staff/23296):
>
> So I’ve been struggling with posting this for the past 3 days and finally decided it still bothers me and thus I want to know if I’m alone or not on this. I don’t mind that TL 0 can’t PM other members, but what does bother me is they can’t directly PM staff. Sure they can use flags (I think), but we’ve had a couple of members not realize that and spend countless time trying to figure out how to directly PM one of us, only to give up and posting a public response that they can’t PM us. As I’ve …

The major drawbacks in using PM to communicate with admin(moderator) / admin (moderator) group for new users are

- Spams
- Change in Trust Level System
- No transparency to other moderators / admins about the conversation
- No flexibility in control - it is all in or nothing kind of setting

But the actual problem is still there - it is important to make new users comfortable before they understand the community. There are always people who dont discover FAQ link or dont read the content in FAQ. They would love to have some user interaction before they do the right things. Anyone who is managing the community will understand this.

So I propose the following approach to address this problem.

- Create a category called “ **newbie** ”.

- Assign “ **Create only** ” permission for TL0 users

- Assign “ **Create, Reply and See** ” permission for Admins / Moderators

- **Create Only Permission**

This is very similar to Lounge category created for TL3 & above. A community can create / delete lounge & newbie categories if required.

**Advantages of this approach**

- A new user feel comfortable in knowing there is a place to ask any noob questions without people judgment
- The workload of answering questions is shared among the admin / moderator groups or may be others we identify as community managers
- All newbie questions are visible to all admins / moderators / community managers at one place. We can identify if there is any pattern and create new FAQs and banners accordingly.
- No need to change the existing Trust level privileges or security controls. We can leverage the existing security infrastructure of categories.
- No new UI / UX changes.
- This is completely an optional step for a community. They can remove the category or change the minimum trust levels at any time.
- We can leverage the tags, subcategories features to organize the newbie questions as well.
- This small addition in category will also help in increasing the adoption of discourse in many other usecases like
  - helpdesk for customers in SAAS / tech support in any organization
  - talk to your CEO / ombudsman kind of scenarios for internal usage in orgs
  - for personalized training / q & a among introvert / health related audience.

@cpradio @HAWK @Mittineague @Gabe @TechnoBear @JSey @purldator what do you guys think ?

@erlend_sh @mcwumbly @lightyear do you guys think if there is any known drawback in this approach ?

I believe this is technically less complex approach with more benefits

Please let me know your comments

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-solution-to-help-tl0-new-users/23799)._