There should be an area in the Undervault with fish mines (fossilized fish, and a challenging minigame through which to retrieve them, prompting a legitimate use of this question.)

And to stay on topic, being pleasant with every novice does pay off. It's been my experience that the uppity ones eventually realize they can't win by being rude to the hand that feeds them, and most people play MMOs to win.

If you want to know how many lessons somebody's put into skills, can't you just use GUILD SKILLS
If they haven't put any into their guild skills, and you've explained why they should put some lessons into guildskills, then I guess you're out of luck.

Yeah that's what I mean, but I usually handle everything through tells or squad channel, because all of my squad channels are OOC. >.>

Ahhhh..... You treated me like a human. Even as I tried to figure out how to kill this nasty maggot man in the pretty God Fulcrux

Oh goodness, this thread is still going on? I thought I had clarified, but maybe not ... This particular new player was definitely not the innocent, confused, genuine newbie type. It was the "I'm getting a kick out of being a little snot" type. I gave him the benefit of the doubt until it became absolutely undeniably clear that this is what was going on, at which point I held him back in his novicehood, gave him a warning, which he blatantly broke more than once, and then ousted him. Haven't seen him around lately; guess he couldn't handle Glom either? Fortunately those types don't last long. They're just annoying as **** while they're here!

And actually if I didn't love newbies, I probably wouldn't have been so frustrated. But I do care a lot about newbies, I'm very compassionate and patient, and I put a lot of time and energy into helping them. Very first thing I did when Aubrey got GA is spend more hours than I care to admit going through the entire guild newbie process with a fine-tooth comb, rewriting scrolls, training new novice aides, etc. I've made a few alts in other orgs, and I'm shocked at how little effort they put into welcoming their novices. Only one of them ever asked how I'm doing, or if I had questions. Another one, in fact, when I asked a question I got treated like an idiot. Needless to say I didn't put up with that long, and deleted that character. Just makes me appreciate the effort Aubrey puts into helping her novices. Greets every one of them personally even if they've already had an orientation, continues to check up on them all the way through graduation, makes sure they know how to find answers when they have questions when no one's around, gives them warmth and encouragement, basically treats them as they darn well should be treated.

I actually tried Lusternia about 3 times since it came out, and each time I couldn't find a single person to help me and I had no idea what was going on, so I'd end up giving up. About a year ago I tried again, and over the 7 months or so I played that character, I never got into it. Someone explained enough for me to know how to at least get by, but no one else would take the time to answer questions. Or if they did, they'd give the briefest response possible, leaving me even more confused. For example, "what's up with these pixies flitting around?" Answer: "Quest." ... Okay, how about referring me to CHELP PIXIES? How about hinting where I can start the quest? Let alone that this was actually a collegium task! I didn't even know about collegium tasks that entire 7 months. Crap like that annoyed me; it was condescending and basically said "I don't have time for you, go away." Fortunately (?) I kept coming back. A friend wanted to try the game, asked me to create a new character to play with him, and so Aubrey was born. For some reason people were a lot friendlier to her, and a couple actually took the time to help her understand things. Needless to say what I thought was going to be a character just to hang out and be newbies together with a friend ended up being a lot more (he stopped playing a couple weeks into it, sadly).

I played that first character for about 7 months. That entire time, she was essentially still a newbie as far as her knowledge. She didn't know how to use her skills, didn't even know what a moonhart tree was, didn't know how nexus power worked, I mean NOTHING. And not for lack of asking. Whereas by the time I'd been playing Aubrey 5 months (starting almost from complete scratch), she had not only learned the basics but really gotten involved in the game - CR6, GA, honours quests, married, kids, all this great stuff... And all because someone took the time to tell me a help scroll once in a while. Trust me I know the importance of being patient with newbies. But let's face it, as important as all that is, it doesn't negate the fact that brats do exist. I'll give them all the kindness and patience they deserve, but if they just flip the finger at me in response, I'm not going to keep wasting my time.

Er, the last response was a week ago.

I think that's about as often as she checks the forums, honestly.

But the thread wasn't still going.

Uh yeah I commonly go a couple weeks without coming here. Usually I just read things Sylphas links me to, then leave. Sorry!

In contrast to me, who has the forums on a five minute auto refresh most days.

Only five?

Usually I'm actively browsing so I don't need the auto refresh set very high.