OK, I going to give a disclaimer on this particular post! I am aware that I am still a relative newbie byself, and don't deserve to be anything but humble and attentive. I know that this is not my site, and the owner, moderators, and other old timers here who count, might have a different direction intended for it than what my suggestion may portray. But I might as well say what I'm thinking, anyway, because the worst that can happen is everyone can just say "nuts" to it!
What I'm seeing on the many new posters is that there are different types. Some just shouldn't even be reading this stuff, much less posting. While some others arrive here with an earnest intent, but don't realize the full scope of impact of the content on this site, and the extent of the participation efforts of it's members.
It appears that most of those posting in this thread think that some kind of segway into the subject would be part of the solution, accompanied by some specific rules to clue people in on the general atmosphere here (and enforce it if necessary). I agree with both of these ideas.
The question is, "How do you get new people, who may be (foolishly, but commonly) looking for a fast answer, to actually read and understand the basics of what the purpose of this site is, and how to not demolish themselves before they figure it out." (It would be a dark day for us all, to see the headline: "Child messes himself up on recommendation from crazy chemistry site," you know what I mean?)
Although there is no sure fire way to accomplish total perfection on this, I think something optimum can be done.
First, to get people to read the preliminary stuff that you want them to, it needs to be interesting, and that means to give them something they want, along with it.
It seems that most of the "I want some info fast" people actually want to do a recovery, not a refining, whether they know it or not.
They don't know the attitude of the site, and they usually have no idea of the real safety precautions required, either.
I think that a very basic, down and dirty, simplified recovery, which would probably not be very economical but would be more of a educational experience. This would be similar to the idea of what Hoke does in the beginning, with her testing. Except it would use some actual PM bearing materials that people usually ask about.
This would be interwoven with safety precautions, and a little bit of "scare the heck out of them" examples, so they don't take it lightly; between each step. By mixing some simple recovery steps with the related safety material, they would see that the safety requirements go hand-in-hand with accomplishing what they were interested in, in the first place, and it would relate it immediately and directly to each step they do. That would allow them to realize that safety and success go together, rather than safety being something that "the other guy" should do.
They would also be exposed to the manners and rules of the Forum, at the same time.
I guess a few different categories of simplified recovery, to start with, would include a couple kinds of escrap, and some basic karat gold stuff. lazersteve's processes, with peroxide and Chlorox would be pretty good starters, maybe. Or even HCl with a pinch of nitre, even if they dissolved base metals at the same time, and dropped the PMs with #00 copper grounding wire hooked over a jar lip, at least they would get enough results (the magic of chemistry mixed with the awe of gold), to get them to read the safety stuff mixed in, and automatically begin to get the idea of the atmosphere of this site, and get the idea of continuing in that vein to become proficient in actual refining, and taking some pride in what they are learning and doing.
The downside is that it might encourage someone to begin, who really shouldn't. But still it seems like it would be better to direct them to the "Getting Started" section, which has all the safety intermingled within it, than to just have them land here from a search engine, and jump right into something way more dangerous. And when they click to go to this "Getting Started" section, they first land on the "Forum Rules" page, with a few, brief, basic, things required for them to get the idea of manners, and so forth, and a link to the Complete Rules Page, with a statement that it should be read it before they start posting, or be at risk of...whatever.
The upside is that it could provide a buffer zone for the members and moderators, by preventing most of the stuff that has been going on lately, where somebody shows up who is totally off the planet!
If it is graduated slowly into more complex (and efficient) processes, a new person can choose for himself which level to start at, depending on his experience (and how confident he is that he won't clobber himself by beginning at a level which is too advanced for him). If reference is continually made to procedures on the beginning levels, in order to do a new process, an inexperienced person would have to go back and read them, if he tries to skip them, and thus be exposed to all the safety precautions and negative effects which are possible if they are not followed.
If somebody did do something really dumb, after all that, I don't think that anyone would think we didn't try to prevent it.
And with very simplified processes, in the beginning, how many questions could they ask? And many of those could be put into a FAQ, to reduce the bother to members and moderators, down considerably from what it is now.
It may sound complicated, but it could be done a little at a time. I mean, this site will probably be around for quite a long time, no? And getting more and more newbies all the time! It could get ugly!
And it would make it less likely that some parents will be saying that their "poor little Johnny" (who's actually 19!) did who-know-what to himself, as a result of reading something here.
