This has been a long ongoing discussion, the forum just hasn't taken any steps towards educating new users. I thought we were close when theymos solicited opinions on a welcome message, as far as I know that hasn't happened yet. I think that every new tab should have it's own welcome/how to pop-up when you first join, with the option to disable after 1 full activity period.
For instance: In messages "Exercise caution when receiving solicited or unsolicited advice in PM. Do not assume everyone has good intentions regarding advice/downloads. Public discussion is best apart from personal/private details" I would also have forum acceptable practices regarding the use of PM's under this message.
What I don't understand is why people don't apply the same common sense they do in real life on the internet as well.
In short people are stupid - at least we start out that way. We know nothing, but have an amazing capacity for learning. There's a few ways to do this through experience alone, can be a rough path but generally leaves a lasting impression. We can be shown/taught, welcome messages/warnings are a good way to go about this for people entering a new environment. I've always believed in trying to do more in helping/preventing, could be because I was one of those stupid people until I learned through experience.
Senior members should guide newbies and tell them what they should do and what to avoid to make their experience here pleasent and safe.
How to do that!... Senior members, should stop arguing about merit system, DT sytem,, and focus more on helping newbies and answering their quetions on boards like "Beginners & Help", "Development & Technical Discussion", "Bitcoin Technical Support"
However, it is not always up to senior members, newbies, also, should make an effort to learn how to secure their wallet, after all it is a new technology and you should learn a lot befaure starting using it.
There are plenty of members of all ranks out there offering legit advice and assistance. Not everyone is good at offering that advice or troubleshooting so personally I'd rather not see everyone lining up to "help". The problem lies in the naivety of a newbie, who gets scooped up by a scammer before someone with good intentions happens upon them. It's amazing how many people have coins but haven't learned how to secure them, especially after the FOMO of 2017.