How to welcome a stranger...

This morning, I got a strange e-mail. It came form WindowsBBS. I vaguely remember having visited that site sometime in the past.
The reason the sent that e-mail seemed to be that I had opened e login account but apparently never posted anything.

The WindowsBBS looks very nice. The posting rules are very good (write correct English, use correct spelling and punctuation, etc.). Nevertheless, its usage is far from clear.
Honestly, I don't remember why I did visited WindowsBBS without posting anything. I did develop some Windows software in the past. And I intend to resume development of one particular programme in the not-too-far future. I do remember at what point I stopped that project. But currently I am lacking time to resume this. But when I do, I will certalinly need some information from this WindowsBBS or similar forum sites.

This posting is just a lot of blah-blah. It seems that the system wants me to post "something ", just to keep my account alive. This is a very strange policy. It is likely to lead to many blah-blah postings. A forum like this one should just be available for people who need it. Any "requirement" to post only to keep your account alive is counter-productive.

Another important aspect is this. While clicking around in this WindowsBBS, I found at some place a button "Start new thread" or so. Its meaning is obvious, of course. But on several other pages I read that I should post "something" to resuscitate my account. But whenever this was said, there was no button "Start new thread "! Neither was there any link that might suggest to lead to a page with such a button. So where should I search for this button, in a website that I am visiting for the (nearly) first time?

I have visited several other forum websites. Several of them -- especially MozillaZine forums (for Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) -- are very self-explaining in their usage.

So making a website look nice isn't enough. There are plenty of sites that look far less nice but are far more self-explaining. Unfortunatly, aesthetics and ergonomy are not the same. But fortunately, they do not exclude each other either!

 

Okay so far, but a wider availablity of a button "Start new thread" or so might still be useful.
Within the forums, such a button is avaliable. But on several other pages (like e.g. the one I am now in) I don't see one.