Raccoon
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This is copied (entire) from http://www.adisc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=11941#post11941
Good for you Pramrider. Part of the problem is the rate of new posts; I have given up trying to keep up with many threads, even some forums. Some people ignore the greetings threads as they simply have limited time to spend here. I try to say at least something to new people, though it is often slight. Therein lies another reason greetings threads are often ignored: that they are often not very interesting. It is as boring to write, "Hi new person; glad you are here; hope you stay," as it is to read the same thing over and over. Some new people write a good intro. Many don't know what to say, so they don't say it. And some try to plunge into the fray with the kind of "stories" that are meant to say," I am one of you! I deserve some status or standing in the community because I told my parents and they are ok with it!! or my gf indulges me etc." - And are probably shocked, or at least disappointed when they are met with derision and skepticism.
I suggest we form a greetings committee - you and me as founding members.
With, say 10 gc members, if one or two of us are away, the others would make sure the newbies do no go ungreeted. The replies of the gc members would contain a brief paragraph about the gc member, and some questions to the newbie; this would be a good time to introduce forum rules, etiquette, and other info, such as pointers to the kind of standard info that might be stored in wiki but "put" under the noses of the newbies.
Where it says member (I mean regular) or vip etc. we could have the title "greeter."
We would need a storehouse of little paragraphs to feed the newbies. I don't think having 10 pages of rules, system of government, who's who, punctuation and spelling etiquette, forum features etc. as required reading before a member can join in would work. "TL;DR would appear and defeat the purpose. Greeters would have to literally be on the same page so as to give the newbies consistent and useful information. Maybe we could stop some of the drama in its tracks. Maybe we could get newbies to post a bit more. We would be guides and mentors... We could handle some things, and pass others, as required, up to the mods.
The little paragraphs could be in a sticky (where they would add up to the aforementioned 10 pages) or on the wiki - or both. One such thread would consist of exemplary greetings from the past as instances of how to write - or not - a really good greeting. We might need a new sub-forum where gc members could go to coordinate their efforts, work out policy, take suggestions, cooperatively work out which info to feed newbies and so forth. The first thing is to get volunteers to be greeters.
Just did a bit of searching on the greetings forum to see who all has returned or newly joined ADISC so far. It was sad to see several newbie's/returnee's threads never had so much as one "welcome" or "welcome back" reply. :frown: Started thinking how lax I've been about offering welcomes, too. Sooooo......to rectify that situation.....I'd like to formally offer a welcome to the following members:
Conrad
Sly Fox
Ranger
Silverwing
Lone_Wolf
Angelicus
tbchris
legobaby
tbsam88
DarkSunDS
Target_0
I see some are already regulars while others have posted only a few times. Just hope none of those *low post* members were discouraged by not receiving a welcome at first to make them feel at home.
A belated, but well deserved warm Welcome to all eleven of you!:smile:
~Pramrider
Good for you Pramrider. Part of the problem is the rate of new posts; I have given up trying to keep up with many threads, even some forums. Some people ignore the greetings threads as they simply have limited time to spend here. I try to say at least something to new people, though it is often slight. Therein lies another reason greetings threads are often ignored: that they are often not very interesting. It is as boring to write, "Hi new person; glad you are here; hope you stay," as it is to read the same thing over and over. Some new people write a good intro. Many don't know what to say, so they don't say it. And some try to plunge into the fray with the kind of "stories" that are meant to say," I am one of you! I deserve some status or standing in the community because I told my parents and they are ok with it!! or my gf indulges me etc." - And are probably shocked, or at least disappointed when they are met with derision and skepticism.
I suggest we form a greetings committee - you and me as founding members.
With, say 10 gc members, if one or two of us are away, the others would make sure the newbies do no go ungreeted. The replies of the gc members would contain a brief paragraph about the gc member, and some questions to the newbie; this would be a good time to introduce forum rules, etiquette, and other info, such as pointers to the kind of standard info that might be stored in wiki but "put" under the noses of the newbies.
Where it says member (I mean regular) or vip etc. we could have the title "greeter."
We would need a storehouse of little paragraphs to feed the newbies. I don't think having 10 pages of rules, system of government, who's who, punctuation and spelling etiquette, forum features etc. as required reading before a member can join in would work. "TL;DR would appear and defeat the purpose. Greeters would have to literally be on the same page so as to give the newbies consistent and useful information. Maybe we could stop some of the drama in its tracks. Maybe we could get newbies to post a bit more. We would be guides and mentors... We could handle some things, and pass others, as required, up to the mods.
The little paragraphs could be in a sticky (where they would add up to the aforementioned 10 pages) or on the wiki - or both. One such thread would consist of exemplary greetings from the past as instances of how to write - or not - a really good greeting. We might need a new sub-forum where gc members could go to coordinate their efforts, work out policy, take suggestions, cooperatively work out which info to feed newbies and so forth. The first thing is to get volunteers to be greeters.
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