Raccoon
Est. Contributor
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- Diaper Lover
- Diaperfur
I feel that newbies greeting newbies is not only to be commended, but very strongly encouraged; it makes the greeted feel extra welcome, with the extra attention; it is a good way for greeters to make inroads in terms of posting, without worry about being ignored, criticized or laughed at for not making posts of the style or quality of veterans. If they read the forum before joining they no doubt see some people's heads jumped all over for their grammar, attitudes to diaper punishment, complaints about their neg rep, their suggestions of ADISC 2, intros with too much bodily funtion detail, intros with insufficient detail, and run-on sentences. That last category is especially egregious.
So they may be afraid to post, some of them. Greeting other newbies with a cheery
Besides, the largest problem bedeviling ADISC is the lowered feeling of being a tight-knit community; this comes with getting bigger and growing faster. Newbies greeting newbies makes them feel part of their own little sub-community - but is not divisive, as the process of being an active newbie propels one into the community of regulars, and on to VIP - and thence, maybe - to staff. And in fact hastens this by upping post count, increasing their chances to get +rep, and generally interact more on the forums; interacting, participating, is a much more effective way to learn the ropes than merely reading other peoples' posts.
So I have decided to +rep newbies greeting newbies, as long as the post is more than a mere "Hi - I am also a newbie!!" and is more than halfways deserving of a rep point - I enjoy giving people their first rep, and and therefore eagerly await them giving me reason for it. I am merely declaring a personal policy which is already pretty much standard practise for me. I rep newbies more easily than regulars or VIP's, anyway; as I think should most people.
This post is an indirect plug for my already proposed Newbies' Forum http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/11747-forum-newbies.html I realize this post will likely end up in Admin Stuff, but I reiterate that newbies not only deserve their own forum to air and discuss their own issues (stuff gets un-noticed in the very huge Regulars' forum) but would be a good place for perma-threads on How Do I Get To Be A Regular? Ditto For VIP? How Do I Set Up IRC? How come that guy's pooping post got less -rep than my own? How come it got more? How come all this neato stuff is in Admin stuff with all the other Admin Stuff (or the wiki) when we newbies who need to know this stuff could have it all in one place, right under our noses where we start posting anyway, instead of having to go off and poke around in places we do not even know exists or how to find it? How can we know to look for stuff we have no idea exists, until people get mad at us for our ignorance and yell READ THE FAQ; AND GO FIND IT YOURSELF, AND COME BACK WHEN YOU HAVE FOUND IT, READ IT, AND KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE!!
Basically, I think being a tight-knit community depends on two basic things: commonality, say of outlook, attitude and interests; at least on a broad level. DL's, age players, babyfurs, incons, their carers and so on all have an interest in diapers. I may be Republican and you Liberal, but we both care about politics, and what is best for the country.
The other thing is the degree to which we know each other; this depends on the degree of communication between us, the number and density of links, if you will. There is one-way communication: from one to another, say, where you read my stuff but we don't talk. In two-way, we interact: directly, as in chat, or by your posting a kitty macro in resonse to my raccoon macro, or refining Adaffme's pacifier creation technique http://www.adisc.org/forum/teenbaby/13660-create-your-own-pacifier.html with your own results and ideas, or supplying links for me travel by: to places where I will find YOU
With a large site, we can not talk to everyone else, or read their stuff, or even read every forum; nor do we bother to do so when all the good diaper-hiding places, best brands of the last 10 years, and ideas for the rep system have been proposed, withdrawn, tested, mentioned, re-mentioned and the place has become boring. (Another reason why some veterans may have left.) What we can do is encourage member-to-member interaction, right from the outset, between people who identify with each other, even if it is on the basis of being newbies. Plus this is like making childhood friends and hanging onto them. My best friends here are the ones I know best, and many of them are ones I have known longest.
Oh - and as to the ADISC 2 fiasco http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/11538-modest-proposal.html while I did not care much for the degree of disapproval of the idea, I welcomed the responses for their honesty and sincerity; I am by no means complaining about any of it. I bring it up here to say that while I took no offence from the responses I got, a newbie in the same position might well be put off the forum, not realizing that while one is free to propose things here, that freedom of speech entails sometimes getting criticism for things, Right, "D" or "Y" ? But being roundly criticized over one thing does not mean one is unwelcome or disliked in the long run.
A sticky in greetings forum directing new members to the newbie-applicable parts of the wiki is to be applauded; but using the rep system to incentivise reading and following the suggestions and information in the wiki or elsewhere is also a good idea, methinks.
So they may be afraid to post, some of them. Greeting other newbies with a cheery
is a safe venue to join the fray. Especially if they can think of nothing to say, having nothing new (as yet) to add to Popular Culture diaper scenes and references, how to make a diaper from two paperclips and a newspaper, or Obama's failings, such as having done nowhere near as much for acceptance of AB/DL's as he has for acceptance of Black politicians.Welcome! Hey!! I am ALSO into Naruto or Romanian AK 47's or Modded ECU's to up mah boost 2 PSI
Besides, the largest problem bedeviling ADISC is the lowered feeling of being a tight-knit community; this comes with getting bigger and growing faster. Newbies greeting newbies makes them feel part of their own little sub-community - but is not divisive, as the process of being an active newbie propels one into the community of regulars, and on to VIP - and thence, maybe - to staff. And in fact hastens this by upping post count, increasing their chances to get +rep, and generally interact more on the forums; interacting, participating, is a much more effective way to learn the ropes than merely reading other peoples' posts.
So I have decided to +rep newbies greeting newbies, as long as the post is more than a mere "Hi - I am also a newbie!!" and is more than halfways deserving of a rep point - I enjoy giving people their first rep, and and therefore eagerly await them giving me reason for it. I am merely declaring a personal policy which is already pretty much standard practise for me. I rep newbies more easily than regulars or VIP's, anyway; as I think should most people.
This post is an indirect plug for my already proposed Newbies' Forum http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/11747-forum-newbies.html I realize this post will likely end up in Admin Stuff, but I reiterate that newbies not only deserve their own forum to air and discuss their own issues (stuff gets un-noticed in the very huge Regulars' forum) but would be a good place for perma-threads on How Do I Get To Be A Regular? Ditto For VIP? How Do I Set Up IRC? How come that guy's pooping post got less -rep than my own? How come it got more? How come all this neato stuff is in Admin stuff with all the other Admin Stuff (or the wiki) when we newbies who need to know this stuff could have it all in one place, right under our noses where we start posting anyway, instead of having to go off and poke around in places we do not even know exists or how to find it? How can we know to look for stuff we have no idea exists, until people get mad at us for our ignorance and yell READ THE FAQ; AND GO FIND IT YOURSELF, AND COME BACK WHEN YOU HAVE FOUND IT, READ IT, AND KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE!!
Basically, I think being a tight-knit community depends on two basic things: commonality, say of outlook, attitude and interests; at least on a broad level. DL's, age players, babyfurs, incons, their carers and so on all have an interest in diapers. I may be Republican and you Liberal, but we both care about politics, and what is best for the country.
The other thing is the degree to which we know each other; this depends on the degree of communication between us, the number and density of links, if you will. There is one-way communication: from one to another, say, where you read my stuff but we don't talk. In two-way, we interact: directly, as in chat, or by your posting a kitty macro in resonse to my raccoon macro, or refining Adaffme's pacifier creation technique http://www.adisc.org/forum/teenbaby/13660-create-your-own-pacifier.html with your own results and ideas, or supplying links for me travel by: to places where I will find YOU
With a large site, we can not talk to everyone else, or read their stuff, or even read every forum; nor do we bother to do so when all the good diaper-hiding places, best brands of the last 10 years, and ideas for the rep system have been proposed, withdrawn, tested, mentioned, re-mentioned and the place has become boring. (Another reason why some veterans may have left.) What we can do is encourage member-to-member interaction, right from the outset, between people who identify with each other, even if it is on the basis of being newbies. Plus this is like making childhood friends and hanging onto them. My best friends here are the ones I know best, and many of them are ones I have known longest.
Oh - and as to the ADISC 2 fiasco http://www.adisc.org/forum/administrative-stuff/11538-modest-proposal.html while I did not care much for the degree of disapproval of the idea, I welcomed the responses for their honesty and sincerity; I am by no means complaining about any of it. I bring it up here to say that while I took no offence from the responses I got, a newbie in the same position might well be put off the forum, not realizing that while one is free to propose things here, that freedom of speech entails sometimes getting criticism for things, Right, "D" or "Y" ? But being roundly criticized over one thing does not mean one is unwelcome or disliked in the long run.
A sticky in greetings forum directing new members to the newbie-applicable parts of the wiki is to be applauded; but using the rep system to incentivise reading and following the suggestions and information in the wiki or elsewhere is also a good idea, methinks.
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