I feel that the new members of SEN are not being welcomed to our community enough.

With that said, I would think that perhaps bringing back the "Welcome" forum instead of the "Welcome Thread!" which NOBODY can find. The last post in it was from 2 months ago. I'm sure that there are a LOT more new members that have registered here since then. Who do you know has registered the most recent? I honestly can't tell. The Welcome forum's purpose is to allow new members write a little short skit about themselves, and get a little feedback from the community members to get a feel for the community, and slowly become a part of the community.

Oh sure, new members can just post their welcoming bit into the topic. But how many of you regularly check the topic for new members. And even if a new member does post a post about themself in the topic, nobody will reply. Or if someone does, the new member won't really know if he has replied. It's hidden to far in a place that a new member wouldn't really want to check.

What we are doing with the "Welcome Thread!" is how I feel that what we are doing to the new members. Just telling them to go play in a corner, and let the pros do the talking. "Don't ask these newbie questions that have been asked before!". A new member needs to be able to know how the community responds to them, and how a conversation about them, that they have started can continue in this community. Which can hardly be done in one single thread for every new member.

So, if you feel that the forum should be brought back, please say why. If not, why not?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 27 2008, 6:05 am by Matt Burch.

Whether or not we have a Welcome Forum, the Welcome Thread is completely pointless. Nobody reads it or is really able to make any benefit out of it.

It's hard to argue that the old Welcome Forum was really used for that much, but I certainly think it helped new member feel more easily welcomed to SEN. Admittedly it could be blamed for a lot of kiwi-spam, but especially back before this new-fangled mineral and posts system, the no-count posts in Welcome certainly weren't hurting anyone.

Then we should have a "Goodbye" forum too for all the community veterans whom are leaving out of frustration or are being run out by stupid members.

"Hello & Good Bye"
"Greetings & Farewell"

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 27 2008, 6:29 am by Matt Burch.

I liked the welcome forum. It was nice.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the welcome forum. I said hullo to the newbies and learned moar about them. I don't think anyone ever visits the welcome thread.

Yeah it was fun to know when someone joined the comunity. Welcome / Farewell also sounds good.

Hell ya!

I'd be happy with only welcome forum if you don't do that

We should have a "goodnight" and "goodmorning" thread, so people can announce they are leaving for the night, or that they are up and ready to go!

There's already a shoutbox for that

Yea, I liked the Welcome forum. Each new member could feel like they have a thread dedicated to just welcoming them and that was nice.

Instead of closing the "goodbye" topics that new members make in Null they could be moved to the still non-existed "Greetings & Farewells" forum -.-

I was surprised that it is was gone. I liked it too, is a way.

I agree, a welcome form would be a nice addition to the community, and help newer members blend in easier.

On a minor side note, new users should instead of first seeing the portal page, they should see the welcome thread.

I didn't know that there was a welcome thread here until months after v5 came out. The Welcome forum was better because it was more accessible, and a lot harder to overlook. I had forgotten about the Welcome thread again until this got posted. Bring back forum?

I say stick it in the poll booth.

The new SENners should have a lil welcome to learn who people are, ask questions, give back ground, etc.

Because obviously you can't do that on any other forum.

The problem that I'm hearing here is that "not enough people know about the welcome thread". So instead of making a new forum for every thread people don't know about, lets do something like, redirect new signups to that thread and explain that they can introduce themselves? Auto send a PM on signup linking to the thread?

You are hearing incorrectly. The whole point of using a welcome forum is described in the topic post. Those ideas won't have the same impact as the welcome forum.

I'm hearing nothing. I'm instead reading it and thinking the null forum fits these things perfectly.