Helping New members.

[Chrissie]

I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions on how to make the new member section more welcoming & easier to use.

Also, any thoughts on encouraging established members to pop in there & help the newbies or just even say hello to make them feel welcome? I know several of you do kindly help & a big thank you to all that do so

[beeper]

Chrissie, I think that the new members section is very wecoming. Some folk just want to jump right in first in other sections..enthusiasm!

(Sorry that I have failed to keep up with all the new faces :-[ so many there are.)

Personally I'll add a bit if I know the answer..but 9 times out of 10 I still feel new myself, perhaps I should ask more questions too xxx

[Lee]

Apr 18, 2011 22:30:16 GMT beeper said:

Chrissie, I think that the new members section is very wecoming. Some folk just want to jump right in first in other sections..enthusiasm!

(Sorry that I have failed to keep up with all the new faces :-[ so many there are.)

Personally I'll add a bit if I know the answer..but 9 times out of 10 I still feel new myself, perhaps I should ask more questions too xxx

My feelings exactly.

[jerryrm]

Here's my two cents worth, Chrissie. How about a "sticky" at the top of the New Member's forum, encouraging them to start a new thread, rather than posting in an existing one. I know I miss welcoming some new members, because they do that and get lost in the pile of posts.

[mrlimbo]

Well i think it would be a good idea to split the new members section in 2

With one section to indroduce themselves in there own thread

And 2 a newbies question section

I say this , as when i join here i didnt realise where the intro section was , i was looking for a separate section like most other forums i had joined and not one continuous thread

Also it would make it clear what the threads are , as at the moment you cant always tell from the thread titles wether its a introduction or a question ?

[Scylla]

Could the heading be red, indicating the priority we give to newbies, make them feel speshul?

It's a pity the subtitle to the existing forum title can't be more prominent and allow for more lines of encouraging/explanatory info, save them having to "enter" in order to find "what to do".

scylla

[bluecow1980]

agree with beeper, still feeling very green myself without being able to help much.

I would say that many people who join are likely to be familiar with forums, and may not bother with an intro - just jump straight in with both feet.

For others, they will maybe pop on and ask their questions, and then never come back once they have their answers.

Personally I'm an old hat at forums, and yet after looking at the many uk e-cig forums, I chose this one. Why...
* because it was small enough not to get overwhelming (and not so time consuming that it swallowed my day)
* newbies were treated with help and encouragement, not ridicule.
* I really felt I could ask ANY question about e-cigs and know I would get a good answer.
* The forum wasnt only e-cigs. Sure it was the main focus, but there were members having a chat, banter and a bit of fun in between too. This made me think it more likely to be an enduring community. The balance was right.

So would I change much? Nah... Anyone looking for a good forum will read a few and then decide which they feel the most comfortable joining.

[Scylla]

I agree that "small" is less daunting for newbies (and me ).

It's nice to know that you liked what you saw, Blue - it's going to be easy to become over-complicated trying to cater for "eventualities"

scylla

[River]

Personally i dont think you should change a thing
as a newbie i had no idea what i needed and what i should be doing
but a quick look round the forum i was sorted
i still get confused from time to time but all my questions still get answered
as they say "if it aint broke dont fix it"

[camperman]

It would be easier to welcome newbies if they started they're own thread as quite a few are posting in existing threads so it's hard to see who's new at times.
Sometimes threads go right of topic and you never know who's asking what questions, I know being a mod ain't easy as I run a few forums myself but maybe a few more mods to the team and give people designated areas to sort the posts out on instead of trying to spread yourselves to thin.
Please don't take this any of this as me complaing as I'm just saying what I see and think everone does a great job but it can be so easy to loose direction with posts and posters sometimes

[Scylla]

I don't think we get problems that need more mods - it's just a case of making sure we're set up to be easy, inviting and comfortable for nervous newbies, just in case
scylla

[camperman]

The best thing to do is never go ECF as that forum is a nightmare with far too much going on

Once you've posted you can never find the bloody thing again as theirs to many topics to look through.

[beeper]

I arrived at this wonderful vapey oasis from an invite on ebay last year. It took me sooo long to decide whether to give up the rollies- the e-cig discussions would come up from time to time on the Q/A at ebay and I had been following these discussions with intereast for ages. I remember Chrissie especially (who I actually thought really did have ten cats!) was always there to steer folk in the right direction and to advise.

Subsequenty,,this is the only forum that I have felt welcome enough to join, it is friendy, never nasty, impatient or sarcastic.

It appears that there are many guest looking in I have noticed, nothing wrong in that. Some people are extremely shy/nervous/cautious..

..still!

[faghag]

Apr 19, 2011 7:18:56 GMT bluecow1980 said:

agree with beeper, still feeling very green myself without being able to help much.

I would say that many people who join are likely to be familiar with forums, and may not bother with an intro - just jump straight in with both feet.

For others, they will maybe pop on and ask their questions, and then never come back once they have their answers.

Personally I'm an old hat at forums, and yet after looking at the many uk e-cig forums, I chose this one. Why...
* because it was small enough not to get overwhelming (and not so time consuming that it swallowed my day)
* newbies were treated with help and encouragement, not ridicule.
* I really felt I could ask ANY question about e-cigs and know I would get a good answer.
* The forum wasnt only e-cigs. Sure it was the main focus, but there were members having a chat, banter and a bit of fun in between too. This made me think it more likely to be an enduring community. The balance was right.

So would I change much? Nah... Anyone looking for a good forum will read a few and then decide which they feel the most comfortable joining.

Have to agree with this post.

I found the layout easy to understand and navigate, and I received a warm welcome with helpful replies.

Internet forums can become very clicky and outsiders/newbies are often hauled through some sort of initiation process before becoming a real member, i've seen it happen - it understandably puts people off!

I wouldn't see the point in changing anything here

[jerryrm]

Apr 19, 2011 11:20:21 GMT camperman said:

The best thing to do is never go ECF as that forum is a nightmare with far too much going on

Once you've posted you can never find the bloody thing again as theirs to many topics to look through.

I have many friends on ECF, so I spend a lot of time there, but if it wasn't for that, I would probably be here all of the time, this is a much nicer forum. It's like comparing the big city to a small village.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of nice friends here too.