Hello,
We see the name of the newest members, but no Posts. The Welcome thread can be hard to find, I had seen it and spent a lot of time looking for it later. Maye we could have a Mod. send a Welcome Email to new member's with a link to the Welcome thread ? Make them feel Welcome, and ask them to tell us about their interests in Coins, and what they would like to get at a later date. There are some Forums around where the members think it is a private Club, not how this site works. Thankfully. I left a Forum once because I disagreed with a regular, and all the friends got stuck into me. Not because I was wrong, but because I didn't agree with their friend.
My thoughts.
Quote from: 'Coiny Chris' pid='65878' dateline='1422149900'Hello,
We see the name of the newest members, but no Posts. The Welcome thread can be hard to find, I had seen it and spent a lot of time looking for it later. Maye we could have a Mod. send a Welcome Email to new member's with a link to the Welcome thread ? Make them feel Welcome, and ask them to tell us about their interests in Coins, and what they would like to get at a later date. There are some Forums around where the members think it is a private Club, not how this site works. Thankfully. I left a Forum once because I disagreed with a regular, and all the friends got stuck into me. Not because I was wrong, but because I didn't agree with their friend.
My thoughts.
I've found its best not to get into arguments on Forums(or anywhere for that matter) because you don't know how many multiple accounts these ratbags have,PC at home,smart phone,Tablets,work computer etc,no way Mods. can check as they often have different ISP.Just state your case and leave it at that,if someone disagrees who cares.
Good idea on the new members,also i think the Forum should be public on all threads so the average Joe looking for Oz. Coin on Google can find us here,more work for the Mods. as regards new members posting but will make life interesting.
Nevol's usually very quick to welcome the new comers. (Despite the tennis being on :laugh2: ) and if they were missed then they'd be welcomed pretty quick once they did post. (Perhaps some people like to be in the background for a while anyway).
Personally I would NOT like all the threads to be 'public' and locatable by google as people at times use other members proper names.
Quote from: 'Unicorn' pid='65881' dateline='1422153606'Nevol's usually very quick to welcome the new comers. (Despite the tennis being on :laugh2: ) and if they were missed then they'd be welcomed pretty quick once they did post. (Perhaps some people like to be in the background for a while anyway).
Personally I would NOT like all the threads to be 'public' and locatable by google as people at times use other members proper names.
Yeah,it has its benefits but Forums in specialised areas like Coin collecting where the average age is 60+ run the risk of morphing into an Elitist type club that will wither & die as what has happened to the previous Coin Forums that tried to get started in Oz in the early 2000's.After saying that this one appears healthy and is slowly growing but the average number of daily posts puts in danger for long term survival IMO.
Fair enough comment Basil, but keep in mind that people have posted what they have posted because it is not a public forum.
As Basil stated, this forum is mostly "closed", in the sense that most of the content is not visible to non-members. Closed forums, by their nature, tend to gather a higher proportion of "lurker-members" than an open forum. Some of these people sign on, then see the content and realise this forum isn't really for them, or that "nobody else here collects what I collect", so they go away again. Others sign on just so they can see all the content and never had any intention of actually contributing.
As far as getting new members to participate more, the old saying is never truer than on an Internet forum: "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". This is a chat forum; the reason for our existence is to allow people to discuss about coins. And I hope this forum does emanate a laid-back, welcoming atmosphere that encourages everyone, even the newbies, to participate; that's certainly the intention and goal of the admins and mods. But some people are just secretive, or shy, or assume that everyone else is smarter and more knowledgeable about things so they have nothing to contribute. Or maybe, like Coiny Chris, they've had a bad prior experience with other internet forums and don't want to risk repeating the experience here.
We can't change people's personalities. All we can do is provide the venue, and let the membership use it to whatever extent they are comfortable with.
What,don't roll over that easy,just wait a minute while i get my alternate account log on details so i can agree with myself.hehe.
ha ha basil
if this forum in toto was public then I would cancel/or never use my membership
I hesitate to and/or rarely post in the public threads - I think it has only ever been accidental if I have
with respect to a welcoming committee - I think most mods & members do the welcome thing in the welcome thread
I notice that many new members are very internet/forum savy and they already have the lingo and post pics very quickly, so I think that they manage ok as is
new members seem to open up a bit and ask about stuff - I sort of think that getting new members to tell a lot about themselves could be a bit intimidating & not really necessary
perhaps having the welcome thread more easily visible might be what Chris's suggestion is about?
Quote from: 'robbiegal' pid='65905' dateline='1422172109'perhaps having the welcome thread more easily visible might be what Chris's suggestion is about?
I have seen quite a few forums with a "welcome to new members" section right up the top. Would it be better if I did that here too?
Quote from: 'markn' pid='65906' dateline='1422175468'Quote from: 'robbiegal' pid='65905' dateline='1422172109'perhaps having the welcome thread more easily visible might be what Chris's suggestion is about?
I have seen quite a few forums with a "welcome to new members" section right up the top. Would it be better if I did that here too?
Yes Mark, I think that make sense ...
Hello,
I think that would be good, we dont want to scare people off by asking too many questions either. There may be some that joined, and are a bit shy to Post anything. Unlike most Forums, you cant see much before you join. This Forum like others needs more people to join, as other leave or lose interest. If it stops growing, it will wither and die. Maybe some new members who havnt made a Post could tell us why ? The official easily found welcome thread would be a great start IMO. The screen name chosen is also a good ice-breaker. ( why ) My name is Chris, and this is a Coin forum, Coiny sounds a little like Corny. A bit of a pun that I liked. Same as my Sig.
Sometimes I send new members a "Welcome to TACF" message but it depends on how much other stuff is happening in my life at the time.
Too much tennis just now and for the next week, so should be able to get things back to 'normal' in early Feb.
I don't usually post a Welcome to them in the forum until they have actually posted somewhere in the forum.
When you see someone's ID following 'Please welcome our newest member', that doesn't necessarily mean that person has been approved for membership, just that they have applied for membership.
Hello,
How about this as a suggestion, the Coin giveaway for any new member of less than 12 months with more than 100 Posts ? If they send a Stamped envelope they get 10 misc free Coins ? Rubbish Posts not accepted, many tech Forums have a rule like this to stop people joining for info only. No Cost to the member giving away Coins. Something for nothing will make a new member quickly feel part of the Forum, and hopefully stay an active member. I myself am making more Posts to keep some discussion going about things. The most frequent regular Poster is away, so things have slowed a bit.
Personally, I'd rather people just post because they want to ..... rather than to 'get' something. It sounds a bit steak knifey to me. Plus I'd hate to be the person who had to re-read 100 posts to 'judge' their worthiness.
Really, I don't think the forum is in any danger of extinction.
Quote from: 'Unicorn' pid='66107' dateline='1422397548'Personally, I'd rather people just post because they want to ..... rather than to 'get' something. It sounds a bit steak knifey to me. Plus I'd hate to be the person who had to re-read 100 posts to 'judge' their worthiness.
Really, I don't think the forum is in any danger of extinction.
:agreed:
This is a coin site and has nothing to do with "Demtel" :angel:
If the only reason to sign up is to get some Free stuff, then you will be sadly disappointed.
If the only reason to sign up is to engage with other collectors and share information and ideas, Then take your boots off and sit a spell and enjoy the company of other like minded souls :yahoo:
Quote from: 'Unicorn' pid='66107' dateline='1422397548'Personally, I'd rather people just post because they want to ..... rather than to 'get' something. It sounds a bit steak knifey to me. Plus I'd hate to be the person who had to re-read 100 posts to 'judge' their worthiness. Really, I don't think the forum is in any danger of extinction.
:agreed:
Give-aways based on post count only encourages garbage posts from any rat-bag element that exists. Not the direction we would like to take.
Hello,
What I obviously didn't make clear, was as someone wanted to give away Coins, give them to new members of less than 12 months with more than 100 Posts. ( already ) A one off thing. If they send the envelope, no cost to the person giving them away. So, with more than 100 Posts, to me a member is trying to fit in, and being new may appreciate some free Coins. I am aware that if it applies to all new members there will be some rubbish Posts. Not what I am suggesting. Depending on how many are / were available first in gets them. 10 each would be a reasonable number. I am well aware that free stuff can attract the wrong type, this is my thoughts on helping New members rather than attracting the wrong sort.