Is It Time to Create a Welcome Thread for New Forum Members?

[DREAMWALKER]

Greetings!

I may be completely wrong with this one, but from all the forums I have been on, there is a 'Welcome New Members' onboard kind of thread..

I didn't see one here. If it doesn't exist, perhaps a good time to make one now?

Mods and Admins, please accept my humble greetings. Took me a while to find this one, but better late than never I guess.

And to the rest of the members - Howdy! Please don't hesitate to ask if you need my help. Just PM me. I am a writer by profession, but will do my best to help you out in anything you think I am worthy of.

Have a great day! Cheers!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Welcome DREAMWALKER! Thanks for the suggestion. We will take it under consideration :)

 

[DREAMWALKER]

Oh awesome! Thanks so much!

 

[Rocket50]

Welcome to the forum!

Most people just post Introductions in the General Discussion forum.

 

[DREAMWALKER]

Thanks Rocket50! I think I did that too. But a proper platform would help newbies like me.. :)

 

[DataGG]

I think creating a "Welcome to the forums - Introduce yourself here" thread, as OP suggested, is a great idea. To me, it'll make PF seem more welcoming, which it could be, if you ask me.

 

[DREAMWALKER]

I think creating a "Welcome to the forums - Introduce yourself here" thread, as OP suggested, is a great idea. To me, it'll make PF seem more welcoming, which it could be, if you ask me.

Thank you DataGG. :)

 

[jtbell]

Most people just post Introductions in the General Discussion forum.

Thanks Rocket50! I think I did that too.

Your posting history (click on your name at the left of one of your posts and you'll see a link to it) doesn't show anything in General Discussion yet. So you might as well go over there and then we can welcome you properly.

 

[Borg]

So you might as well go over there and then we can welcome you properly.

BTW, a proper welcome requires a review your fish preferences.

 

[DataGG]

I think PF should do something to make people login/register. For example, right now, there are 70 registered users and 3.4k guests.. That's way too little registered for the amount of guests, I think..

 

[TumblingDice]

I think PF should do something to make people login/register. For example, right now, there are 70 registered users and 3.4k guests.. That's way too little registered for the amount of guests, I think..

I'm sure you have something in mind about why encouraging registrations would be an improvement, but you didn't mention why...

If it's $$$ support, I don't know if that's significant in the business model. Does registering without contributing a donation avoid the advertisements? I recall reading a post from Greg after I joined, indicating that anyone who registered (no donation req'd) would receive extra benefits just like the members who contribute. (?)

I can't imagine that registrations contribute to the lion's share of PF's viability. It's most likely the business genius that Greg's brought to the table. I would like to believe that the advertisements that those 3.4k unregistered viewers are seeing, pay a pittance per "impression", meaning the ad doesn't need to be clicked - just appear on the page. And, if so, those pennies add up...

 

[Rocket50]

In most forums, the amount of guests online is much more than the amount of registered users online.

 

[Drakkith]

In most forums, the amount of guests online is much more than the amount of registered users online.

Yes, and I find forums that hide content from non-registered guests or use other means to force people to register to be extremely annoying. I don't even bother going back to the forum if I can't see the content without registering and logging in.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Maybe @Evo has an opinion on starting a new member welcome thread in GD.

 

[DataGG]

I'm sure you have something in mind about why encouraging registrations would be an improvement, but you didn't mention why...

If it's $$$ support, I don't know if that's significant in the business model. Does registering without contributing a donation avoid the advertisements? I recall reading a post from Greg after I joined, indicating that anyone who registered (no donation req'd) would receive extra benefits just like the members who contribute. (?)

I can't imagine that registrations contribute to the lion's share of PF's viability. It's most likely the business genius that Greg's brought to the table. I would like to believe that the advertisements that those 3.4k unregistered viewers are seeing, pay a pittance per "impression", meaning the ad doesn't need to be clicked - just appear on the page. And, if so, those pennies add up...

I did not take into account the ad business at first. However, a forum is supposed to have people and the more the better. If you've more people logged in, you'll have more posts, which will attract more people, which you'll give you more ad revenue.

In most forums, the amount of guests online is much more than the amount of registered users online.

Yes I know that. But is that much more? (70 online to 3.5k guests?)

Yes, and I find forums that hide content from non-registered guests or use other means to force people to register to be extremely annoying. I don't even bother going back to the forum if I can't see the content without registering and logging in.

I agree with you.. I did not mean to imply that PF should hide content. I'm 100% against such sites. But perhaps there are some psychological tricks that one can employ, in order to make more people interested in logging/registering. Maybe adding a paragraph for unregistered users to see, explaining the advantages of registering..(?) I don't know.

 

[Drakkith]

I see no reason to change our current way of doing things. People who want to post will register and do so. People who don't will not. What will making people register do to change that? I'd rather not have people who only registered because the were "tricked" or "encouraged" instead of simply wanting to join on their own.