Saying 'Welcome' to new members

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JimB

JimB

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Joined
Mar 18, 2008
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4,688
Location
West Henrietta, NY, USA.
I joined IAP in 2008. It was the first time I joined an online community. When I introduced myself to the group I received about 25 'welcome to the group' posts to my introduction. It felt really good to have all those people welcome me to the group.

Now, even though we have many more members, new members only receive about half as many 'Welcome' posts as I did. I wonder if we do enough to make new folks feel part of the community. Can we get more people to say 'Welcome' to new members in their introduction thread? Will it make them feel more like part of the group and encourage them to participate? Will it encourage more lurkers to join and introduce themselves?

I don't have answers. I have simply made an observation and have asked a few questions. I hope you will say 'Welcome to the group' to someone.
 
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Hello Jim. My feelings or thoughts on this are twofold. I am like you when I first joined here I was welcomed but then again there were a lot fewer members here. I did not join right away. I followed the forum for awhile before joining. This site was a shell of what it is today. The information and knowledge available today on this site is mind boggling. It did come with a cost though. It came from the hard work of many people and the leader being Jeff. But the members did and still do carry the success of this site on their shoulders.

The increase in new members to me is staggering in a hobby that I thought was petering out. One that I thought had seen its best days come and go. I seem to be wrong which is a good thing. But with that said I believe for this hobby it is the new kids on the block who need to push it to a new level. As with all hobbies they reach a level of mediocrity. That is they are just that a hobby. But new things can come along within that hobby and propel it to new heights. That is what I would like to see happen and it has to some extent evolve over the years. But there is so much more. This is where the newbies come in. Hopefully they bring with them fresh ideas.

Now I know I am rambling and have not touched your point but while yes it is great to sit here and type welcome to every member that signs up but what does it really mean. I see so many people come here and introduce them selves and then they are gone never to be heard from again. That gets discouraging too. A movement was made to address the new comers by adding a committee and having a contest to go along with the addition of them coming on board. I know of no other forum that does that.

To me if you want to feel welcomed then join in and become part of this great site. There is no one here any more that is intimidating to prevent you from joining in. Joining the conversations is the best way for us all to get to know the new members. I believe also that everyone should fill in the signature line with their first name. I think this should be a requirement. Makes for a more family style environment.
 
Jim,

I agree with you. The staggering number of new ones makes it hard to keep up with. But they need to be welcomed.

I "officially retired" from my career work overseas in early 2012, but found myself getting requests to be more involved in the same basic work here as what I did over there. This past spring, I was able to pass off a huge "time consuming" part of my work (that was not supposed to be MY responsibility) to someone else. Currently, I am just trying to find some wiggle room, time wise, to catch up on woodworking/building projects that I promised 4 years ago. That time consuming unproductive work release - is also why I was able to get back to IAP a few weeks ago.

And for IAP - my personal preference is "helping/troubleshooting" individual needs/problems in the beginning department, so that is where I enjoy spending most of my time here currently. Still, welcoming new members is and should be a priority. I personally will make the effort to get back to "welcoming".
 
Just some random numbers:
147 new members last month
207 posts among them
37 actually posted something
43 of those have logged on this month

It was staggering how many have not logged in after a week or two of joining (let alone 2 days later).

I think what happens is many of us (including myself) get busy, so our IAP time is less. So I rarely go see who the "new" members are. When only 25% post something and a lot of those are 1 or 2 posts, is just something also.

I feel most anyone that participates in the forum is welcomed, but "Hi I am Ed from Suffolk, VA" is not going to make you an active member, or feel welcome.

There is no "easy answer"
 
I was happy to see this thread. I feel very strongly that we need to genuinely welcome all new members and encourage them to participate in our forums and activities.

Besides running the new member contests, I also try to send a personal welcome message to all new members (which Jeff also does).

I could use the help of a few other members to keep up with these things, provide support to our new members (sometimes new members are hesitant to post in forums, and in those cases I try to provide private help & encourage them to post openly) and help find ways to make IAP even more appealing to our new members.

Please send me a pm if you would be interested in assisting on our New Member Advocacy committee.

Thanks
Edgar
 
I agree with the comments that have been made. We do need the new members to jump in more and not just introduce themselves and then disappear. Obviously just more 'welcome' posts will not suddenly change that but it can't hurt and it may just get a few more to be active on here.

John - I don't think you were rambling. A little history lesson and your comments about why we need the new members are all good points.
 
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