We're slipping again and we should be ashamed of ourselves. We are down to an average of 6.2 welcomes per new member since the middle of December. These 6.2 welcomes are also mostly coming from the same dedicated group(you know who you are) of existing Forum members. To those of you that are welcoming new members, I want to THANK YOU! For those of you that leave this duty to someone else I want to say SHAME ON YOU!

I'm addressing this post to the group that does not feel it's important to welcome these new members(you also know who you are). I've observed that if it is your friend, a friend of someone else or someone "in the know" you are johhny-on-the-spot to post a welcome. Why not take that time to welcome someone you don't know? We all want to feel welcome and if we are as friendly as we make out to be then prove it by posting to the new members.

We have over 1500 members and are averaging 6.2 welcomes. We also average between 100 and 150 Forum members logged on or have visited this website during any given period. Take the time to look and see who is new and post a 1 minute welcome. How can the new members feel welcome and learn what to do if we don't take the action to show them. I've issued this challenge when I first took over this Forum and we immediately jumped to a average of 16 welcome posts. That was a vast improvement over what we had been averaging but we are now back sliding.


While, it would be nice if the new members we are welcoming would all become active posters, the truth of the matter is that probably only 1 in 30 will become active. The rest may post only once or twice and the some may not post at all. But remember, we must treat all new members as if they are part of this friendly lighthouse familly, no matter what their reason was for joining or how many times they will post. If we are to keep these Forums active and alive with new ideas we must make a concentrated effort to make these new members feel welcome.

The dedicated 6.2 are always there to welcome new members, so this is dedicated to the rest of you. Take the time to come out of you favorite Forums(s) and welcome these new members so they can feel as if they are part of the group.

I just posted a welcome to every welcome thread with the last post from 1/7-now. And now, I'm going to try to welcome every new member we get here.

Nobody seems to pay attention to the new members. Otherwise, I think we would have had a bit more fanfare for our 1500th member. We have to start paying attention to them, though - these are the future of the CF. We need to make each and every one of them welcome. If a welcome thread makes just one new member active, then I consider the whole thing worth it.

If you look at a list of members from about when I joined (late 2002) to now, I think you'd be surprised how few of them are familiar names that we see on new posts every day or week. I am one of very few "recent" active members. We need to get that count higher. If we all post welcomes, who knows what could happen!

I am going to try my hardest to welcome our new members. I may slip sometimes, but I am going to make that my New Years Resolution (yeah, yeah, yeah, it's 16 January, but who cares.). And this one is going to last past February, I hope.

C'mon guys...I just welcomed about 10 new members with a simple message copied, pasted, name changed, and posted in a few minutes. It doesn't take long, but it has a real effect on any new Wackos that come along.

I quit welcoming all new members because it seemed a waste of time being that after many welcoming posts NONE of them ever posted. Not even to ecnolage all the welcomes sent to them. It makes one think that most new members only look in on us once and never even read our welcomes. And if they don't read them, why post them?

Sorry but this is how I feel.

While it may be discouraging to welcome new members and not get a response, there is no difference having your child say thank you for something and not get a "your welcome". We still want our children to acknowledge the gift by saying "thank you". We must show the new members our appreciation for joining even though they choose not to acknowledge the welcome. It's a matter of manners on our part.

I feel it's important to post a short welcome to a new member. Some people feel it's not important.

Sometimes we will get a response in the form of a posted thank you from a new member. Other times you never hear from them again.

Some new people register just because they want to sell a few HL's or maybe buy one or two. Others register because it's free.

If posts at the welcome thread are considered frivolous, then why do we have a welcome thread?

I will continue to post a welcome for every screen name I see posted at the welcome thread.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes:

I agree that we should continue the Welcome Starts Here thread. I feel that the forum is like a home for those of us who frequent the forums on a daily basis or just once in a while. That's for us to choose.

Having said that I believe that it is a great idea to welcome someone to the forums (our home away from home). "Glad you could register, hope you like our little place, and so on." After that, it's up to them whether or not they wish to come back and visit again, make it their home or just disappear. That little gesture that we make can make the difference between new members coming in or not. I will continue to post a welcome. I just think its the right thing to do.

Bert

I,m torn! I try to post a welcome as often as possible but it does seem to be a waste of time when you never see a post from the "newbie" except when they may be trying to sell an HL.
I also believe that it is the right thing to do and will continue to welcome. But, it is discouraging!! :rolleyes:
Rick

I agree with Shortcake and Rick. I've mentioned this before. When I joined 3 years ago, new members posted something about themselves. THEN everyone welcomed them. I lurked a while before I actually joined and saw that was what was done. It was interesting reading a bit about the new members. Then suddenly some existing members starting welcoming members before they posted something.

Does anyone recall that's what was done then?

Anyway, I mentioned this when providing feedback about this website. But I'll say it again. I'd rather existing members stopped welcoming new members until they post something. Rich can send e-mail to new members to welcome them and then put a link to the Welcome Forum and encourage them to post something about themselves.

Just my opinion. You don't have to agree. But I'll be back if I notice new members posting on a regular basis.

If anyone from Minnesota is lurking out there, please sign up!

Tammy

It is very nice that we have many new forum members joining daily. I too find it a waste of time however, doing a welcome to someone that has not posted at least one post. I agree with Tammy that we should go back to only posting a welcome to new members after their fist post. Rich, you are doing a great job here trying to keep the interest up. Let's try to make your job a little bit easier and also to get more involvement. I for one will be glad to post a welcome if we decide to go back to doing it after their first post.

I for one truly believe in welcoming new members first without waiting for them to get over their shyness, reserve or whatever the buzz word is today. In church when you have visitors you walk up to them and greet them. This is what draws visitors to join your church. You make them feel welcome and they get involved. We have the same theory here only lately most of the new members have failed to post. We can't make them post and I for one don't want to be the reason they are not posting. I want them to feel welcome even though they may choose not to post. I have never felt that a handshake(or in this case a Welcome) is a waste of my time. Quite the contrary to some opinions, and each should have their opinions and hold to them. I know how it feels to travel over the country and to report to new duty stations. A warm welcome was a great thing to receive when your the new kid on the block or the new guy on the ship. I have always felt a warm greeting is the next best thing to a plate of barbecue ribs and I will continue to extend the greetings until the day my computer will not boot up anymore. My thoughts on the subject and thankfully others appear to feel the same way I do.

I think it is good for Rich to start a post welcoming the new member, But I believe it would be a good idea for Rich or somebody to email the new member. Tell them a brief introduction about ourselves. Let them know that they are being welcome on this forum at the ”WWW.el.come Start Here” Ask them if they would like to say HI and OR tell a little about themselves.

I had a first time member email me for help locating a certain L.E. for a present. The lighthouse she wanted was on back order and wouldn’t come in time for Christmas. I showed her the ropes on finding a lighthouse on the secondary market and told her to post on this forum for one. A Forum member gave her his and just asked her to send him the replacement when she received it.

She emailed me back telling me that she bumped into this web site and never dreamed that she would have gotten help for her problem so quick. At that time Rich had all ready started the welcome mat for her. I Told her that she was already being welcomed on the forum and that she could jump in and say Hi. She did and had several conversation in the welcome forum.

This is only an example of several.

With all this in mind I don’t think the welcoming should end. I think that this is just the beginning and welcoming emails should be sent out.
Also when members are having dealings with new members, like buying or selling lighthouses, it would be nice if the old members would tell the new members about the welcome forum and ask them to say hi.

I think Rich is doing a good job and I feel that we can all help.

I think Daniel may have hit the nail on the head. I get notified each time a new member joins. I will email the new member and let them know that we are welcoming them on the Forums and it would be appreciated if they could acknowledge this if they desire. We should continue to welcome these members on the forums and I will start the emails with the next new member. Problem hopefully solved or at the least greatly improved.

The email sounds like a GREAT solution to me!

It could persuade onlookers to come back and look again. And to post a little about their self and their interest in Harbour Lights or Lighthouses in general.

What I was complaining about. Was not about welcoming new members. I do truly feel that we need to welcome new members. And the more welcomes the better. It lets people know that we truly want them as our friends and Lighthouse buddies. And we do!

My complaint was only that we post and post and post and have no response. That's telling me that many of these new members only look in one time and never come back to look again, thereby never reading our welcomes to them. And that is a waste of time. :rolleyes:

IMHO

Rich, thank you for takeing on the extra job of emailing!

I tried an email to one of the new members so we will see if the email is acknowledged by them posting. It will be interesting to watch.

I've been posting to every new member since Rich started this thread. I'm amazed at how easy it is! Plus, if you're trying to reach Wacko or Super Wacko status, it's a quick, easy, and friendly way to get in the needed posts!

Very true Greg about the extra posts. I have been emailing all the new members but so far no results. Hopefully it will eventually payoff. Time will tell.

Rich,

Thanks for taking the time to email the new members. Are any of these new members posting anywhere? I don't know why people would bother to sign up (other than selling their collection) if they aren't going to post.

Since I'm going on a cruise, I just signed up for two cruise forums. (I don't know if they have a welcome.) I was trying to find someone to charter a boat or plane with me to see Eldred Rock Lighthouse.

Anyway, I also signed up for a couple of birding forums. I got an automated welcome with a link to a Say Hello forum, and I got a private message encouraging me to post a hello. Up until now, this is the only forum I've been a member of. So, it's been interesting to see what others do.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to send email to the new members.