I want to take a minute to say I'm extremely happy to have been selected to be the Moderator of this Forum. This was my 1st choice when I sent my list to John. I consider this to be the most important Forum there is because this is the place where we can make new members either feel right at home or make them feel as if they don't belong. I know when I joined I had about twenty members welcome me aboard and this was a nice feeling. Think back when you joined how it felt to be welcomed. With the last fifteen new members joining since July 2nd, we have only managed to average 6 welcomes to each member. That's a far cry from the way it used to be. We should all be welcoming these new members onboard even if we do not hear a response from them immediately. If we want to keep these Forums alive and kicking we older members must lead the way and lay out the "Red Carpet" as we had it layed out to us when we joined. It only takes 2 minutes to post a welcome and whether you visit the Forums once a week, twice a week, once a day or three times a day look for the new members and see if there is a post welcoming them. If there is a post then add a welcome and if there isn't already a post, create one. It will only add a couple of minutes to your busy schedule.

I challenge each and every one of the existing members to take the time to welcome these new members and let's get our average number of greetings up from 6 to 15-20 per member.

Great idea, Rich. And here's a special welcome to an 'old-timer' on these forums -- yourself. Thanks for asking for this Forum and thanks for agreeing to moderate.

John

Rich you are right.
I nevered looked at it like that.
I will start welcoming the newbies also.

DITTO here!!

I guess we just sometimes seem to forget and overlook things. I too remember how warming it can be to be welcomed by so many. And I too used to add a line or two to new welcoming post. But alas, I haven't bothered to do so in a long time. Now is the time for me to correct that!

Thanks Rich for the awakening.

Rich,

I've noticed that more folks are beginning to welcome the NEWBIES. That's great -- your message must have helped.

Bob

It's gotten a lot better Bob. It seems like the average welcome posts is around 10 now, but, we could do a lot better. I know when I log on the first thing I do is see if we have a new member. I noticed several of the other members do the same thing and I appreciate that and I know the new members that they are welcoming also appreciate it whether they acknowledge it or not. I also appreciate the dedication of the members that are posting a welcome and I want to THANK YOU for taking the time. I just wish that the rest of the forum members that visit each day(seem to average about 30-40 would also take the time to welcome these new members. As I said at the beginning when I posted this it could mean the difference between us being the most active lighthouse site on the web or the most stuckup site on the web. This is why some stores, restarants, drive-ins and churches grow and why others just survive. Friendliness is the key factor when I first try something or someplace new and I'm sure this is true of others. What good does it do to have the best clothes, food or sermons and no one is there to share it with you. Just a few words for thought and hopefully we can get to averaging 15-20 welcomes a new member.