a Set of Rules on what to write when greeting new forum members?

[Roy]

Any chance of a set of rules - pinned in place at the top of this forum section - asking that all members refrain from silliness and the hijacking of greetings topics. It could be annoying/intimidating/rude to the new forum member and leave them not wanting to continue visiting this forum - which could impact on Pendraken Miniatures' good name?

Just a thought.

I don't mean to cause argument.

But thought it was worthy of mentioning.

A simple, 'Hello and welcome to the Forum. What is it that you play/collect/paint?', or similar, being sufficient to engage with the new member and show a welcoming attitude.

Page upon page of topic derailment, with no involvement by the new member, isn't really the purpose of the 'welcome to the forum' section of the Forum, surely?

Obviously this is open for discussion and further suggestion, if required.

Roy

[Leman]

Hi.

[Ithoriel]

My standard runs along the lines of:

"Hi <insert name>, welcome to the forum.

The people here are warm, welcoming, wise, well-read, willing to help and downright weird in about equal measure.

In time you will become accustomed to the personal hobby horses and in-jokes.

There are knowledgeable people here more than willing to provide advice and information on collecting, painting, history, etc.

We like photos of the figures you paint, however good or bad you believe them to be. You will often find people believe them to be better than you imagine!

The natives here are strange but friendly "

[Leman]

I suppose I could go with a Karl Pilkington style of greeting, along the lines of - unh.

[d_Guy]

It is a hard thing to figure.

I am a realitively new forum member and after joining I studied the forum culture for a while.
I made an introductory post with the expectation of being warmly received (I was) and subjected to a bit of silliness (again true).
I loved it!

But that said I totally agree that for some, many, most it might be off-putting. I would not want to lose a single person who might otherwise bring new insights, new sets of skill and knowledge or maybe even questions that no one has thought of yet.

Usually folks here can tell when someone has a question they need help with or desire to have an actual discussion on some arcane point. In these cases folks generally keep their exuberant natures in check. (I confess to some times failing in this regard  )

Perhaps Ithoriel's post (above) could be made a sticky post somewhere about what to expect here.

Thanks for bringing this up for discussion, Roy.

[mollinary]

Good point, Roy. We want to encourage people to  fun, not drive them away.

Mollinary

[Subedai]

It is a good idea, but I think that most wargamers -even the newcomers, are, by the very nature of the hobby, thick-skinned individuals when it comes to humour/sarcasm/madness etc. A sticky thread thing might work but how many people can hold their hands up and honestly say yes I read that before I started looking at what was being posted? We're blokes, we don't read any kind of instructions until we've exhausted all other ways first.

Plus the fact, most of the welcomes om here are pretty all-encompassing as well as having the equivalent of a government health warning.

And another plus -personal this time- I find the distraction, mental state questioning, tangential posting and other related stuff quite refreshing as well as humorous -well, at least chuckle-worthy.   

MickS

[fred.]

I do agree with Roy's point.

I think when new people show up to the forum, its best to stay on topic on their intro post. Any new forum can take a while to get into, and it can be a bit confusing and intimidating, especially if your initial bravery to post a 'hello', is met by a bunch of random nonsense (even it is well intentioned and meant to be fun, funny can be very hard to interpret over the internet).

And yes I'm sure that wargamers have had the mick taken plenty - and will settle into the general level of banter and nonsense - but that is something that comes with time. Not on minute 1 of day 1.

All forums have a much higher proportion of readers / lurkers compared to actual posters. So anything that makes it easier for people to make their first post is a good thing.

[Westmarcher]

Although personally, I liked the banter and was made to feel very welcome when I introduced myself to the forum, I can see where you are coming from, Roy, and recognise that we humans are all different with our own personalities, etc. I often wonder what has happened to many of the wargamers / collectors who had the courtesy (courage?) to introduce themselves but have since "disappeared" and no longer contribute to the forum.  How about one, and one only, welcoming reply from, say, one of us, NOT FSN  , (e.g., Leon or one of the Moderators), on behalf of the rest of us along the lines of Ithoriel's suggestions?  

[Moggy1000]

Why do inset the feeling this is towards how my greetings turned out... I'm not offended by anything that was said, it won't turn me away from the forums and it was rather funny... If you are easily offended maybe the interenet isn't the safe space you're looking for... Famous comedian once said... Humour doesn't travel well... What I find funny here in England may not be funny to somebody in the middle of Australia...

Now if it got to a point where "everything" was censored and controlled I would walk away from the forums...

[SV52]

Any chance of a set of rules - pinned in place at the top of this forum section - asking that all members refrain from silliness and the hijacking of greetings topics. It could be annoying/intimidating/rude to the new forum member and leave them not wanting to continue visiting this forum - which could impact on Pendraken Miniatures' good name?

Just a thought.

I don't mean to cause argument.

But thought it was worthy of mentioning.

A simple, 'Hello and welcome to the Forum. What is it that you play/collect/paint?', or similar, being sufficient to engage with the new member and show a welcoming attitude.

Page upon page of topic derailment, with no involvement by the new member, isn't really the purpose of the 'welcome to the forum' section of the Forum, surely?

Obviously this is open for discussion and further suggestion, if required.

Roy

Agree, becomes tiresome reading through the dross to get the real welcomes.  Must be kind of off-putting for the OP when they more or less get ignored in favour of banter between those already in the club. 

[SV52]

Here's one:

[Ithoriel]

Maybe it's just me (lots of things are ) but entry after entry of "Hello and welcome to the Forum. What is it that you play/collect/paint?" type responses would weird me out just as much, or even more so, than the random banter that these threads often turn to. Am I joining the Pendraken Forum or the Stepford Wives Club?

Some middle ground or perhaps a stickied post of the "Here Be Dragons!" or "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here!" variety might be a good idea nonetheless.

[d_Guy]

I believe this to be a thoughtful and useful thread, for it occurs that an unexamined forum is not worth formatting.

[Albie Bach]

...
Page upon page of topic derailment, with no involvement by the new member, isn't really the purpose of the 'welcome to the forum' section of the Forum, surely?
...
Roy

This is the key point for me.
Cheers,
Colin