Yep, I'm here to nag you again! :twisted: (you love it really, right?)

Anyway, as most of you are aware we're really stepping up our efforts to gain new users now, and it's paying off very nicely too! For example, yesterday 645 new accounts were made. Before Inso started his various ad campaigns we'd average at around 30 new people per day...

This is fantastic for us but it does mean that the Fresh Meat forum is hopping! We really appreciate the users who help us to meet and greet people in there, it's a huge amount of assistance to us, but...(were you waiting for the but?) some of you guys can be a tiny bit off-putting with how you respond to the new members.

So this is a plea from us, to you, for people to not fill their "welcoming" post with links and exhortations to read rules and guides. Because this isn't actually very welcoming at all. :sweat:

Let me see if I can find a decent analogy...if you guys remember what I said before about coming to Mene being like going to a foreign country for the first time? So imagine you step off the boat in a new land and the first person who talks to you shoves a load of laws in your face before you've even caught your breath. They might be smiling and saying Hi too, but it's still a bit intimidating for a new user to be faced with that.

To extend the analogy; if you're going to greet new users you need to look upon yourself almost as an ambassador for Menewsha (greeting is a responsible task to give yourself!). People will form impressions about the entire user base solely on how you speak to them so you need to be friendly and not scary. ><

• Chat with people
• Ask them the kind of stuff you'd ask someone that you'd just met in real life.
• Get to know them.

But please don't try to force-feed them with the rules and guides because that can upset and offend a lot of people and drive them away.

So to summarise!

If you're going to greet new users in Fresh Meat, please don't post links at them unless they have asked for help.

If we see people persisting in posting impersonal, cookie cutter messages such as:

Hi _______ Welcome to Menewsha!

Be sure to read this [link] and this [link]

We may be forced to give you a spam infraction, and we REALLY don't want to have to do that!

Brief messages are fine and awesome, just try and be more personal because it's that that makes people feel welcome :yes: As does explaining something to someone instead of just linking them to another thread then moving on.

It's all about people skills, so give yours a polish and let's make these new guys feel really welcome! :D

.

It's fine if they ask for help :yes: Just don't post them before that when someone's just saying Hi or whatever. :)

yay! first to post? o.o well i think its great you think about all the people who get laws shoved up their nose xD

im sorry i really have nothing of substance to post just wanted to say.... i want that brownie.....yummmmmm

Sure thing, Jelly! I'll try to spend a little more time over there myself. :)

I don't think that I'm out of line in feeling that this is addressed at me over a certain incident. I've always appreciated the efforts of the mod team, but I think this has gotten blown out of proportion. And frankly, it's more than a little hurtful that no one wants to step forward directly. An entire news post is so passive aggressive.

As far as the greeting goes, I like to be more helpful than just saying hi. I do have a standard reply, one which I type out and never copy and past (except for the links) and try to make personal to each user if I can. I think you'll find that for the most part, the majority of my replies differ from each other. I hate to think that the bee in one person's bonnet would ruin something as simple as talking to new people and giving them some friendly advice. I've always enjoyed the fact that all the new people on Menewsha get a greeting, but if the efforts aren't appreciated, I'll gladly confine my conversations to other places.

For-chan, this has come from the top man who's been observing Fresh Meat greeting for a while and has noticed quite a number of people just posting links instead of engaging new people in conversation. It's certainly not aimed at any one person :)

If that's your stance, that's fine. The hint is taken.

is a great thing you said this,
cause that's how i was greeted on an avatar community
and when i saw about 3 greeting posts telling me to read the rules carefully,
and after that to read them 2 times more,
i was like o.O.. uhh...
after i replied something like 'okay i'll read the rules',
someone else said 'did you read them already? i'm sure you haven't read all of it, it was too quick, be sure to go to that page again'
and of course i stopped entering there, it was more than creepy
i can't tell you the name of it, cause i only stayed there one day (more like 3 hours),
but i can say that it was a very small community and it was newly, so i guess they sorta' don't have an idea on how to treat users

Sure thing!

That yellow bar thing at the top redirected me to the forums page. o-o

Originally Posted by x-cutie-x-pie-x

That yellow bar thing at the top redirected me to the forums page. o-o

Sameeee.

On topic, personally I don't go into the Fresh Meat forums much, which is terrible as I run a charity for Newbies xD
Maybe I should. Hmm.

Oh boy, thank you so much for the Announcement.
Egg on my face. .___.

Link fixed!
xD
Or at least my yellow bar was fixed.

Thank you for the Nagging Jelly!!
;D
Will do. Though I don't really go in there all the time....

Not now it doesn't, I fixed! :yes:

I like the idea. Im new here and all I got was welcomes and It made me like the site more. Its a great idea and keep it up XD

I have a feeling ima love this site.

Thank you for fixing the link ^____^

I don't go fresh meat forum much xP but still~

I don't usually post there, but will do my best not to lecture.

Same here, I haven't gone in there much recently, but I try not to lecture...well unless I'm on the advice forum and I'm only trying to give my honest opinion as I'm assuming that's what people post in there for anyways.

Hope that as the forum grows, we're able to keep the wonderful atmosphere going. You can feel the love. :heart:

Jelly I don't think you could nag even if you wanted to ^.^ . I'm pretty sure I can swing around Freshmeat a tad more often than I already do, see if I can help out a little.

I usually only post in there when I see noone has replied to one or more users for quite a while and I feel bad for them. I don't think I nagg at them, I just welcome them really. I'll try and make it more personal when I do, though most of the threads just say 'hi i'm new'.

Wow, that is a lot of new users.

It IS a lot of new users! lol

Hey, I can nag, I'm a woman after all :lol:

I know how annoying that can be.. i got the same thing when i was a newbie and i refuse to do the same to others (i usually just say...

Hello ______ welcome to menewsha!! If you have any questions at all feel free to ask and if i cant answer your question I will direct you to a moderator who can! Hope you have lots of fun and make tons of friends! <3

so much more friendly than 'read the rules you newb')

[EDIT]

i usually (in the newbie closet) find a newbie or see a newbie and greet them via message on their profile..
..Jelly you're not nagging! You're being a good moderator!! :XD

I don't get into the Fresh Meat forum that often... in fact I think I've only posted there once. Which is a shame because I know it feels nice to be welcomed into a community, even if the messages are kind of short (and sometimes come with a 'read the rules'). ^^;

Mmmm... 645 new newblets to nibble on.... Erm... I mean say "hello" to.... >.> <.< .... *walks away*