I think everyone has been there... you join a new forum and while you are interested, you just don't know where to begin, where to post, how to get in to the conversation in the cbox... etc. I am trying to find a way to help members of the resource site I am going open feel less overwhelmed by being new and the large amount of forums/categories on the site...


I want to eventually add a buddy system, which is the usual fix for helping newbies along, but that can't really work well right at the opening of the forum. Does anyone have any suggestion?

Having an introductions forum and trying to reply to all of your members who post there might help. I know I usually feel more welcome/more a part of the site if people are going out of their way to be friendly, and if I have some similar interests (like in a book, movie, person, etc.) as other people on the board, it helps to form connections. As for roleplaying, you could write up a newbie guide of sorts, giving a basic overview of the site, reminding people to post in sign ups after they're accepted, and pointing out some of the main areas they'd be rping in.

Okay, I do have an introductions forum available as well as quite a few ther chat-based forums. This isn't going to be a roleplaying site, however, it's just resources and links to rpgs.

Is there anything else I can do besides just being friendly?

I send new members a PM when they join that welcomes them to the site and points them in the direction of important information. That's one more thing you could do, along with the other suggestions here. Making sure that your site is well-organized, and that every important link is never farther than one or two clicks away, is important as well.

I like the idea of a welcoming PM (not an automated one, though).

Thanks!

Well, I personally love it when someone makes the effort to talk to me. Just to say 'hi' in the c-box or ask 'how are you today?' (even if it's a sort of general question for everyone who's online).

You need to give people the opportunity to kind of 'slip into the community' and find their own place. Give them a chance to join a discussion and I think that friendly staff members are key people in helping a new person join a conversation. Just ask 'Name, what do you think about this?' when there's an interesting discussion going on. Or if ask them how they like the site, or what's the last good song they heard or...just something little like that.

Okay, thank you guys for posting. It seems like the common belief is that it's just best to be an extra-friendly admin and let people ease into the community on their own... and maybe give them a friendly push into the conversations going on.

I think it's more than just a friendly push. I think you need to set your forum so it isn't overwhelming. If your forum is going to overwhelm people, then personally, I think there is something wrong with the forum, not the members joining it.

On RPGs, usually when a character is accepted, the Admins will give you links to things you can get started on. Same thing with yours. If you're going to do a private PM, give them links. Just rules and things won't do. If you are a resource forum, I assume you might have portofolios. Maybe you can give them links to the threads where you explain how to set one up.

One thing I would like to add is that resource forums usually are big, even if they aren't very active. You need to keep in mind that there may be a time that there are too many people to send them all PMs. That won't overwhelm your members, it will overwhelm you. Maybe do it in the beginning, but I think you might end up having to go with a welcome topic in the forum where members introduce yourself. You can put the links up in that thread, too, and you probably can put more down in that than a PM. From personal experience, members usually are driven away from long PMs from the Admins.

One last thing: Have conversations going in the cbox. I really detest cboxes where the members don't actually talk to each other, but instead just stare at the online list, hoping that something interesting might pop up.

Good luck with your forum, and I hope to see it soon!

Well, I'm trying my best to keep it from being overwhelming, but there are still a lot of forums, so...


Anyways, thank you. I'll be sure to keep the PMs short and when/if the forum does get too big for me, I can assign a welcoming staff or something...

Just for a different point of view:

I hate c-boxes. I usually ignore them. So if I was on your site, I wouldn't notice you saying hi.

I would prefer an automated PM over a forced introductions thread any day. I hate that whole "introduce yourself to the community" thing. It makes me feel like there's "the community" and then there's me. At least with a PM I'm not obliged to answer, but it usually includes a list of who to contact if I need to.

Encourage activity in OOC forums.

On a couple of sites I've been on they've had this "Buddy System" for members where newbies get assigned to staff members so role players get help from a person they know they can get an answer from. This is good for more active boards when sending Welcome PMs to every new player gets too overwhelming.

Wow, you guys all have great suggestions. I'm definitley going to have to build a staff asap from the looks of it. That way both sides don't feel overwhelmed.


thank you again!