Ideas

[Tyranid5]

So I'm here just to lend a helping hand and maybe contribute when I can. I'm starting this topic so that as more people can see this we can figure out what to do.

So the purpose is to introduce new members to the site. So the most important thing (I'd say would be making sure that everyone (that deserves it) gets a welcome message. Probably with some useful information.

So what I think may be needed to start:
-A system for welcoming people
-And a general template for messages (not a copy-paste template, but one to elaborate off of).
-A basic introduction/overview of the site for newcomers.

Any other things that you guys think might be needed or does anybody have an idea for anything above?

[DRASTICC]

Maybe a "mentor" program so newbies can ask simple questions and build a relationship with others.

[Tyranid5]

Maybe later along the road.... or for those who request it. Preferably. I'm thinking that the person that leaves the messages would (ideally), be able to keep up with any questions that they have if they post them in that users profile or PM that user.

[Squarehard]

Is there a way to actually direct somebody new to make a post in the introduction page so they actually feel the love? I notice not many people who join actually get an official welcome. Possible to put a link to the introduction section in the confirmation email after they have signed up, or something to that effect maybe?

[Tyranid5]

Well we can send them a profile comment when they join. When you get a profile comment you also receive an email telling you that you have received a profile comment.

How do you know all the people that just joined? (advanced user technique)

filtering the user search: Browse Users

The only problem is you can't comment on somebody's profile until they confirm the account. So be careful of that.

The above is a list of users sorted by the most recently joined (time stamps are taken into account in the sorting but aren't shown in the search, meaning the results aren't just grouped by day and randomly shuffled around every time that it is loaded).

Ideally we would have a thread listing people that need comments either.

Method 1 (big list):

-User 1
-User2
-user3
-user4
-user5

And we'd have a group of people that each day we'd need people to send out.....~5-10 per day >_> depending on how big of a day it is. Just a simple message and then link them to some magical thread that hasn't been made.
The 2nd hard part about this method, would just be the fact that we would have to make sure the list is up to date.

2nd Method: Top person messaged

-soso messaged everyone from (the last) to User 11 (user 11 being the top person at that time)
-soso2 messaged everyone from User 11 to User 1 (current top)

This method would run similarly to the 1st one, but instead of making a list of EVERY user we would keep track through the most recent forum post. Users would say the 1st (being the bottom of the search used above, and the last person the person before them messaged) and then the last user (the top-most one). And then the next person would just message the next people who have filled in above who ever had been the last user messaged.
The one limitation to this (and also applies to method 1), is that users would need to claim BEFORE they start messaging. Otherwise we might end up with people duplicating or triplicating the work. And this gets even more tedious...... So I would say to claim like 5-15 at a time depending on how much time you plan on sitting down each time.

Thoughts, Opinions, These are just idle ideas/rants in a very quiet sub-forum.

[Squarehard]

When I thought up the idea, I actually didn't even think as far as going into people's profile account directly. I was really just thinking if there was a method depending on who is actually doing the coding for everything to just redirect them to the introduction page after they have confirmed their registration and so on.

Although, profile messaging may be an interesting tactic as well, but as you've noted, it could get extremely messy, so it can probably be avoided.

But yeah, maybe the first problem we should be trying to resolve is getting some more activeness in this sub-forum. ;3

[Tyranid5]

Originally Posted by Squarehard

When I thought up the idea, I actually didn't even think as far as going into people's profile account directly. I was really just thinking if there was a method depending on who is actually doing the coding for everything to just redirect them to the introduction page after they have confirmed their registration and so on.

Although, profile messaging may be an interesting tactic as well, but as you've noted, it could get extremely messy, so it can probably be avoided.

But yeah, maybe the first problem we should be trying to resolve is getting some more activeness in this sub-forum. ;3

I don't think sothis would end up really encoding functions to help this club at the current state. The point of this club was to be able to handle the task with-in the club.

And the thing I mentioned about activeness in this sub-forum..... was a joke. This is currently a hidden sub-forum. So that we can prepare the section before we go public. Before we do anything though we do need an intro post so I guess let's start discussing that:

Intro Post
-This will consist as a thread in this sub-forum.
-We are the Welcoming Club. We are suppose to introduce the members to AP and to the different features that they may not know are available to them, at the end of the day there will probably end up being a bit of overlap with the Help Club (which I also have access too). I'll intervene and figure out where things should go to be most effective if overlap becomes prevalent, but what things should we include int he Intro Thread?

1. What should we talk about?
2. What neat features should we show?
3. What is (for example) something you wish you knew about AP when you were newer here?
4. Is there something that you really don't know the answer for?
5. We should include something along the lines of Joining the Forums.
6. We should probably also talk about and introduction to starting your List. (not hardcore in depth though)

[DRASTICC]

Well I like the whole "Welcoming Committee" idea, and the more members that are reached, the more likelihood they'll stick around for the fun. So far I agree with Tryarid5's idea, except that we might wanna think about a quick link to the "helpful" mods, or veteran members that would be gladly enough to help out with any questions.

[Tyranid5]

Originally Posted by DRASTICC

Well I like the whole "Welcoming Committee" idea, and the more members that are reached, the more likelihood they'll stick around for the fun. So far I agree with Tryarid5's idea, except that we might wanna think about a quick link to the "helpful" mods, or veteran members that would be gladly enough to help out with any questions.

Well, about your link idea. The idea is that each welcome message will contain a link is with-in it that links each new member to some thread in our club sub-forum here. And in that thread we will give them a formal introduction to AP and link them to various other things and inform them about things/features of AP.

The mods thing would be covered through that by explaining the different level of mods here on AP so that they know where they should go if they have any questions that need answering. And the veteran members thing, simply enough we hope to grab the attention of a few maybe more veteran members to help out with this method. But the idea is that the member that contacts certain users would be the one who they would contact.

That's the idea around having greeters and such. Not all of us may see ourselves as "veteran members", but at the same time. It's not going to be like a requirement that you have to be a veteran member to be a greeter. That's why I'm here, to help answer questions of sorts, and if somebody you contact has a question that you can't answer you can post it here (this may sound a bit confusing, but the club will be set-up a bit differently when it goes live hopefully.... I'm thinking that when live, this club and the help club will both have a public sub-forum, like how HTWA does and also have an additional sub-forum that is hidden like this one currently is so that the mods of the club can discuss things unofficially and make plans/adjustments before posting new threads/ideas).

[DRASTICC]

Fair enough. Well I'm down if you need member's or help setting this up.