I've been thinking about how we typically welcome newcomers. It's not very...engaging. Instead of the thread being about who we're welcoming or even talking to the newcomer, it generally ends in us joking around with each other in our old, familiar way. That's all fine and dandy, except I've noticed that this really seems to exclude others not in the MyPraize clique from the conversation. Yes, I realize that we can often get very off-topic. However, even in a real-life setting, when there's a group of people standing around talking, every time the subject changes, someone is usually left out. In this scenario, it's the people we want to stay here so we can make more friendships and network with others instead of closing MyPraize off too everyone but this clique, unintentional though the action may be. Basically, guys, I think we need to stop ignoring the newcomers. I know none of us does it intentionally, but it happens nonetheless, and they're often stuck just reading what we have to say without a point to jump back into the conversation. Thoughts?

Ha, great minds. I was actually debating making a post in one of the welcome threads earlier today talking about this, but I didn't want to make anybody feel bad or take the thread off on yet another tangent. But I totally agree. I try to just say hello and wait to see what the new forum member has to say. Running off on a whole conversation without letting them speak any is a bit ehhh. Er...yeah, also I think the whole "n00b pie"/general "n00b" treatment's a bit offputting as well. In [i]most[/i] other places on the internet, n00b and sometimes even newb is not a welcoming term. I know it's not meant that way by anyone here but if you're coming from somewhere else on the web, you don't know that some of the forum members here use it in a friendly way. I wouldn't have known that coming here from the other forums I visited, I would have just assumed you lot were a bit elitist. Just generally I think it all feels a bit clique-y sometimes.

[b]Owlright wrote:[/b] [quote]Just generally I think it all feels a bit clique-y sometimes.[/quote] Prolly doesn't help that there's only about a dozen or so users who get on every day. :P

lol. No, probably not.

Hey, I'm a grumpy old man... It's expected for me to tell the kids to get off my lawn... :P

[b]memnonkarana wrote:[/b] [quote]Hey, I'm a grumpy old man... It's expected for me to tell the kids to get off my lawn... :P[/quote] Which is all fine and dandy, but that usually doesn't happen when the old man is attending a welcome party. ;)

I was kind of thinking of just starting a thread for newcomers, that could be stickied. So that whenever newbs come onto the forums, they can post there, get to know each other, and any of us old cooters who choose to welcome them.

[b]MisterNathan wrote:[/b] [quote][b]memnonkarana wrote:[/b] [quote]Hey, I'm a grumpy old man... It's expected for me to tell the kids to get off my lawn... :P[/quote] Which is all fine and dandy, but that usually doesn't happen when the old man is attending a welcome party. ;)[/quote] It does when people throw the welcome party on the old man's lawn... ;)

I see it this way... They come in, introduce themselves, we introduce ourselves and give them a little bit of what we are like, and they can stay if they like it. That's pretty much what it's like anywhere else, just we pick on each other like a big family.

[b]Son_Of_Fire wrote:[/b] [quote]I see it this way... They come in, introduce themselves, we introduce ourselves and give them a little bit of what we are like, and they can stay if they like it. That's pretty much what it's like anywhere else, just we pick on each other like a big family.[/quote] Except that kinda excludes them from the conversation. That may be what it's like everywhere else, but c'mon guys...this is MyPraize, the place that actually stands out from the rest of the net. There really is no other Christian social network as accepting as this one.