Dusting off the Welcome Mat: Welcoming Plaza Edits & Discussion

[NavelColt 22,884]

As everyone is aware, a couple months back the Welcoming Plaza had its' character minimum cut in half from the norm of 100, down to 50. The staff implemented this after a suggestion of mine that talked about how the Welcoming Plaza's activity has become less than desirable in the past several months, and that we should really take measures to increase its consistent usage. I still remember to this day, the day I joined, I got 5+ replies in the space of half an hour when I posted my introduction thread. While you still find intro topics today that possess substantial replies, many more have below four or three responses, and many don't have any replies at all.

 

To put it simply, this really needs to be addressed. Feld0 raised his concern about this to me and I agree fully, just as much as I ever did.

 

When the average reply rate for introduction threads as a whole is somewhere from 4 to 5+ replies per thread, and there are little to no topics that possess zero replies, that spells nothing but fortune and wealth for the board, because it means newbies are twice as likely to stay and become regulars. When you have a dependable influx of new regulars, the forum's status is even more secure, and the community is open to significant growth as months go by.

 

Unfortunately, cutting the character minimum in half didn't do a whole lot for the activity scope. We're pretty sure the character minimum's implementation in the first place is a major factor, if not the factor keeping many people from consistently welcoming new members, but getting rid of it completely in the Welcoming Plaza will only open up potential for spammy posts, which is something we'd like to avoid if at all possible.

 

Thus, as of now, when you post in the Welcoming Plaza, it will add to your post count.

 

 

The fifty character minimum will remain, as well.

 

This is more or less a response on the staff's part to further lax the Welcoming Plaza's atmosphere and make it more beneficial for members to be active there, and help each new member of our board feel welcome. That said, it's obvious that this is not the be-all-end-all solution, either. This will not fix the problem, it's just a part of the puzzle we're attempting to solve. Try as we might, the staff are still drawing relative blanks for creative implementations for the Welcoming Plaza that would encourage people to use it more frequently, like how it once was.

 

It may not seem like such a big deal for each new introduction thread to receive some replies, a substantial amount when at all possible, but trust me, in the long run, it really is.

 

If anyone has any suggestions for something you think would make the Plaza more active, more interesting and all around more enjoyable to use, please feel free to talk about it here. At this point, we're in an experimental stage, and the changes we've made are libel to reverse or change to something new if we can see beneficial results stemming from those actions.

[Starshine 16,335]

Thus, as of now, when you post in the Welcoming Plaza, it will add to your post count.

 

I will positively have some nightmares tonight. Those welcoming threads are pretty much free chat thread (albeit small ones)...

 

Will there be any actions taken against those who are clearly trying to spam their way to get high badges with welcoming templates/copypasta or something like that?

[Champion RD92 8,658]

Posts in the Welcoming Plaza will now count towards post count?...

 

POST IN ALL THE WELCOMING PLAZA THREADS!!!

 

Well this will definitely give me some incentive to welcome new members to the forums.

[Ron Jeremy 2,032]

I remember back when I joined. Feels like over a year ago. Oh, wait, there's a good reason for that.

 

Part of what made me stick around was the fact people acknowledged my existence in my welcome thread. I mean, if you post a welcome thread, and nobody responds to it, what kind of reception is that? People like it when they get welcomed and such, especially if it's a personal welcome and not a copy/pasted cookie-cutter greeting. Not saying all welcome board posts with copy/pasted chunks are bad, by the way. If there's helpful info in them, it's different. Just my opinion though.

 

Meh, posting this makes it painfully obvious how inactive I've been lately, doesn't it?

 

Just as long as this doesn't encourage people posting in the welcome thread for the wrong reasons, this is a good thing. But eh, I know the moderating team'll step in if that happens, right?

[NavelColt 22,884]

I will positively have some nightmares tonight. Those welcoming threads are pretty much free chat thread (albeit small ones)...

 

Will there be any actions taken against those who are clearly trying to spam their way to get high badges with welcoming templates/copypasta or something like that?

Just as long as this doesn't encourage people posting in the welcome thread for the wrong reasons, this is a good thing. But eh, I know the moderating team'll step in if that happens, right?

Template posting will have to be addressed, certainly. Try to keep in mind this isn't some set in stone thing; like I said, all of this is up in the air. Our end goal is to make the forum more active, not have posts count. The key to getting anything done is experimentation; see what does and doesn't work, so you can find a balance. If you don't like this idea, please, feel free to throw in your own ideas as well, we're more than happy to listen Especially given the fact that not having a lot of ideas to bounce around is one of our problems to start with. If we get a good discussion going here, I don't doubt we'll have a lot more options to choose from. As it is, posts counting or not and the character minimum are the only default options for us to work with.

Edited January 15, 2013 by ~Chaotic Discord~

[LensFlare 40]

I tihnk this is a great idea!  When I joined and posted in the welcoming plaza, all the friendly replies I got are what caused me to stay active on the site. By adding to the post count (nice little incentive) but still keeping that minimum 50 character count, I think it keeps a nice balance of current members welcoming the new members, but without spamming one-word "Welcome!" posts. Good plan!

[Doctor XFizzle 8,672]

Psh I only had 3 responses in my welcome thread and I took it like a man.

 

...then again it was on opening day and there had been maybe 123 members registered before me.

[Starshine 16,335]

This opinion of mine might be not that good or even stupid, but I will try anyway.

 

 

 

This entire post count was done with one purpose: to encourage people to greet new ponies so they would be more likely to stay here and be active member. This is a good plan, but you guys give out the wrong reward.

 

I agree extra post counts from Welcoming Plaza will surely attract lots of greeting activities, but we know being greeted by lots of people doesn't mean that the new guy will have more obligations to stay. It's not how many greetings, what really matter is how many greeters that actually bothered to answer and to guide the newbies, to talk with them in this new, alien community. We can easily have a newbie introduction thread with 20 or 30 greetings, but none of that will matter if all of the greetings were all about "welcome! Have some youtube video/pony pictures". What really those newbie need are someone that actually care about them being new and willing to help them to adapt themselves around the community.

Bonus points if that greeter is actually a moderator or someone with a brony rank, because being able to have a friendly conversation with a "big guy" is one of the best things that can happen to you in a new community, because that means there is no (blatant) elitism in the community, and that's the best first impression.

 

My suggestion is not to encourage people start posting as much greetings as they can, but to encourage them to make some greetings that are actually worth the space. The simplest way to do this is to reward those who are exceptionally friendly with newbies with praises or at least a brohoof or two. The best way I can think of right now? Why, get one of the moderators to start greeting them of course! I see that Chaotic Discord already gave some of the best greetings I’ve ever seen around these parts, and that’s a good thing.

 

 

 

TL;DR >> Strip Chaotic Discord from his mortal flesh, seal him in a purified chalice and connect him to the forum’s server. Let his eternally tormented soul handle everything.

[NavelColt 22,884]

This opinion of mine might be not that good or even stupid, but I will try anyway.

 

 

 

This entire post count was done with one purpose: to encourage people to greet new ponies so they would be more likely to stay here and be active member. This is a good plan, but you guys give out the wrong reward.

 

I agree extra post counts from Welcoming Plaza will surely attract lots of greeting activities, but we know being greeted by lots of people doesn't mean that the new guy will have more obligations to stay. It's not how many greetings, what really matter is how many greeters that actually bothered to answer and to guide the newbies, to talk with them in this new, alien community. We can easily have a newbie introduction thread with 20 or 30 greetings, but none of that will matter if all of the greetings were all about "welcome! Have some youtube video/pony pictures". What really those newbie need are someone that actually care about them being new and willing to help them to adapt themselves around the community.

Bonus points if that greeter is actually a moderator or someone with a brony rank, because being able to have a friendly conversation with a "big guy" is one of the best things that can happen to you in a new community, because that means there is no (blatant) elitism in the community, and that's the best first impression.

 

My suggestion is not to encourage people start posting as much greetings as they can, but to encourage them to make some greetings that are actually worth the space. The simplest way to do this is to reward those who are exceptionally friendly with newbies with praises or at least a brohoof or two. The best way I can think of right now? Why, get one of the moderators to start greeting them of course! I see that Chaotic Discord already gave some of the best greetings I’ve ever seen around these parts, and that’s a good thing.

 

 

 

TL;DR >> Strip Chaotic Discord from his mortal flesh, seal him in a purified chalice and connect him to the forum’s server. Let his eternally tormented soul handle everything.

>Implying I have mortal flesh and am not, in fact, immortal.

 

So, a greeter position, unofficial or official. Feld0 brought that up before, but I'm extremely hesitant. A greeter position gets redundant and tedious very quickly. I don't doubt it would work for some time, but I'd be hard pressed to say that the enthusiasm and dedication would die after a while. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong. But I've seen the greeter position idea down elsewhere before and that's generally what ends up happening. People get psyched about this new obligatory position they have to be an expected greeter of newbies, and then after a while their consistency begins to slow. It's like being the door greater at Wal-Mart. Nobody generally likes the job after a while.

 

Furthermore, it's a balance of numerous posts that are good responses per topic, ergo a good level both quantity and quality that's ideal. No one is saying one is better than the other.

[Haven Celestii 9,385]

As much as I used to post in welcome threads, and I mean every thread I saw as soon as I saw it, I really don't like the addition of posts counting in there. I can just see all the copypastas being posted. And not for the welcoming of the person, but for that free post instead.

 

Meh, just have to see how this plays out I guess.

>Inb4Roleplay World post count addition 2.0

 

 

 

Oh, and basically as ~CD~ said, @Starshine, greeting people gets hella tiring after a while. I don't see many enjoying it or keeping up with it after so long.

[Radiance64 7,059]

Seems like a good idea. I too hope it doesn't encourage spamming, but we'll see how it goes. It's certainly giving me a little incentive, I used to welcome people all the time and I really should do it more often.

[Zygen 6,066]

I use to be really good with posting in the welcome threads every couple days i'd just go down the line and check them all out when I was bored.

 

I do have to agree it can get tedious, I really try not to let the fact that Its not going to count towards any of my shiny badges(Badges are shiny.. so tempting..) But I agree it can be hard. The only real motivation I have is to be nice and to feel like I'm sorta paying back to the forums in a sense.

 

I'm not sure if this would be a good idea or not, but since the welcome thread's are going to count towards posts, don't you think making the character limit go up again would be a good idea? I think that just because someone is greeted with a ton of "HEYY WELCOME TO THE HERD BRO WE HEARD YOU LIKE PONYZ SO WE MADE YOU A FORUM ENJOY!" Will be the most encouraging for them to stay.

 

which is why I think it may be in order to consider increasing the character limit a bit since we have a new incentive, plus if they put some heart and soul into actually greeting and informing people I'm sure it'll take no trouble at all to get something like 100 characters, honestly I still post pretty regularly in the 200-300's average when posting welcomes. It all depends on how much they tell about their selves and it may be that I'm just a good rambler, but I don't think its THAT hard to think of something other then just "Welcome" to say. If there is no heart in the greeting I'd say its almost not worth it in a sense.

 

Anyways, Hopefully the plan goes well regardless. I won't lie it is a good incentive for posting in welcome threads, I just hope it doesn't become the only one.

 

Ps. I just checked my welcome thread, I only had like 3-4 replys by others on there, not complaining, but I did still become a pretty darn active member regardless.

 

Just giving some  input! Regardless I think this should show some increases, thats for sure. I'm only worried about it being abused and people not feeling truly welcome.

[Scootalove 10,692]

A very good idea indeed. I guess we will watch and see what happens, I think its a really good idea indeed.

This could really benefit a lot.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

I try to respond to threads when I have time. But it get's redundant when I type the same reply in every thread. 

 

I think one of the biggest deterrents from people posting in welcoming plaza threads is the fact that they're not substantial. In some cases the new user just posts the thread and never even looks at it again.

 

I guess making posts there count towards your post count would attract activity but that would be for all the wrong reasons.

 

I don't personally believe that how many posts you get in your welcoming thread really affects how likely you are to stay anyway.

 

I used to try to greet people but it got redundant real fast. As much as I tried to help it's the overwheling *Ugh* that I'd be posting the same thing over and over again. Usually new users don't even ask questions so the majority of the posts include me saying "Hello, welcome to the forums". This doesn't really affect new users much at all.

 

The situation is so out of hand that I would bet a large number of users aren't aware of the change in character limit on that part of the forum. I'm sure some of them have never even posted there once.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Zygen 6,066]

I try to respond to threads when I have time. But it get's redundant when I type the same reply in every thread. 

 

I think one of the biggest deterrents from people posting in welcoming plaza threads is the fact that they're not substantial. In some cases the new user just posts the thread and never even looks at it again.

I actually don't have to many problems with thread owners not bothering with acknowledging the threads. I've got replies back of some sort from like 85% of them, It is a problem sometimes though.

 

I actually see more cases of the person just doesn't really say anything to talk about or start a conversation on, which makes the welcome kinda... Awkward and redundant.

 

Not as bad with 50 character limit, but it can still feel redundant with those type of welcomes by users.

 

I can actually enjoy talking on them sometimes if they post enough to talk about on themselves.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

I actually don't have to many problems with thread owners not bothering with acknowledging the threads. I've got replies back of some sort from like 85% of them, It is a problem sometimes though.

 

I actually see more cases of the person just doesn't really say anything to talk about or start a conversation on, which makes the welcome kinda... Awkward and redundant.

 

Not as bad with 50 character limit, but it can still feel redundant with those type of welcomes by users.

 

I can actually enjoy talking on them sometimes if they post enough to talk about on themselves.

I'll speak from experience, I joined back in November. Anyways, when I first signed up, I kind of figured that making a welcome thread wasn't a big deal, and I made it just because I had nothing better to do, I'm sure a lot of new users feel the same way.

[Zygen 6,066]

I'll speak from experience, I joined back in November. Anyways, when I first signed up, I kind of figured that making a welcome thread wasn't a big deal, and I made it just because I had nothing better to do, I'm sure a lot of new users feel the same way.

Yeah you have a point, its all perspective on it, i mean I personally take all of my threads as being pretty important, I always look over all the posts and try to reply to them all if I can. (Including my welcome thread)

 

I guess its true that some people feel different of course as just kinda a way to give a quick introduction then get on to the Posting pony's everywhere discussions.

I know alot of people who never even made Welcome threads actually .

In my experience in posting in others threads though I'll go on a sprea of posting in a bunch of them, then come back later with like 10 notifications of brohoofs and qoutes in the welcome threads. Theres always 1-2 that don't reply back, or take a bit longer though.

 

I feel kinda obligated to atleast acknowledge that someone posted in a thread of mine, or quoted something of mine or anything like that though, i don't think I could just ignore it .

 

Maybe some people just leave right after. Who knows.

 

Regardless I hope we can see plenty of new members as a result of this change. Hopefully it will be a change for the better.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

This opinion of mine might be not that good or even stupid, but I will try anyway.

 

 

 

This entire post count was done with one purpose: to encourage people to greet new ponies so they would be more likely to stay here and be active member. This is a good plan, but you guys give out the wrong reward.

 

I agree extra post counts from Welcoming Plaza will surely attract lots of greeting activities, but we know being greeted by lots of people doesn't mean that the new guy will have more obligations to stay. It's not how many greetings, what really matter is how many greeters that actually bothered to answer and to guide the newbies, to talk with them in this new, alien community. We can easily have a newbie introduction thread with 20 or 30 greetings, but none of that will matter if all of the greetings were all about "welcome! Have some youtube video/pony pictures". What really those newbie need are someone that actually care about them being new and willing to help them to adapt themselves around the community.

Bonus points if that greeter is actually a moderator or someone with a brony rank, because being able to have a friendly conversation with a "big guy" is one of the best things that can happen to you in a new community, because that means there is no (blatant) elitism in the community, and that's the best first impression.

 

My suggestion is not to encourage people start posting as much greetings as they can, but to encourage them to make some greetings that are actually worth the space. The simplest way to do this is to reward those who are exceptionally friendly with newbies with praises or at least a brohoof or two. The best way I can think of right now? Why, get one of the moderators to start greeting them of course! I see that Chaotic Discord already gave some of the best greetings I’ve ever seen around these parts, and that’s a good thing.

 

 

 

TL;DR >> Strip Chaotic Discord from his mortal flesh, seal him in a purified chalice and connect him to the forum’s server. Let his eternally tormented soul handle everything.

I agreed with everything up until you said that post count matters. Being greeted by a "big guy" might matter to the more young and naive users but regular users you get might not really care about that kind of thing. The only place I've ever seen post count matter to users is a forum I was on where it's actually displayed right under your user icon. The site is user-friendly enough that it almost doesn't matter whether or not you help them adjust to the site. It's straight foward enough.

 

To increase activities on the forums the Admins should really look into making the site more publicly known about. I only found this site because I was specifically searching for a brony forum. Some bronies might not even know brony forums exist.

 

Yeah you have a point, its all perspective on it, i mean I personally take all of my threads as being pretty important, I always look over all the posts and try to reply to them all if I can. (Including my welcome thread)

 

I guess its true that some people feel different of course as just kinda a way to give a quick introduction then get on to the Posting pony's everywhere discussions.

I know alot of people who never even made Welcome threads actually .

In my experience in posting in others threads though I'll go on a sprea of posting in a bunch of them, then come back later with like 10 notifications of brohoofs and qoutes in the welcome threads. Theres always 1-2 that don't reply back, or take a bit longer though.

 

I feel kinda obligated to atleast acknowledge that someone posted in a thread of mine, or quoted something of mine or anything like that though, i don't think I could just ignore it .

 

Maybe some people just leave right after. Who knows.

 

Regardless I hope we can see plenty of new members as a result of this change. Hopefully it will be a change for the better.

Trust me, I know. Some days I do go into the welcome threads. On good days I may get 10-20 notifications from this, and the users may reply, on bad days I'll get no reply and I may be the only one to even respond in some of the threads. It really varies. To be honest welcoming threads are overrated. 

 

For example another forum I use has a rule that you can't make "I'm New" or "I'm leaving threads". Some people who don't obey the rules will post "I'm leaving threads". However in my two years of membership there I have never seen an "I'm New" thread. Mainly because the number of people who will actually take the time to think out their introduction is a fairly small demographic.

[Leatherbehlt 465]

I never made a welcoming plaza topic, but it still get at least 50 replies. To be honest, even though MLP has changed me a good deal, I still see the worst in a lot of situations, including this one. I feel like having your post count raised in the welcoming plaza will kinda kill the welcoming feeling and replace it with a "desperate to not be a muffin" feeling. I doubt that the 50 character limit will have much effect on the plaza though. I felt welcomed into the community by hanging around the forum games with others, just enjoying myself playing funny games like corrupt a wish (my personal favorite) and the banned game and making friends like that.

[Starshine 16,335]

People get psyched about this new obligatory position they have to be an expected greeter of newbies, and then after a while their consistency begins to slow. It's like being the door greater at Wal-Mart. Nobody generally likes the job after a while.

 

Aw sucks :V

 

I guess since the proposed best way is out of question, there is still the easiest way. Just like people often get hyped because one of their posts is good enough to be brohooved by mods and then start to try writing quality stuff, maybe you guys in the staff team can visit the Welcoming Plaza every once in a while and brohooving the particularly good greetings and introductions?

While it might not be that good, at least the greeters that actually bothered enough to spend some time to write a good greeting will know that his effort is appreciated.

 

P.S. if you can bleed but you can't die, that does not make you a god, that only makes you a perfect servant

 

Oh, and basically as ~CD~ said, @Starshine, greeting people gets hella tiring after a while. I don't see many enjoying it or keeping up with it after so long.

You won't get tired as fast when you know that someone appreciate your greetings

[Pinkie D Pie 1,036]

I use to post in the welcoming threads, then I took an arrow to the knee. Lame jokes aside, I use to post there, that was until I realized people didn't seem to care if people posted there, and yes this was during when they did not count. And I use to make my greetings try to mean something, not some simple 50 character reply that says hi. 

 

I personally don't like the fact that they count now since it will encourage the spam of that part of the forums, but maybe it will get some new people to stay. I might start posting there again to try to get them to stay, maybe help some people around the forums, but not to raise my post count.

 

Just my thoughts at least.

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

Eh.

 

I mean, this will probably attract a lot of attention towards the Welcoming Plaza, which is always good, but I think it's a bit disappointing that we have to lure our members towards welcoming the new members with bait.

 

In my eyes, this looks like this whole "You have something for me, and I'll be your friend" sort of situation. If this new post count implementation does indeed have some more members flock to the Welcoming Plaza who wouldn't normally go there, it would only be to increase their post count rather than welcome the newbies. Sure, they might have some heart to warmly greet the new members, but if it wasn't for the post count, they wouldn't be here. (Remember, I'm only talking about the people who go to the Welcoming Plaza after this new feature.)

 

I can't say I'm a Welcoming Plaza regular because I'm not, but I just find it slightly sad that we have to have some sort of reward for the Welcoming Plaza in order for people to go there.

[NavelColt 22,884]

Eh.

 

I mean, this will probably attract a lot of attention towards the Welcoming Plaza, which is always good, but I think it's a bit disappointing that we have to lure our members towards welcoming the new members with bait.

 

In my eyes, this looks like this whole "You have something for me, and I'll be your friend" sort of situation. If this new post count implementation does indeed have some more members flock to the Welcoming Plaza who wouldn't normally go there, it would only be to increase their post count rather than welcome the newbies. Sure, they might have some heart to warmly greet the new members, but if it wasn't for the post count, they wouldn't be here. (Remember, I'm only talking about the people who go to the Welcoming Plaza after this new feature.)

 

I can't say I'm a Welcoming Plaza regular because I'm not, but I just find it slightly sad that we have to have some sort of reward for the Welcoming Plaza in order for people to go there.

Suggestions? :3 Not liking the first step we're taking to try and figure out what works and what doesn't for making the WP active is great, but suggestions are even more beneficial.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

This is something I really wanted to do and started doing, but due to circumstances I don't care to get into, things didn't work out as planned. The Welcome Plaza is dear to me, though. Not much rustles my jimmies more than newcomers getting the brush off. Now that I've sorted out that which preoccupied me and I feel more coherent than I have in a long time, I'll stand watch at the gates once more.

 

~A Neighborly PSA From Artemis~

 

Your post count means nothing. Do this out of the goodness of your hearts. If you don't, I'll bring upon you horrors unimaginable. I'll even drink all of your coffee and use all of your mugs.

 

~Have A Nice Day~

 

 

 

But be warned, CD.

 

 

I'm wary of traps you may lay. Should you accost me with "warning points" or some other such nonsense for flooding the Plaza, I'll make an image macro about it. I have GIMP; I can make it happen.

 

 

...And you can keep your "candy."

 

It's like being the door greater at Wal-Mart. Nobody generally likes the job after a while.

 

 

True, but the customers still like the door greeter. I really wasn't trying to make any kind of point with that, I just thought of an old guy (Ray) I know pretty well who works as the greeter at my local Walmart. Nice guy. Carries around an oxygen tank because he's very overweight and can't breathe well on his own. Found out from him about a few guys back home who recently died. Wouldn't have heard about it otherwise. Most of his free time is spent working in his garden. He also maintains the sides of the road near his house because VDOT doesn't care about places that rural. Funny story: he went to get some Chinese food (the Chinese place is next door to the Dollar Tree) for lunch sometime two months ago when he found a $20 bill laying in the parking lot next to his car after he opened the door. Kind of ironic, isn't it? Paid for the buffet all week long, it did. I like Chinese food too. There's a Thai place down the road that's even better. Too bad they don't deliver. If they did I'd never phone in an order at the Chinese place. At least I'm helping both restaurants stay in business, I guess.

 

Target charges too much and they don't even have greeters. Quite lame.

 

Psh I only had 3 responses in my welcome thread and I took it like a man.

 

 

Son, I didn't even make a thread. That's how hardcore I am.

[~Lawful Sturdy Wing~ 522]

Posts in the Welcoming Plaza will now count towards post count?...

 

POST IN ALL THE WELCOMING PLAZA THREADS!!!

 

Well this will definitely give me some incentive to welcome new members to the forums.

 

By Celestia I had no idea you were a Unicorn o.O -fawns at your feet-  

In all honesty though... I thought the ability to "Pinkie Pie Welcome Wagon" new members was all the incentive needed to keep new recruits...

 

Also! I will be the community welcome wagon! I cannot see myself ever getting bored of that job, I want nothing more than to make new members feel welcome and at home, and give them a reason for wanting to stay. I will be the unofficial welcome-r now