Treatment of newbies--opinions welcome

[agate]

Like others here, I keep an eye on the new posts and try to say a word of welcome to newbies as they appear even if they've posted in a different BrainTalk forum.

Often the newbies are showing their true colors by immediately posting a link to something they're interested in selling. I flag those posts as advertising, and a moderator removes them, and that newbie usually doesn't reappear.

But every once in a while there is an unusual newbie post, by someone who might or might not be selling something. It isn't always clear.

What's your opinion? My inclination is to ignore the post, and I've noticed that the newbie doesn't return. But I wonder if we should do more to encourage newbies who post, sometimes at considerable length, but it isn't clear what they're looking for here?

I'd welcome any input on this as it's been a question I've had for quite a while.

[flatcap]

I don't know if there is anything we can do to encourage newbies to stay onboard. I am sure more than a few people have found BrainTalk and said to themselves something like, "This place is dead. Why did I sign up here?" I don't know how you get beyond that.

This MS forum is by far the most active on BrainTalk. I have no doubt that newbies would find a warm welcome here — I certainly did — but I don't know how you get them to sign up in the first place, much less post. I am even less certain how new users could be drawn to BrainTalk forums on other topics, such as Parkinson's, where there is virtually no activity at all.

It would be nice to have more people here. I just don't know how you achieve that.

[agate]

One thing that might help, at least a little, might be for people who are regulars here on BT--on any of its forums--could just regularly look at the "New Posts" section that appears in a drop-down menu at the top left of the screen if you click on the little block of horizontal lines, and if you see any posts by people who seem to be new, find out how new they are and see if you'd like to say a few words to that person.

Even if it's just "Welcome," it's still a way of letting that person know that there are real people here, still reading posts and even replying.

I've visited message boards and if it looks as if there's nobody there, I just leave. I think most people are like that. But every time I reply to a newbie here, I don't see that anyone else is aware of that person's post.

It's time for all of us to recognize that this isn't just the MS board or whatever other board we're in the habit of looking at. If BrainTalk is going to stay here, we're going to need to expand our horizons and look into the other forums and sections on BT and take part there even if a thread or post is in a forum we know absolutely nothing about.

If anyone is inclined, it really doesn't hurt to type a few words just to let someone know you're here. It's better than finding nobody here.

As for attracting new members, I have no answer to that. Unless some of us here have contacts in the real world who might be interested in joining, and we let them know how to do that, bearing in mind that even registering and logging on here might not be so easy, I can't think of any way. And most of us don't have such contacts, often because our own neurological disorder has changed our lives to the point where we don't have a lot of contact with people.

It's been suggested that making sure BrainTalk comes up on search engines would be a way to attract people but I don't know how that is done and wouldn't have the authority to do it. That decision would have to be made by the people in charge.

[flatcap]

Thanks for the tip regarding New Posts. From time to time, I scroll through the individual forums on the main page to see if there are any new posts. Your way seems like it might be better (easier/faster), at least for new threads. I'm not sure about new/recent replies to existing threads. I can see them my way; I cannot see them by your method.

On a related note, I once replied to a new thread on another forum, indicating to the new user that ours was the most active, and that they would be welcome here. I do not recall them following up in any way. In retrospect, it was silly of me to invite a person interested in another neurological condition to come over here. Other than chit-chat, I'm not sure what I could offer them, certainly nothing of import concerning their malady or that of someone they know.

[agate]

Thanks for the tip regarding New Posts. From time to time, I scroll through the individual forums on the main page to see if there are any new posts. Your way seems like it might be better (easier/faster), at least for new threads. I'm not sure about new/recent replies to existing threads. I can see them my way; I cannot see them by your method.

On a related note, I once replied to a new thread on another forum, indicating to the new user that ours was the most active, and that they would be welcome here. I do not recall them following up in any way. In retrospect, it was silly of me to invite a person interested in another neurological condition to come over here. Other than chit-chat, I'm not sure what I could offer them, certainly nothing of import concerning their malady or that of someone they know.

Yes, clicking on New Posts brings up recent replies to existing threads in a very hit-or-miss way. You never know what's going to show up there and what isn't. I just look at it to find out if there are any unusual-looking posts, such as posts with user names that are totally new to me.

The reply you mention wasn't silly at all. It's about all any of us here on the MS board can do when it comes to other boards. You could of course say a lot about Parkinson's disease, and some of the rest of us have other neurological issues we could say something about. I just thought that having no reply when a person is new here has to be very discouraging, and if someone among us just said Hello or Welcome, that at least would signal that this place still has real people who are paying attention.

[agate]

I should mention just what triggered this thread. There was a newbie thread in the Chitchat section (the main BrainTalk Chitchat forum) the other day from someone who was going on at some length about Hindu gods and other matters that had no relation to anything neurological, and the post included a "disguised" link that probably went to a product or service that was being peddled. I didn't try to get to the link as it looked odd to me.

I didn't want to say any words of welcome to a newbie whose first and only post was so problematic but on the other hand it wasn't exactly reportable. It wasn't clearly advertising and wasn't rude. I just let it go but later I noticed that it was gone. The moderators seem to have removed it quietly.

Thank you, moderators, for everything you do to keep things ticking here.

[flatcap]

I saw that post, too. The disguised link was probably a malicious website that could infect your machine. It's a good thing you didn't visit it.

It's an even better thing we have this board, and the administrators and moderators to thank for it. I have always been amazed this resource is free.

[agate]

The disguised link was probably a malicious website that could infect your machine. It's a good thing you didn't visit it.

That was my thought about it too. The moderators and admin here may have ways of dealing with such things safely but I just didn't want to take the chance.