Sticky for Welcome to this page?

[Gary]

I notice that there are always people being directed to BT via a search engine. Duh how else would people get here, I know. But when they hit the MS page it might be nice to have a more personal greeting. Whenever I got to a new site and it has a 'please read this first' I usually look at the first couple of pages, especially if it is right there near the top. And don't say Gary get a life!

What do you think?

[SalpalSally]

Absolutely!!! Who was it who used to do that for us at BT?
The name escapes me. Brenda?

[agate]

It sounds good to me but there's one problem, or at least there was in the past. A number of people raised objections about having too many stickies on the top of the page. You have to scroll down past all of them every time you come here and just want to find the latest posts.

It has been pointed out that they can click in various ways to reach the latest posts. We can see if this idea goes over this time though.

Sally, I don't recall anyone at BT ever doing a Welcome sticky or thread of any kind but my memory is like a sieve. Was there a Brenda? I remember a Vikki (spelling?) who used to do Happy Birthday threads.

[Parsi]

We didn't have a Welcome sticky, but there was a Welcome thread. Bou (?) started it. Then she had difficulty getting on and I started doing it until I left. The first post was a welcome. The 2nd (?) was a short tutorial about certain posting features (don't remember what).

[SalpalSally]

Yes Parsnip. Bou!!!

[Howie]

For the first time in my life, I have no opinion.

[SalpalSally]

Sponge is all wrung out huh Howie?

[agate]

I remember bou--still don't remember the thread but I'm sure there must have been one because others remember it.

I have no preference about stickies. I think that the people who don't want too many of them have a point but on the other hand there is some information that is useful to have coming right at you as you see this page.

[SalpalSally]

I can't believe that my memory is better than yours Joan...lol

[Parsi]

As I said the thread wasn't a stickie. It was a periodic one like the current ChitChat. In those days we'd see many more newbies.

Perhaps when we see a new name who signed up recently, whoever sees the newbie first can start a thread "Welcome, _____" Then others can join in.

[Gary]

To be honest about half the time I don't notice a visitor that is unless Agate points out that someone new has posted. That is the only reason I thought about this. I agree that too many sticky's tend to clutter things up and if its cluttered I have to be REALLY interested in the site to root around in it.

I miss Bou it has been many moons since I have talked to her. In the dark days of being newly Dx'ed she and I had a running joke about riding bikes with cards in the spokes and a handle bar bell. I am going to look in my email box (at the bottom probably) and see if I still have her email address.

Parsi it seems that your post seems really familiar I think I remember doing that.

In the old days we had some folks that were just plain mean. My dad called them knockers. THey knocked anything and everything you said or did. I almost never posted again. If it wasn't for a couple folks PM me and telling me not to worry about these other people I would have left. Good grief this has to be nearly 15 years ago. Howie you are getting old!

By the way the mean ones are gone and the couple of people that PM me are still around.

[agate]

"Knockers"--good word for those who always have to criticize. On an MS board it might be best to lean over backwards (ha! not literally) to give people the benefit of the doubt.

People who are posting tend to forget that people here have problems nobody knows about, often, because the people here might be too busy or too overwhelmed or too polite or too shy to mention that they're coping with a death in the family, severe health problems, unemployment, etc., etc. Before posting a snippy reply to someone, maybe we should all keep that in mind.

And some people just aren't comfortable with the Internet or with message boards.

But I don't need to say this to this group now. As Gary says, it was people in the past who were stepping on one another's toes.

I do remember now that someone periodically posted a thread welcoming new people, and it must have been bou. Now that the people in charge have decided that these boards should have a more serious look to them, we've been told that too many off-topic threads aren't good, and so Welcome threads and Happy Birthday threads don't happen any more.

Maybe the thinking has changed on this but if so I'm not aware of it. But a sticky thread welcoming new people and helping them to get oriented might go over because it would just sit there on top, and people could post in it as newbies appear.

Bou was here a while back, and you can find her name among the registered members. I can't get to her posts because most of our past posts are still unavailable, but she posted 4 times and last logged in here in January of this year. Anyone who knows her could send her a PM from this board. If nobody wants to do this, I'd be willing to try but I think there are others here who are better acquainted with her.

[Cherie]

I miss bou. I miss the welcome to this thread sticky. I miss a lot of things that used to make this place feel welcoming and warm and helpful.

[Moderator #7]

Hello everyone!

This is your BT and this is your forum!

We aren't in charge of you, except to enforce the TOS and to remove posts that are obviously disrespectful. Mike and we mods are here to make the forums work technically for you. We can merge threads, make stickies, remove things, edit past the edit expiration date, etc. Just ask. Some things, like getting all the different devices (Smartphones, tablets, etc.), working with our forum program are things that Mike will be implementing soon

Mike, David and Dr. Hoch are the new "administration" of BT. I see Mike as being very open-minded about members posting what they want. With forum membership and forum posts being lower than they were in the past, we want to keep current members coming back and attract new members. Attracting new members will take time, though. What Mike wants to do is to re-arrange a few things on the "Forums" page and take out some forums that don't have many threads and perhaps consolidate a few others. It's making things more compact so new members and current members can easily find what they are looking for. All these changes were talked about during the spring and summer in BT'S Forum Feedback.

I have never heard anything from Mike or the other mods about people posting too many off-topic (OT) threads. All that we asked was that you would please label them as being "OT".

I think welcome threads and birthday threads are wonderful things. We are all a community and what better way to celebrate that than to recognize all of the people who come into your forum? It's like welcoming them into your home.

As for doing things in your forum, I feel Cherie's nostalgia when she says she misses a lot of things that made the forums feel welcoming and warm and helpful.

Go for it!

[Howie]

This is MY forum? Free beer and chips for everyone!!!

Mod 7, thanks for keeping this the best place on the Net to go and get info, and see friends!