Quote by Missy
New in the Forum.
Just a thread for people to say hello I’m new in the Forum. a thread for the people who feel a bit daunted by the thought of posting in the forum, either because they are scared or apprehensive about the reaction they may get or because they can’t think of anything to say that will allow them to ease gently into the throng.
No nastiness, no backbiting, and no “how stupid are you†comments please, just try to play nice for a bit.
This place will stagnate if the new people don’t feel safe posting in here so let’s give them a chance to shine.
I kinda prefer to keep new people in the main forum, let em make an entrance
Hi Missy, I understand what you are saying, but this thread wasn’t designed or intended to segregate new users, but to encourage them. This thread is in the main Forum, so it is keeping the new people here. I’m personally not in favour of stickying it, it wasn’t intended to run for very long, just to add a little balance to some of the other post and threads that are running at the moment and the recent past, and perhaps to gently remind some of the better established members prone to the piss take, that being new is daunting enough without all the “Banterâ€(not what I would call some of it) they will find themselves on the end of. I think one of the big problems with being new is finding the right way to make an entrance. Do you go in all guns blazing, posting like a madman on any subject that you can find or do you lurk and maybe post something in a thread that can easily be overlooked. Looking back over some newbie posts, I appeared to me like the safest way to join the forum was with a pure and simple “Hello Post†nothing controversial just a simple “hiâ€. They are usually quite well received and less prone to degrading into a free-for-all. Starting a thread on the other hand is often a recipe for disaster for a number of reasons. First, finding a suitable subject can be very hard, and by suitable I mean not open to immediate ridicule. Finding the right “tone†isn’t easy either. Do you make a joke post and hope people will understand the humour, or do you make it serious and run the risk of starting an argument. I tend to think of the Forum as rather like a pub. Walk into any unfamiliar pub and how you act in the first few minutes will make or break you to the regulars. Do you butt into an established conversation with forthright opinions or say hello and hope to add a word or two given the opportunity? That’s all this was really, just one chap in a bar saying hi to the new people who just came through the door and giving them the chance to say hello back.
Still wouldn't stop them, by post two, from getting completely ignored in threads
Time and time again I see groups of individuals bantering in a thread, usually off topic by then...... Newbie/non regular poster does an on topic post, it gets caught in the middle of the banter ........... and completely ignored :? Again true, it happens in real life and so will happen in cyber life too. But, it’s less likely to happen when people are familiar with someone than when they aren’t. Although the opinion of the newbie may look like it’s been ignored, it usually hasn’t, just noted and filed to add to the mental picture we form of that person. We don’t in real life conversations always respond to every word someone utters, but we do make mental note of what they have said.
That is also a recipe for stagnating - the constant hijacking with the same conversation, occasionally different words. Not always the same people, but usually the same sort of conversation which always includes a :twisted: icon, followed by a
one. ..... (although nearly ALL of us are guilty of it at some point or another :? )Yep, guilty of that myself from time to time, see below as to why though.
Boring and dull - sorry it is - I don't come on the forums to read peoples 'banter', I go to a chatroom for that and it's fun in real time. I come on the forums to read peoples opinions, stories, dramas, thoughts etc
So to have that, with newer/less regular people being included, would be my idea of the perfect thread :DThis comes down to individual choice on how and why you use the functions of the site. I tent to be the exact opposite of you when it comes to how I use the site. The reason is simple really, I’m Dyslexic(compounded by gross stupidity) I have to write even the shortest post in a word doc and correct like mad before posting. I don’t have the time to do that in the chatroom, so my involvement in there is limited to some very basic stuff. In the forum however I can banter with the best of them and get my point across whether it’s serious or just silly,(the day someone invents a working voice recognition software my life will change, until then I do things how I do them) Ultimately we use the site in the way we are comfortable with , I don’t think there is a wrong way just different ways. Yes the banter in a serious thread can annoy me at times but at others it helps in a funny kind of way to keep things “realâ€. We have the choice thought to read it or not and that is a good thing to have. I kind of think of the forum as a slow chatroom. It lets you come and go when, and how, you please, but still feel part of the action.
This thread will die a natural death soon as all things should. If it helped on or two people say hello I’m happy with that, if not well, no harm done either way.
If any of this came across as a dig at you Missy, please rest assured it was never intendeds to, you just happened to give me the chance to say some things that have been on my mind for a while now.
see next post 
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