Elfstone
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Mike I get the impression that the Great Tinkerer is very busy at the moment, so I'm going to address this mainly to you, but I'm putting it here rather than a PM so that anyone who has an opinion to give on the wider subject can chip in.

With my 'Benevolent Influence' cap on, I've been giving some thought to the way in which we welcome/introduce people to this site and I have a technical question: How easy or difficult would it be to have an email which would go automatically to a new member when s/he registers?

I envisage the email itself as being fairly short, (the exact contents I'm chewing over at the moment and suggestions from anyone would be most welcome) but containing links directly to the most important threads/information that newbies need. With regard to that I'm tentatively working on a new "See this thread first when you join" thread. I remember being a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount and variety of content in the site when I joined and I have to confess that the "Arnold" thread left me a bit flummoxed; in fact I didn't put anything in it if I remember correctly, because I didn't feel I could say anything relevant about me and Arnie!

Although this is addressed to Mike, I would be very happy to listen to any opinions on these matters.

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[Last edited by Elfstone at 05-17-2008 11:33 AM]

MeckMeck GRE
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What about remoddeling the "Questionaire" thread into a welcome thread? We could add a welcome message (without Arnolds) to the beginning of the thread and encourage newbies to post something about them (eventually by using the existing questionaire).

Well, we could also implent a clown with a "Welcome on board" sign into the forum which is shown after completing the registration.... or a welcome song sung by forumites... or a 20 pages EULA/AGB file... the possibilities are endless.

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[Last edited by MeckMeck GRE at 05-17-2008 12:43 PM]

NiroZ
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I'd think that instead of creating yet another email for people to gloss over, having the Arnold thread include those links would be better.

As for revamping the arnold thread, my experience of it was of pleasant surprise for not having the usual 'say hi here' thread or the welcome email. Ok, I was uncertain how to respond to the thread, and not being a huge arnold fan I couldn't pick one which suited me, as thus moved on. But I still like the idea.

It might also be useful to have a memorandum of understanding of how to treat newcomers, as for a long time it has simply been an ugly mess of everybody rushing in at once with their own idea of how the situation has been handled.

mrimer
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Up till now, I generally haven't been involved with the workings of the Forum's email system and server code, so I myself don't know how hard it would be to implement sending out an email for that. I'd need to get with Matt to find out how this would be done. But I do like the idea of giving new forum users a more general starting post to look at with a brief list of starter pages. Please go ahead and write up your idea.

____________________________
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Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

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[Last edited by mrimer at 05-17-2008 04:49 PM]

Elfstone
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Thanks Mike, I will.

And thanks also to NiroZ an MeckMeck for your input.

What about remoddeling the "Questionaire" thread into a welcome thread? yes, I was thinking about that possibility.

As for revamping the arnold thread, my experience of it was of pleasant surprise for not having the usual 'say hi here' thread or the welcome email I am a member of 2 websites - this and my writing site - so I'm not sure what "the usual 'say hi here' thread" is like, but if I'm reading between your lines correctly, you're saying that we would want something distinctive and in keeping with the site to welcome newcomers?

It might also be useful to have a memorandum of understanding of how to treat newcomers, oh yes to that!!

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Vike91
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Maybe a forum tutorial?

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[Last edited by Vike91 at 05-17-2008 06:03 PM]

Jatopian
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The idea of the Arnold thread is very good. However I keep seeing valuable members say they found it off-putting. We should really see if we can figure out what's wrong with what we have now.

Vike91 wrote:
Maybe a forum tutorial?

We have the FAQ. We don't want to seem so stilted as that.

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Briareos
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Jatopian wrote:
The idea of the Arnold thread is very good. However I keep seeing valuable members say they found it off-putting.

Yeah, well... seeing as how many films Arnie has released in the last few years maybe it's time to switch to another actor?

(How about Eddie Murphy? *ducks*)

np: Aesop Rock - Limelighters (ft. Camp Lo) + Flunkadelic Interlude (Bazooka Tooth)

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Beef Row
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Jatopian wrote:
The idea of the Arnold thread is very good. However I keep seeing valuable members say they found it off-putting. We should really see if we can figure out what's wrong with what we have now.

Vike91 wrote:
Maybe a forum tutorial?

We have the FAQ. We don't want to seem so stilted as that.

It probably isn't helping that Arnold has moved from film to politics. Or that he acts in a limited number of genres. Or that he hasn't released a film lately. Or that he's rather hypermasculine.

Of course, what would be the alternative here? I'd say to be less offputting this might need to become even more absurd. Just switching celebrities would be sorta lame.

Which M&M are you? Its forum related, but it sounds like a lame online quiz. It would leave open a choice of color or of the personalities from the ads though, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

What movie monster are you could be fun.

If Erik were up for it, the intro thread could be like.. guess a number between 1 and 50, 6 free months of caravelnet if you get it (you can only try once) or some such similar.

What's the answer to your favorite riddle? (Please don't tell us the riddle) That'd be mysterious at least. Might still leave some people out, especially non-English speakers. Unless we encouraged foreign language riddles in that case, which would be kind of awesome.

Whats the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? (Heh, I guess I'm kinda hungry, for every idea here there are like 4 food related questions I didn't post)

Favorite duo? (Batman and Robin, Abbott and Costello, Sonny and Cher, Beethro and Halph or whatever, doesn't matter where from just so they're a duo.)

I think thats about it for goodish ideas I have. At worst I think any of them would at least be less offputting than Arnold.

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gamer_extreme_101
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I think the biggest issue I have about the Arnold thread is that it seems a little out of place in a forum that's so ethnically diverse. If it was a mainly NA forum, then you might get away with it. However, in a forum where English isn't the strongest language for some, something more generic might be better.

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NiroZ
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Beef Row wrote:
What movie monster are you could be fun.

Indeed. Maybe just which monster or villain are you, or if you can't decide, is your favourite. Everybody would have a response to that.

mrimer
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Nice ideas. I've tweaked the forum's new user greeting here and there to incorporate these ideas and bring it up to date. How's it look now?

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Elfstone
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mrimer wrote:
Nice ideas. I've tweaked the forum's new user greeting here and there to incorporate these ideas and bring it up to date. How's it look now?

Oh, very good! I like it. Three cheers for Mike everyone!

I particularly like the fact that in doing that you have retained in the Welcome that sense of "Erik-speak" or Caravel-speak". When you said to me above to write up my ideas I had a sudden mini-panic thinking - I can write it, but will it sound like me rather than Caravel? I can string a sentence or two together, but imitating someone else's style is another matter.


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zex20913
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I'd recommend that some mention be made about the topic having changed at some point, so if somebody reads it, people don't think that Arnold characters are the only hero/villains we associate with.

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Blooloo
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Howzabout an online, single player DROD game for DROD lovers running obscure operating systems?

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