How Should We Handle New Members?

[idylatoo]

As long as I have been a member here, I have noticed that new members are frequently attacked because their first post/s are usually a positive review of a company more experienced users know isn't all that great.

I am looking for suggestions on how we should welcome new users to the forum to avoid the (somewhat) inevitable reaction.

A lot of forums have a sticky that welcomes new users and gives them a brief synopsis of the rules along with directing them where to make an introductory post. I'd like to set up something similar here, but I am looking for suggestions before I just slap something together myself.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[Administrator]

Thanks idylatoo! There does seem to be a noticeable wave of skepticism and cynicism directed at new users, which most certainly doesn't seem like a friendly welcome. A sort of "meet and greet" could prove to be really helpful. Excellent suggestion!

[peach6]

I

As long as I have been a member here, I have noticed that new members are frequently attacked because their first post/s are usually a positive review of a company more experienced users know isn't all that great.

I am looking for suggestions on how we should welcome new users to the forum to avoid the (somewhat) inevitable reaction.

A lot of forums have a sticky that welcomes new users and gives them a brief synopsis of the rules along with directing them where to make an introductory post. I'd like to set up something similar here, but I am looking for suggestions before I just slap something together myself.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I don't know how new members should be handled but I have noticed they are always attacked which really isn't fair.I think everyone on this site has a right to there own opinion and you don't have to agree with everyone.I know some sites that people on here complain about I do okay with and then there are others which people rave about and I don't do well with them.

[abby63]

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As long as I have been a member here' date=' I have noticed that new members are frequently attacked because their first post/s are usually a positive review of a company more experienced users know isn't all that great.

I am looking for suggestions on how we should welcome new users to the forum to avoid the (somewhat) inevitable reaction.

A lot of forums have a sticky that welcomes new users and gives them a brief synopsis of the rules along with directing them where to make an introductory post. I'd like to set up something similar here, but I am looking for suggestions before I just slap something together myself.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. [/quote']

I don't know how new members should be handled but I have noticed they are always attacked which really isn't fair.I think everyone on this site has a right to there own opinion and you don't have to agree with everyone.I know some sites that people on here complain about I do okay with and then there are others which people rave about and I don't do well with them.

I haven't been a user for very long but if someone had attacked me for a positive/negative review it would have been my last post here and I would not have had good things to say about Survey Police to others:!: I believe the forum is for everyone to post comments not just the few who have been here for a while. I agree that sometimes you will get people who just want referrals but you have to give everyone a chance to have their say. It's easy to hit that ! mark at the top of the post for the referral links. You don't have to be in agreement with everything that is posted. Have a great day

[spider]

I don't think new members need to be handled. I am a new member and I got a very welcome response the first time I posted on this site. I was excited because I had won a camera from NPDOR which a lot of people are skeptical about. I found myself being congratulated for winning and not being viewed with suspicion. I think that you can tell through someones post if they have the right attitude or not and the recent "new member" that is responsible for causing this reaction had a bad attitude from the start and I think people can sense that.

[idylatoo]

I don't think new members need to be handled. I am a new member and I got a very welcome response the first time I posted on this site. I was excited because I had won a camera from NPDOR which a lot of people are skeptical about. I found myself being congratulated for winning and not being viewed with suspicion. I think that you can tell through someones post if they have the right attitude or not and the recent "new member" that is responsible for causing this reaction had a bad attitude from the start and I think people can sense that.

Like another member said, maybe it's best for new members to post on other threads (and I think posting about a win goes along with this) instead of making threads about companies. I think it's a good idea and something I would put in a welcome post for new users as not everyone who joins here is familiar/experienced with online forums.

[spider]

Good point. I must have skipped over that part about contributing to already started threads because this whole topic seems silly to me!

I still think that people need to approach this with the right attitude and they will be welcomed.

[idylatoo]

Good point. I must have skipped over that part about contributing to already started threads because this whole topic seems silly to me!

I still think that people need to approach this with the right attitude and they will be welcomed.

It was in the other thread that sparked this idea.

There have been other instances of this happening where the user had a better attitude and was still greeted the same way. I can think of a particular instance where users ended up apologizing after to the newcomer, but that shouldn't have happened at all. I think overall we need the rules to be more visible - for instance, I think it's easy to think referral links are allowed here as they are at most forums. There is the established "unspoken code" that new users posting reviews are likely just looking for referrals and I think to combat that there needs to be a better - and more visible way - to welcome new users and help them along. The ones just here for referrals will likely stick out even more because they probably won't go to all that trouble.

Additionally, there seems to have been a lot of confusion about how reporting posts works and well, how moderating generally works so that needs to be rectified as well. Users need to know that hitting the "!" does have a purpose and does work. And like everything else this information needs to be visible and easy to find.

Hopefully easy references will turn the "Oh, you're new and posting a positive review" responses into "Welcome! We don't allow referral links here. Please see the rules *link here* and feel free to post an introduction on the new user thread and join in our other discussions." You know, or something similar. Heh.