New members, how do you handle them?

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  • montana rover
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2016
    • 168
    • 5.3.x

    New members, how do you handle them?

    How do other forum admin's handle new users. What I mean is how do you go about welcoming them? I know in AdminCP you can add email addresses to send to people you choose, which notifies them when a new user signs up. For some reason my forum will only send an email to only the last email in the list. Wayne looked into it months ago and said there was an issue in my forum.

    Right now, I do have an email greeting that is sent automatically to the new user that welcomes them. Aside from members clicking on the username and sending them a PM, that is the only
    way they can get greeted.

    Anyway, is there a way that when a new user signs up, all the forum members are able to greet them. In others words can a new topic be automatically be created to a category so members can greet them? Or something like that?

    I know we have a module that shows a new member has joined and displays there username, but that's it.

    Can anybody share on how they handle new users?

    Thanks, Scott
  • Mrs.T
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 1210
    • 6.0.X

    #2
    Like you we send a welcome email to a new member giving them a friendly welcome to the forum and suggesting they come and say hello.

    We also have a section on the forum called "say hello" where new members can come on and do just that, other members are always keen to welcome them.

    We also use the notices option to set up different notices to appear based on number of posts and other variables to put up a notice when someone logs in, for members who keep logging in and not posting it is a friendly, dismissable message saying we would all love to know more about them.

    However, at the end of the day you have to respect that some people just don't want to share info about themselves in public and are just there to browse the forums, hopefully given time they will join in more.

    You could of course make the 'say hello' section for members only, that way those who don't like public info about themselves would feel happier..


    Last edited by Mrs.T; Fri 13 Oct '17, 8:38am.

    Comment

    • montana rover
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2016
      • 168
      • 5.3.x

      #3
      Thanks Mrs Tiggywinkle for the reply. I have done exactly what you have done. Just trying to figure it all out. I thought that there might be another way. Our forum is private and you must sign on to view it.

      I guess you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make him drink!

      if anybody else has a suggestion feel free to chime in.

      Comment

      • Wayne Luke
        vBulletin Technical Support Lead
        • Aug 2000
        • 73981

        #4
        Add a new notice encouraging the person to join in and introduce themselves.
        Translations provided by Google.

        Wayne Luke
        The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
        vBulletin 5 API

        Comment

        • montana rover
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2016
          • 168
          • 5.3.x

          #5
          Okay Wayne, I made up a notice the will appear for anyone that has never posted before, We'll see how that goes. I already say the same thing in the welcome email too. Thanks for your suggestion. I guess it's all we can do. I was hoping for something else, not sure what though.

          Comment

          • Wayne Luke
            vBulletin Technical Support Lead
            • Aug 2000
            • 73981

            #6
            Many people don't even use email these days. I avoid it as much as possible. Too many unsolicited messages or a site you visited once ten years ago decides to start sending you 50 newsletters a month. It is just a holding bin in case they need to recover a password.
            Translations provided by Google.

            Wayne Luke
            The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
            vBulletin 5 API

            Comment

            • glennrocksvb
              Former vBulletin Developer
              • Mar 2011
              • 4011
              • 5.7.X

              #7
              Give them an incentive to start a topic. On my vb mods site, if they start a topic (posting reply and comment are disabled for users without posts), then they would be able to see source code and download attachments for the free mods I created. Otherwise, they won't be able to get those freebies.

              Flag Icon Postbit Insert GIPHY Impersonate User BETTER INITIALS AVATAR Better Name Card Quote Selected Text Bookmark Posts Post Footer Translate Stop Links in Posts +MORE!

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              • montana rover
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2016
                • 168
                • 5.3.x

                #8
                I understand what you are saying. I've contacted a few of them but they are happy being lurkers. The problem with my forum is that it is up against the same thing a Keystone Montana RV Forum, and most of my members are from the other much larger forum of 15 years.

                Comment

                • Mrs.T
                  Senior Member
                  • Nov 2007
                  • 1210
                  • 6.0.X

                  #9
                  Originally posted by montana rover
                  I understand what you are saying. I've contacted a few of them but they are happy being lurkers. The problem with my forum is that it is up against the same thing a Keystone Montana RV Forum, and most of my members are from the other much larger forum of 15 years.
                  Sometimes you find that people prefer to be members of a smaller forum, they feel more at home with a friendlier feel. Your forum looks great, you are the opposite of us. What you call a RV we call a motorhome and our forum deals mainly with the very small ones, usually about 15 ft long max. We could probably fit quite a few of ours in one of the 5th Wheelers!

                  We saw a 5th wheel a few weeks ago, an unusual sight in the UK, they are not that popular due to some of our very narrow country roads. Despite our vans petite size we still have all the mod cons, toilet, shower, cooker, fridge etc.

                  Anyway, back to your question. I don't know if this will help but we have a daily thread which the first person online in the day starts off, it can be any subject whatsoever and is usually just what people are up to that day. It can be mundane, such as going to the doctors or exciting like having family visit from overseas. Everyone enjoys taking part and always log in to see what is happening (human beings are nosy and it can only be seen when logged in so it encourages them to log in each day ). At the end of the day the thread is closed.

                  This creates a real family feel as everyone gets to know each other, cries with them at sad news and celebrates good stuff. These are things you don't get on a very large forum as you can feel isolated, so maybe being smaller could be your niche?

                  Good luck and happy travelling

                  Comment


                  • montana rover
                    montana rover commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks for the compliments and advice!
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