I've noticed a few people posting intros. I don't think these things should be explicitly discouraged; on the other hand if the site grows as many of us hope, reading and responding to intros is going to get...I don't know...old. I just think the dynamic is likely to be that old hands won't bother responding, or will even become jaded by the love-bombing that occurs with each new person, newer people might engage in welcoming as a way of "fitting in", or might not, and if nobody responds to the intro, then the new person might be put off.

So I wonder if it might be worth putting a sticky somewhere suggesting that the best way to get into the forum is to just post a message on a topic that interests you, either as a reply or as a new thread, and that whether or not people express welcomes, anyone who comes here with something interesting to say about RPGs is, in fact, welcome. Or something like that.

Edit: maybe this discussion belongs in the Help Desk.

I tend to agree.  I have nothing against "Hi!" threads or the people who post them, but threads like that do tend to get old after a while.  There's also the simple fact that stickied intro threads and intro forums are usually ignored by every poster in every forum ever.

Post up good stuff and you'll fit in fine.  Alternatively, just be an epic fucktard, shithead or cocksmock.

Given how few there have been in the months I've been here, I don't think it's anywhere near the point where it needs it's own thread. Plus, if people say more than just "hi" in their hello threads, interesting conversations may spring up.

Also, posting a "no hello threads" in a notice somewhere won't have much effect beyond creating more work for the moderators. Most people just don't read those, preferring to leap into the fray immediately.

That's why I don't think the mods or anyone should actively stop the intro threads. Again: anybody who posts to an intro thread just to say, "Please don't post intro threads" is being unnecessarily, I dunno, bossy.

But simply expressing that they really aren't necessary might help cut down on the awkwardness...at least the awkwardness I've often felt when they crop up. Because they give a sense of the forum being a community that love bombs people just because they show up on the doorstep. I encourage intros elsewhere (such as a local gamer mailing list I run) but I think they're kind of out of place here.

There may be more new people joining over the last day or so, refugees from RPGnet(like me).

I've never felt comfortable posting an introduction thread in any forum I've joined. Always found it better to just start posting, and let people et to know me that way.

Personally, I'm all in favor of people simply pretending that they've always been here.  Where familiarity fails, make shit up on a grand scale.

!i!

Quote from: GoldenApeThere may be more new people joining over the last day or so, refugees from RPGnet(like me).

I've never felt comfortable posting an introduction thread in any forum I've joined. Always found it better to just start posting, and let people et to know me that way.

Ditto.  The last time I was here there wasn't a whole lot to see, but RPGnet's stumble gave me an excuse to check out a few forums I'd visited in the past.  It's definitely picking up around here, so I'll probably be checking in fairly regularly.  (I just need to find an avatar...)

Tom B.