Forum:Welcoming new users

Well, it seems welcoming new users is only happening very sporadically these days. It's not surprising though since it's mostly Ausir who usually does the welcoming; in his absence, it more or less does not happen at all. I'm terrible at this kind of stuff personally :P Making people feel at home is one of the keys of building a successful editing community though, so it'd be good if we could improve that.

Any user can welcome a new user - it doesn't have to be an admin who does it. If you notice a new editor who has made a couple of edits, simply place  on his or her talk page (  for anons). -- Porter21 (talk) 21:54, September 21, 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've been half-absent lately, but hopefully I'll have more time for the wiki soon. Ausir(talk) 12:14, September 22, 2009 (UTC)


 * Just to clarify, that wasn't meant as criticism - everybody has periods of decreased activity :) I was just saying that you're really the only one who usually welcomes users on a regular basis. Ash used to do it as well (extensively) but she's been gone for quite a while now. I guess it doesn't hurt to spread that responsibility over a few more users. -- Porter21 (talk) 12:20, September 22, 2009 (UTC)

Comments
But does anybody really use the WELCOME!!! cheery template? I never got one, but the "Hi there" from Mr. Sully seemed to be much better. It feels more human, which makes the new user feel more at home. Right? Nitty 21:58, September 21, 2009 (UTC)
 * It's more personal, but I doubt you'll remember to include all the help links every time. The welcome template is used plenty. -- Porter21 (talk) 22:02, September 21, 2009 (UTC)
 * Sure, it's used, but is it good? The new user fully expects that, from the stark lack of humanity in the message, that they're getting the Wikia welcome script. That, and everyone gets the same cut-and-dried thing. Any user poking around would see plenty of them, and realise that by getting one, that person giving it is not really paying attention to anything that the user might be doing, just checking off another un-templated talk page. Nitty 22:09, September 21, 2009 (UTC)
 * As I already said, it's a matter of being personal vs providing new users a point to start. If you'd rather answer any questions a new user might have than directing them to the appropriate help pages, be my guest. Some of us don't have the time for that (that's not meant to sound condescending, it's simply the reason why the template is used). -- Porter21 (talk) 22:23, September 21, 2009 (UTC)
 * As for "that person giving it is not really paying attention to anything that the user might be doing, just checking off another un-templated talk page", I only give the welcome message to contributors with good edits to articles - not to vandals, people with crappy edits or people who only write in forums and comments. It's also a good way of spotting new editors in the recent changes - if one has a red talk page link, chances are he didn't get a welcome message so his edits should be looked at more closely. If it were about just checking off every red talk page, I would just have Wikia activate auto-welcoming. Ausir(talk) 12:54, September 22, 2009 (UTC)
 * I guess Nitpicker's point is that a new user doesn't know that (i.e. that you only welcome certain users), all he or she sees is a standardized message which makes it look like an automated one. -- Porter21 (talk) 14:22, September 22, 2009 (UTC)

Personal welcome messages
Could I create my own personal welcome? Spoon Leave me a freakin' message 21:57, September 21, 2009 (UTC)
 * Up to you really. Just make a sub-page of your user space, you can then "subst" it just like a the welcome template. -- Porter21 (talk) 06:39, September 22, 2009 (UTC)


 * And you can always substitute the welcome template and then add some personal stuff to the message. Ausir(talk) 12:14, September 22, 2009 (UTC)
 * If i may ask,what would i need to do to properly make my own customized welcome? HOLD! RELEASETIME! 12:37, September 22, 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, simply make a page called (for example) User:Werewolfhell/welcome. Then put whatever you'd like in there and you can put it on a talk page by using . If you want your signature with current date in there (like in Template:Welcome), insert   in the welcome page where you want the signature to appear and use   instead. -- Porter21 (talk) 14:22, September 22, 2009 (UTC)