Why I don't participate....

[Mike Cash]

This is tough. On the one hand, it is very nice and neighborly to say hi to all the new people. On the other, if we all did that (thank you mikecash for tasting the "dark side" ), the forum would become deluged with hello messages and it would be hard to pick out the non-hello threads after a while. There must be some kind of balance somewhere... :?

I wouldn't mind the forum becoming deluged with hello messages....if I thought the person had done more than:

1. Open thread
2. Click on "Post Reply" (without reading new member's post, most likely)
3. Control+V a greeting
4. Send the post

Such "greetings" are hardly deserving of the name. What is the next aspect of human interaction the internet will make a mockery of?

 

[Void]

maybe, you should open sort of contest: who is the first to greet newbie?

and get degrees according to the scored points? like

the most exuberant welcomer
the fastest welcomer
the wormest
the meaniest
the laziest
and so on

add special comment to the status (or colour of nickname)

 

[Mike Cash]

maybe, you should open sort of contest: who is the first to greet newbie?

Maybe we should have a designated greeter, like Wal-Mart. People could take turns.

Or maybe Thomas could start a premium version of JREF forums where people pay a small monthly fee to be free of the subfora they don't care about.

 

[Void]

Maybe we should have a designated greeter, like Wal-Mart. People could take turns.

Or maybe Thomas could start a premium version of JREF forums where people pay a small monthly fee to be free of the subfora they don't care about.

What is J-Bot for?

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I wouldn't mind the forum becoming deluged with hello messages....if I thought the person had done more than:

1. Open thread
2. Click on "Post Reply" (without reading new member's post, most likely)
3. Control+V a greeting
4. Send the post

Such "greetings" are hardly deserving of the name. What is the next aspect of human interaction the internet will make a mockery of?

I find myself having to agree. I'm sure that people who do that have good intentions, but it is largely meaningless. I wonder whether it isn't a way that a subset use primarily to boost their number of posts in order to make it to the next level on the totem pole... :?

 

[Void]

I see Member introduction becomes very popular
Index by now
who`s next?

==========

well, maybe....

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Geeezzz Mike !!!!

You explained that reasoning so well, now, not only is my foot stuck in my mouth, but it has a bullet hole in it to boot!

Frank

 

[-Rudel-]

Easy way to join the 1000 post club.

 

[Kinsao]

Isn't there some way that it can be fixed that when you click for "posts since last visit", you can have the option to exclude a sub-forum(s) of your choice? :? Could that be set up, maybe? Then people could exclude posts in member intros, jpop, and chit-chat (kidding you! )

 

[lexico]

Saying hello is the closest it comes to indiscrminate kindness to a new face. It makes me feel better thinking it will make the newbie feel welcome. I don't have to get all judgemental about this and that, as if to welcome a baby into the world... regardless of age. I am spared of the trouble of having to refute any error, for the rule of engagement whispers with a smile, "no criticism here !" hahahahaha.....

Personally I hate a country that personally transferred colonial tactics of genocide to Japan, lent money a/o sold key materials to it for at least two major wars, lured it into war against it by refusing to sell after a while, dropped two great bombs, never apologised for having done so, and now says nobody else is entitled to criticise ignorant posts on Japan. If that were a person, I wonder what mental illness it would be classified for those kind of symptoms ? How about historical schizophrenia ? This thread is going places. hahahahahaha...........

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

 

[Elizabeth]

If either personalized or perfunctory introductions had any correlation with a new person ever returning, much less following up and posting actively, other members might come to care more as well. Why it doesn't work this way, you'd have to ask them.

 

[Duo]

mikecash i can see your point, however, i think it doesn't do you much favor to be a bully to a 16 yr old kid, despite how relevant or valid ur point may be. Your method of how u went about this totally works against what you may have to say or whatever you want to prove..... and I'm actually surprised so many other members have simply decided to acquiescie with your rule of conduct.

 

[Glenn]

Sure, in hindsight it would have been better to have blacked out the name. Oh well.

 

[Elizabeth]

mikecash i can see your point, however, i think it doesn't do you much favor to be a bully to a 16 yr old kid, despite how relevant or valid ur point may be. Your method of how u went about this totally works against what you may have to say or whatever you want to prove..... and I'm actually surprised so many other members have simply decided to acquiescie with your rule of conduct.

I agree. The more effective strategy is always by counter-example, taking pains to read each newcomers post yourself before posting rather than ranting about anyone who dares take it on themselves to do it too quickly and ruin everyone else's viewing experience.

 

[Mike Cash]

mikecash i can see your point, however, i think it doesn't do you much favor to be a bully to a 16 yr old kid, despite how relevant or valid ur point may be. Your method of how u went about this totally works against what you may have to say or whatever you want to prove..... and I'm actually surprised so many other members have simply decided to acquiescie with your rule of conduct.

How many times in this thread have I clearly stated that I have no problem with Smurf in particular? Or that my point is not to pick on him? As Glenn said, in hindsight it would have been better to black out the name. But Smurf is hardly the only person who engages in this sort of behavior.

Have you tried "greeting" a dozen or more people within the short time period that would result in pairs of them having the same time stamp? I did. You can't possibly do it and have time to even read the new person's self-introduction. In other words, and pay close attention to this part, the only way you can "greet" them that way is by ignoring them.

That means that the greetings aren't greetings at all, so it is pretty pointless to take the position of defending such posting by saying that they're just being nice/friendly/welcoming/etc. To the contrary, it's rude to the new member (who thankfully is almost certainly blissfully unaware of it) and, even worse, it is annoying to many others.

 

[Mike Cash]

I agree. The more effective strategy is always by counter-example, taking pains to read each newcomers post yourself before posting rather than ranting about anyone who dares take it on themselves to do it too quickly and ruin everyone else's viewing experience.

1. That is a noble thought, but it wouldn't work.
2. Since when is one sentence a rant?

 

[smurf]

Why might I ask are some of you making such a big deal out of this? All I and some other members have done is seen a bunch of newbies that we have never gotten the chance to say hello to yet so we say great them. (Oh and by the way Mikecash, I do glance at the topic before I welcome them)

 

[Mike Cash]

"glance at the topic"? Not "read the person's self-introduction"?

"Hi. I don't care enough about you to read your introduction, but I'll ctrl+v a greeting on you anyway <string of smileys>" is the message that gets conveyed, no matter what is actually written there.

That's sort of like greeting people in real life without even bothering to look in their direction.

 

[Elizabeth]

1. That is a noble thought, but it wouldn't work.
2. Since when is one sentence a rant?

Wouldn't solve what problem ? The second it takes to scroll down or the embarrassment of appearing not to have a more genuine concern for newcomers ? It certainly would have given you more credibility on the second account.

Personally I think reading the entire post is a personal matter. It isn't a forum to get acquainted -- although at least using their name would be a nice touch, like NANGI who has the excuse of a non-native speaker.

 

[Glenn]

I agree with mike in principle; it's a bit annoying sometimes and I doubt the sincerity of many welcome messages. However practically there is the question of whether the one being welcomed would even notice. There's also the question of whether the one being welcomed even checks the threads. I know that there have been some who either haven't or haven't wanted to answer my posts in particular. All in all it makes me question the need for an introduction forum at all.

On the other side, it is sometimes difficult to post anything substantial as a welcome message when the introductions we get are usually something like "hi, i'm X. just found this place." In those cases I say that the stock welcome message is deserved, and indeed anything beyond that can't be expected.

 

[kirei_na_me]

I still agree with Mike wholeheartedly about everything. I know that's not the popular viewpoint, but well, that's how it is. I'm not saying NOT to welcome new members, but I do believe we could be more...selective about it? Or something.

I've been dealing with a computer virus all day and I just can't gather my thoughts right now...

 

[Glenn]

For instance, not going back a whole week to welcome people would be a good start.

 

[Elizabeth]

I think the best start would be for the moderators to handle it privately before it reaches this level of misunderstanding and insult.

 

[Mike Cash]

Has someone been insulting in this thread? I must have missed it. Could you point out the culprit, please? (Is it the same guy who does one sentence rants?)

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Of course mikecash has a valid point, and so does Elizabeth. Of course nothing we post here will really solve this "problem". I doubt mikecash had any idea this thread would get so much response when he posted it. He was probably trying to find a rather peaceful way to vent. He found an audience (Hi! I'm part of said audience; I admit it.), and he vented some more. I found the whole spectacle to be entirely entertaining. Why? No one was hurt, and in the end, I hope it got some of us to think about what courtesy really is. How should we behave when we are on the forum? Questions like this.

Mikecash uses a blunt instrument sometimes, but I don't think he really crossed any lines. Got a little childish, perhaps? Maybe. Insulting...I didn't think so, but then again, I don't disagree with his fundamental point.