bus

Hello and welcome, chances are if you are reading this thread it's due to the pm i have sent you. Thank you for taking the time to come here. As i said in the pm this is essentially a chance for you to give the reasons behind you becoming inactive around here, hopefully giving us a clue to what can be improved.

What i would like in replies if possible:

1) As stated above, the reasons behind your inactivity.
2) What, if anything, would have made it more likely for you to stay? What would you like to change? If you had complete control over the welcome wagon what would you change, would you want to change anything at all?

At the moment this thread will not be for discussion, just a place to gather all views of current welcome wagon members. So if at the moment it could just be focused on the 2 questions above, and at a later stage we can discuss.

Another thread had previously been made to discuss suggestions, that can be found here, this thread is really just a slight side track from that, as the main reason for this thread is to discuss reasons for inactivity, and although suggestions are welcomed, they are not essential, unlike the other topic.

Thank you.

Alex

*just to note if you came here due to the private message i sent you i have pm'd all welcome wagonners, not just you, except for a few that i know are currently active*

i have to be careful as to when i can check on all the stuff here on BUS due to my recent IP treatment my parents are worried that being on here will make me want to cut more when it fact it does just the opposite of that

it is/was nothing wrong with this part of the site or anything on this site at all its just i have other things that take up my time adn as much as i would love to be more active in such a great online community i just dont think i have enough time

1st reply recieved via pm.

1) Failed to recieve responses after sending welcome pm's.
2) Focus more on replying to new threads rather than pm'ing.

hi I used to be very active seding pm's to newbies and getting some amazing replies from them and more than a few friendships. however i just got a bit overwhelmed with emotional junk and it was too hard for me to write to people. i dont think any changes need to be made. x

hi i have become inactive for a while now because of my home situation but i am back now while I am online at my friends and I would like to contune.

Not long after I joined I became inactive on the whole board.
But mainly, I didn't know what to say in welcome PMs, and felt worried that I might feel obligated to be "friends" with people just based on that first PM, which I didn't think was fair on them or me, if I had no real interest in talking to them (which makes me sound like an arsehole, but I am not in the frame of mind for people who I don't know's emotional baggage)
Also, a lot of the time the PMs to newbies were being dealt with, when I was active on bus, and you said you didn't want to overwhelm them with too many. I tried to respond in intro threads, but, as I said, it was not long before I became inactive on BUS. Also, I have been told my post count is intimidating, and worried about that.

I have class and i'm applying to med school right now, so I'm not even on BUS except at rare instances. I don't forsee this changing.

I find it hard to know what to write in pms to newbies, and instead prefer to write welcomes in their first threads...

Bit of a rubbish excuse though I know

I agree - I don't really know what to say. I know others are welcoming them as wel - I don't want to overwhelm them or scare em off, but I don't want them to feel not welcome. I know when I joined, I remember being pm-ed by amerylis, who has become a great friend....but don't remember too much else. I know I felt a little nervous at first. Do we post on the "newbies" thread or pm? I've pm-ed and never heard anything back. Sorry for rambling. Let me know what is decided!

Thanks....and sorry!!!

Leeanna

I haven't been around BUS as I have been really poorly. When I have sent pms I have had no response at all so don't know if I am actually doing things right!

Love Polly xxx

I just never exactly knew how I could be involved. (Sorry, that sounds like a bit of a cop-out... but I'm really still a bit clueless as to the way that things work around here).

I try to pm the newest member when I see them at the bottom of the front page but normally I find that they have already had a pm sent to them when I check the pm to newbies thread and I don't want to bombard them with pms. I used to send a lot more pms a couple of years ago when I saw new members but since then I have got busier.

I do still want to be involved though.

For the most part.. I have just become inactive with the entire board.. life got really busy, and I was never around..

I agree with what others have said about not being sure what to say in the pm.. mainly I'd jump in their first post and bring in my sarcastic self for a laugh or two, [plus lots of cows..]

I'm impressed by the amount of replies so far. Thank you. Just to let you all know that i won't be doing much with the responses i have recieved until mid january time. Mainly because i will be away for 3 weeks or so by the end of next week, but also it gives time for as many people as possible to reply. By mid january though i will view all the responses and try to gather together all the different views and work out what the next step should be.

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Just some thoughts from another busser, recieved via pm. (posted with permission of course)

I used to be an active member of the welcome wagon.. now, not so much. the last few months have been really hard for me to reply as it is.. i would have a lot of trouble just finding time to send messages. i apologize if it sounds selfish, but everything just seems like it takes so much energy and stuff.

once in a blue moon i'll PM someone, on my own, if i can relate to something in their profile

i don't think i can actively PM people, but i do mention spammers in the welcome wagon forum..

i think you should make another message on main or other boards saying what WW does and if anyone would be interested.. because a lot of peope only stick to one board or are new and never read the old message.

i mainy jump in on the imnew threads what else can i do? not trying to sound sarcastic but i'd like to be better at welcoming people. u can pm me if u have more suggestions for me so this thread doesn't go to OT.

i joined when welcome wagon was inactive, then i never really came back. that and im busy
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Honda Z50A

i joined just as i was about to leave bus. although ive still got my account and stuff, i never visit bus anymore. so thats why i'm inactive/wasn't active

I have my own problems going on at the moment. I'm not posting much on the main board either.

I still think it might be easier to just PM people who make a first post. It would be more personal as you already know a little bit about them,and it would mean less PMs needed to be sent. I also think the "timetable" of who sends PMs on what day is a bit unecessary. I've never been part of that timetable and it has always worked okay for me. It just confuses people who are coming to the WW for the first time and makes it harder to just start sending a PM or two.

I haven't really had a chance to become active with the welcome wagon yet. I don't have much time to be on bus in general right now. I need to look into how this all works a little bit more, when I have the time.

I'm just kind of inacive with the whole forum, and don't have as much time as I'd like.