Guide to the Welcome Wagon

[Butterfly.]

Hello and thank you for joining the Welcome Wagon.

Your help in welcoming new members is very much appreciated!

Below is some information to get you started and answer some of the questions you might have.

Thank you to Green Beauty who created the original version of a lot of this information

[Butterfly.]

What's the aim of the Welcome Wagon?

Our main aim is to welcome new members to bus, giving them an introduction to what this place is about and hopefully making them feel a little less lost as they start navigating the board.

Now I’m here what should I do?

• Start by introducing yourself here. Even just a hello!
• Check out some of the information below in case you have any questions
• Start contributing to welcoming new members however you feel most able to

[Butterfly.]

Main Tasks of WW

The main things we do here in the Welcome Wagon are:
1. PM new members
2. Reply to new members threads
3. Inform other welcome wagon members of newbies and newbie threads
4. Help spot spammers

There is no set way to go about doing things. What you do is up to you and however you can fit it in with your time on bus. Generally, anything that can help make a new member feel more at home is something worth doing.

So, how much time do I have to give?
That is up to you. There is no required amount of time you need to give to be part of the Welcome Wagon. As you have chosen to be apart of this group, it would be good for you to get involved, but whether that’s an hour a day or a minute a week, it really doesn’t matter. As the old saying goes, every little bit helps.

How do I know who is new?
If you have a look of the bottom of the forum index page, you will see "Our newest member (name)". This will tell you who the latest person to join is, and by clicking on their name will take you to their profile.
To be able to see a list of users that have recently joined, go to Members (which can be found at the very bottom of any page on the forum), and press 'JOINED' to sort in order of join date in descending order. This will show you all of the most recent people to join.

[Butterfly.]

PM'ing new members

What you say in your PM is up to you. Some people prefer to use a standard template, some will write a personalised PM every time and others use a mixture of both depending on the time/energy they have.

I'll link to a template here.

I've sent the PM, now what?
Let everyone else know who has received a welcome PM by posting the name/s of those you sent one to in the Pm a newbie thread.
It is completely fine if more than one person sends a PM to the same person, but we don't want one person getting too many welcome PMs and becoming overwhelmed or intimidated.

No-one is replying to my PMs, am I doing it wrong?
There could be many reasons why someone doesn’t reply, and it is their choice if they respond or not.
Try checking your outbox to see if the PM you sent is still there or not. If it is then the member has not opened it. You can leave it there for as long as you like, or delete it. The reasons for people not picking up PMs could be endless; maybe they have not come back, maybe they don't know how, maybe they just have not noticed they have one, etc.

[Butterfly.]

1st Threads

How can I find newbies' 1st threads?
The three main ways to thread hunt are as follows:
1. Many new members introduce themselves in the Introduce Yourself (Please Add On) thread on main. It is a great way to find new members first posts.
2. Visit parts of the forum and see if you can notice any obvious 1st threads. Look for title such as ‘New here’, ‘Thought I would introduce myself’ etc, or members names you haven't seen before.
3. Sort the Memberlist as before, and look at the post counts. Click on their usernames, and in the profile click on ‘Find all posts by…’ and you will be able to see if they have started any threads of their own.

What do I do once I have found a members 1st thread?
Firstly, if you have time and are able to, try to reply to the thread. If you're not able to, don't worry. Either way try to post the link to the thread in the 1st threads topic. This will enable other members a chance to respond and welcome them as well.

[Butterfly.]

Spammers

Firstly, have a read of Warning about helping with spam for some tips on keeping yourself safe when coming across spam accounts.

How can I tell if someone is a spammer or not?
The best way to spot a spammer is to look at the information on their profile, or on the Memberlist. Often spam accounts will have one or more 'red flags' such as unusual or nonesense responses to gender/interests/location, or a website in their profile/signature.

Of course, not everyone who has a website in their profile is a spammer, so be aware of that, try to consider the type of site, the members name and any other details in their profile.

I have noticed a spammer, what should I do?
Post the details of the spam account here. This allows admins to see accounts that need to be splatted.

If you have noticed a spammer posting something that needs immediate action, use the report function on their post (if you feel safe to open the thread) or PM an online admin/mod.

[Butterfly.]

Quick reference list


Introduce yourself to other welcome wagonners.

Post usernames of who you have PM'd

Post links to 1st threads .

Main introduction thread on main

Would-be spammers

View the entire membership list of bus