PM'ing new people is good, and I think the welcome wagon does really help people feel more welcome (yay us!) but I think it has its limits. It's hard to make friends on a board like this.
On other forums I've adopted various new members, and have had nothing but positive feedback about it. I also post on several forums which have a thread or section dedicated to people asking to be adopted by an experienced board member and/or asking for buddies.
How the adoption system works on another forum I use is that people post saying "I'd like to be adopted" or "I want to adopt somebody" and then people can post saying "(username), I'll adopt you!" or "(username), I want to be adopted!" or they can PM the person if they like. Its less scary than asking somebody directly.
The buddy forum works slightly differently. Anyone can make a thread asking for buddies and/or pen pals, some people ask for people thier own age, or the same gender, or the same sexuality/religion or who live in thier country/city or whatever. I've used it when I've felt lonely and wanted a new friend and it works great.
Does anybody else think we could start some sort of system like this?
