New Members section

[Bluerose]

I keep opening post in the New Members section that are not ‘new members’ and would be more helpful in say the support section. Is anyone moderating here and should these posts be moved to the appropriate section? Saving me time when all I want to do is welcome a new member.

[diane]

im new and i posted a topic looking for help and no-one has answered me yet either, i hope this doesn't take to long. good luck with your site. my name is diane by the way.:confused:

[SweetSue]

Hi diane,

sorry no one has replied yet, sometimes posts get missed.

take care

sue

[Bluerose]

The New Members forum is confusing to me because new members are being missed because other posts that should be in other sections are being posted there and no one seems to be moderating the board. What’s the point of ‘Feedback’ if moderators and admin don’t reply to it?

Sorry Bluerose, I answered your question in your post by mistake, thus the editing. I moved my response out. They will soon be taking my badge, raise and vacation time for these things.

[David O]

Good morning "guys",

I'm sorry this is so confusing, yes we're here, all of us check in as we can and as time permits. I generally check in at 5AM daily and clear out spam, advertising for porn and various other things. I try to answer 1-3 questions per day and can spend 1-2 hours on here. Other moderators spend time, as I do, when they can.

Diane, sometimes we miss a question (especially if we're heavily involved in 3-4 other threads where we've assumed a strong helping role), as Jj points out.

Also, we all have our opening window to the forum set up differently, mine is set up to catch all new posts within 24 hours, others open based on topic area or something else.

I'll look for your question immediately, and my apologies again,

David

___________________________________________

Diane, in looking at your opening thread, it seems there have been several thoughtful responses already.

[David O]

Good morning Bluerose,

I'm not sure I understood your post-- likely me tho. What is the "feedback" you're referring to where mods and admins are supposed to reply to. Sometimes there are things on the mechanics of the forum that aren't clear to me either.

With respect to where people post, this has been an ongoing issue and while I would move threads around to make sure everything is in its' place, I've also been known to inadvertently delete entire threads, posts and someday, at this pace--- Google, Yahoo and even the presidency are at risk.

David

[Guest ASchwartz]

Hi Bluerose,

Your complaint has merit. There are a couple of problems. One is that there is not enough staff to respond quickly to all the new members who post on the New Members Forum. We do the best we can.

Second, I have also noticed that older and established members sometimes post on that forum. Often, they are responding to new members and there is back and forth dialogue but sometimes someone who is established posts there incorrectly.

Third, we can sometimes have several new members posting at the same time or very close in time to one another. That causes some posts to become hidden. This is also a problem of not enough staff.

Its not a perfect system but we are doing the best we can.

Allan

[Bluerose]

David and Allan,

Thank you for your replies. I'm relieved that you both see that there is a problem and that it's not just me in a crabby mood. Other boards specify that the New Members Forum is for introductions only making it easier to just pop in and make new members feel relaxed and welcome. As it is just now new members are encouraged to post about their 'issues' so we welcome them and reply to their 'issues'. The problem is when we try to go back for a follow up reply it's difficult to keep track of the posts we just left a welcome on and posts where we replied to someone's more serious 'issues'. I find I'm wasting time opening posts I left a welcome on while I look for posts that might need a follow up reply. If people were encouraged to introduce themselves in New Members and then post the more serious stuff in a specific forum there is a better chance that posts won't be missed.

David, I thought 'Feedback' was for comments about the board. If I got that wrong or posted in the wrong place I apologise.

I know about moderating, I’ve done some and I know how hard it is to keep up with things.

This is a good board but like most things in life there is room for improvement.