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In this question about font identification, asked recently by Brendan, Aarthi mentioned this post in the Mi Yodeya site.

It basically invites the site's usuals to welcome new users by following a series of patterns that include leaving messages to encourage participation:

Here's the pattern I usually follow:

I wait until I see a question or answer from a new user that I think is on-topic and at all valuable. (If I'm not sure if the user is new, I click into the user profile and see if there are any prior valuable questions or answers.)

If the content is upvote-worthy, I upvote the question or answer.

I leave a comment on it starting with something like:

@user, Welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for the [positive adjective] question/answer! If the question or answer could use some improvement (e.g. adding a source), I add guidance to that effect.

If the new user is unregistered (which will apparent from the word "Unregistered" near the top of the user's /users/[number] page), I add something like:

Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.

Do you think we should do something similar here, "rewarding" new users for good questions, and of course also warning them if (as it happens a lot with the [font-identification] tag) they are missing the point of the site?

The 'corrective' comment happens naturally most of the time, but do you think we should agree on a welcome text too, and encourage it as a community?

EDIT: If we agree on this idea, we could remove the spider webs and sweep the floor of that poor chat room we have, and decide on the messages there (Welcome message, font identification boilerplate, and any other ideas).

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    Yes, and part of the answer should probably be some agreement on what we call ourselves, what we're welcoming them to... I often just go with "...the site", "GD.SE" is the next best but I imagine it's a bit of a "Huh? What's GD.SE?" for most people. Feb 20, 2013 at 17:36
  • ...speaking of, if we're going to get promoted and leave beta, do we get a 'proper' name like "Graphic Answers" or something? If so any news on what it's going to be or how it's going to be decided on? (maybe that should be a seperate question) Feb 21, 2013 at 10:36
  • @user568458 I think it would make a good new question (easier to see opinions in the shape an answers, rather than comments).
    – Yisela
    Feb 21, 2013 at 20:05
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    Possible inspiration: Welcome to TeX.sx!
    – yo'
    Feb 22, 2013 at 16:45
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    Very good idea. Can we have something like Text building blocks? Feb 23, 2013 at 13:49
  • @MartinSchröder Definitely. I'll add some in a new question, if there isn't a set being used at the moment.
    – Yisela
    Feb 23, 2013 at 20:29

1 Answer 1

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Tochecz shared a link to a similar discussion in TeX.sx that is worth taking a look at. they mention that most of the new visitors are people who's more used to forums, so based on that I used the first paragraph from them for a possible welcome text.

If agreed we put it as a new question and use it as an introduction. An adapted copy of TeX.SX. Feel free to edit.


Welcome to Graphic Design, the free, community driven Questions and Answers site for 2D design professionals, students, and enthusiasts.

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