Can we come up with some tips for newbies and the huge silent audience on JWN to make it easier and more fun for them to post?

by Fernando 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  Fernando

  JWN was the first forum I posted on. At the moment it is still largely the only forum I post on.

  In the begining I was totally green, but just jumped right in. For me that was not too hard since I can be outspoken by nature. Still I would have appreciated some practical guidelines on etiquette, what generally works, what often fails or causes problems.

  It might be great if a newbie could avoid setting off a firestorm on their first post, and rather set the scene to be welcomed warmly, despite different views or opinions.

  It might also be great if more of the huge silent audience felt free to participate without fear of any sort.

  Can we come up with some tips, and maybe links to other threads like this?
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  MrFreeze

  I think usually when people make their first post they are warmly welcomed. Never seen it happen any other way on this forum.
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  Lozhasleft

  I think most newbies get a warm welcome here. Occasionally they don't seem to be sure what to do first so a thread like this could be 'pinned' somewhere to help maybe? If they just start an introduction thread in Members or Friends perhaps saying whats brought them here, what advice they need, if any, etc, they're soon up and running.

  Loz x
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  Qcmbr

  I'd like it if there was a stricter section of the forum for newbies where mods looked after them before they migrated to the main forum - purely to protect them from getting flamed early on. I am conscious that it gets a bit rough especially if the newbie is religious and vocal.
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  wha happened?

  I din't get flamed on my 1st posts. More like crickets chirping. I wondered why but later on I learned that sometimes some of the posters wait to see if another apologist is on board, or a troll
• 

  WTWizard

  I think it's understood that many are in various stages of migrating away from being witlesses. Most of them know the religion is wrong, and they feel inside that they are being made witless by the religion doing their thinking for them. Many are still active but beginning to question whether the religion is really for them. Understanding that the religion is bad is important for them, including seeing the bad effects it has had on people.

  I don't see widespread problems with people putting up valid posts and getting trashed. People that are new here are usually in the early stages of leaving the washtowel, and some become Christians while others become atheists. True, there are always going to be a few trolls that put out rubbish--along with a few that think their business is trying to round up apostates and get them back into the cancer. Still others will post something they sincerely believe is the truth, but comes straight from the washtowel articles or a legend they are spreading. For these, valid criticism of their ideas is important; otherwise, they are never going to see the real truth.

  Remember--to the deluded, the truth is never attractive at the time. However, once someone realizes they were in a lie, the truth comes to be more attractive. It's only the person that positively refuses to do their own thinking, or those whose livelihoods depend on others believing that lie, that are truly offended in a lasting manner by the truth.
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  smiddy

  Generally speaking ,I think the majority of posters on this board do warmly welcome newbies , even trolls are invited to stick around ,their eyes might be opened.And I`m sure the majority here do give a lot of lee-way to newbies realising they have a lot of hang-ups to overcome.I know I have come to the defence of a newbie who thought they were treated a bit rough by some,however the feedback they received was overall encouraging

  So I would give this site an 8.5 out of 10 for welcoming newbies

  smiddy
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  jemba

  Yes I agree with the posters here. I was given such a lovely warm welcome. I also knew from lurking for a while what was acceptable behaviour on here and what kind of comments get slammed by others.... theyre usually the ones I also didnt like!

  Forums are like in life. You are always gonna get the ass who is rude and gives you grief. Lurking also gives you the opportunity to learn some of the forum language like... 'borg', 'ttatt' and some of the WTWizards famous words like 'washtowel' and 'kingdumbhell'... lol
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  cedars

  I honestly think some posters are put off if their first post shows up blank through problems with the IE browser. As strange as this may sound, it wouldn't surprise me if some view this as a bad omen, i.e. "Jehovah doesn't want me to post on here, so he's blocking anyone from seeing it!"

  You can laugh, but I honestly believe that's how paranoid some lurkers are. It will be nice when this glitch is fixed so people don't need to tamper with their compatibility settings. That said, I know it isn't easy getting a site this complex to work perfectly on all browsers.

  Cedars
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  cheyenne

  The layout of this forum is confusing. The page numbers of the posts are confusing. Is there a place to introduce yourself? A way to put posts in some kind of chronological order? I'm new and I wasn't welcomed because I just jumped in, but it would be easier if it didn't feel like a giant crowded convention with too many things happening.

  Sorry.