< WelcomingPeople
< WelcomingPeopleConnections

How can I start welcoming new people? edit

• Please reference the below section for ideas of what to say in your messages.
• From there, you will find new people to welcome by looking in Special:RecentChanges for red TalkPage links associated with logged-in people (you can select "hide anonymous users" to make this easier).
• Tab out one of these red TalkPages and their UserContributions for reference.
• Leave them a message. (If you can please include a category tag on their talk page formatted like [[Category:2007-10 Welcome to AboutUs!]] so that we can track our progress by year and month.)
• If you have any questions, you can contact our current AboutUs Welcomers.

What can make a welcome message great? edit

• (To see how other welcomers are welcoming people click some of the "User talk:" links below.)

• Look at their edits/contributions thusfar. Acknowledge what they have been working on and if you see an opportunity to teach them something, do so.
• Encourage people to engage in the community, whether this is by asking them to create a PersonalPage or guiding them to the DailyBuzz.
• Actually visit their website (not just its DomainPage). The click to their site will show up in their logs and give them some instant feedback that AboutUs is driving them some traffic.
• Try to engage them in a conversation by making a comment, compliment or asking a question about the site or their edits that they will want to respond to. "Did you take that photo? It's amazing!" ... "Are you the owner of XYZ.com? Your logo is incredible!" ... "Nice work adding that section header. How did you know/learn to do that?"
• Rather than thanking them for their edit, compliment them on their work. "Thanks for working on my wiki" is nice but doesn't feel quite as good as "You rock ... you're doing a great job on your wiki".
• Give new editors the opportunity to learn via links to help pages/tours that you wish had been around when you were first learning wiki. (WikiAnatomy, Portal:AboutUsHelp, etc.)
• Make sure the person knows that they can contact a real live person (like you) within the AboutUs community if they have questions, whether this is by pointing them to your talk page, IRC, e-mail, etc.
• As their welcomer, try to keep an eye out for them in the future and hold up your end of the "relationship." This can be anything from responding to a message they leave on your talk page to adding an Category:ActiveMember tag to their PersonalPage down the road.
• Keep in mind that the less time there is between their last edit and your welcome message the more likely they are to receive the message. Of course, if their "E-mail this user" link works they should receive an e-mail notification alerting them that their talk page has been edited.

• What works for you? What do you think is important? Add your thoughts to the list!

• • I think that while examining the articles, content and PersonalPages (if they have any) with due consideration with each of the new members interests, welcomers could help direct new members to the Portal:Writing Lab if they notice they have a stong background for content production. This as well applies to the various other Portals and categories that may produce more user participation! Many of these AboutUs features already have a great platform in place but may just need a little more user participation which will increase its visibility! It will also help to define a real personal message to the community member. Bryan W. Daugherty | talk