Eric White and others have made a good case for consolidating some forums, which will happen after the migration to the new forum software. I'm not sure exactly what will happen, but some type of consolidation looks to be a good idea.

However, I was thinking of adding a new forum.... for new user introductions. A place in which new members are encouraged to post and introduce themselves, tell us a little bit about them, find out some of their wine goals, etc.etc.

Good idea? Bad?

Any other ways of encouraging new users?

Good idea. In fact I think it would be great if even the old time users wrote a paragraph or two about themselves. I'm in the minority here arguing for real names, but I find it frustrating not knowing whether the poster is a man or a woman, a 21 year old newbie or an in-the-business industry veteran, etc. The more information the better.

Richard

I like the idea of some consolidation. I also like a newbie section.

Brad,
The newbie section sounds like an excellent idea.

The mystery of not knowing the gender of the poster is exciting to me. No one has figured out that I am really a female yet.

It does seem tough to communicate to newbies how welcome they will be when they post. I don't know that you don't do this Brad but I think you should make up some sort of "welcome" reply when someone new does sign up. I would put a link on that welcoming note that would lead directly to where that newbie could make they're "I'm new" post.

If you do put up a "newbie forum" I think each newbie should post a new thread with the title of that thread being their handle. If we put all the newbie intros in one thread we will have a post where they say they're hellos and then 187 follow-up posts welcoming them before the next newbie signs in and after that again another 187 posts of welcome.

Give each newbie their own thread with their bio or something on it and we would be able to look up a particular person much easier plus we could have the thread go dormant after the 188th post. I may not explain myself (lol) very well here but I think it would make it a lot easier.

We all need to commit to answer and comment what we can in these newbie intros. Nothing could be worse than having someone new sign up and then no welcoming at all like... who cares? It would be worse than posting that TN and then thinking no one cares because no one posts after you made the TN post. But us "veterans" know that everybody does read the TNs and don't nescessarily have a comment about it. The newbie wouldn't know that and might be put off if no one acknowledges the new presence.

Great ideas! There is currently a welcome message, but it doesn't say much... i can modify/improve it though...

It would help is you made the profile feature with a bunch of "required" fields. Sex, age range etc.

Also sort of locate a soul better: For instance - try not steppping on toes - Long Island or So Fla don't really cut it. Would like a city, might make it easier to go to events.

Newbie area? If we had one, would the "senior" members here gravitate over to answer questions etc.??

Would love to import some cellar tracker features or a link so we can see taste notes posted there inaddiotion to ours.

Great site Brad. Keep it up.

While I certainly like the idea of more background information on users, most people don't even fill out the limited information currently requested.

And guilty as charged.

Mike

Thanks for the comments. In my experience, if I required personal information I'd get way too much pushback. People just wouldn't sign-up. Therefore my idea of the Introduction Forum.. people can say or not say whatever they like about themselves.

I've even had people google their own name... find themselves on a user profile page on vinocellar, and write me a nasty email about how they got there. "Well, you signed up on my site" They were mad the info was made public. I actually tend to agree, and therefore make some info purely voluntary.

I guess you can set up some sort of ungoogle thing as a newbie wouldn't be able to get there then.

I agree. Even though VC was very welcoming when I first came on board, a newbie section would make folks feel even more welcome.

Agreed! I'm getting the final version of the conversion software most likely monday... then the forum upgrade will take place... after that gets settled, I'll start making the forum changes...
Right now I'm working on the restaurants section.

Migration... change the catagory for "dessert wines" to "sweet wines" please. Pretty please. Pretty please with sugar on it.

CHANGE THE DAMN THING!

davidn... how very dessert of you!