Automated Welcome PM's

[Nebulous]

Do you have these on your forums? If you register on a forum and you get one, do you read it or just automatically delete it? What are your thoughts on these?

 

[Page]

I used to have PMs and also welcome automatic topics it was crazy and I have stopped them. Now I use PMs with everything that they need to know. then again I need to see if it still works or in use still

 

[Deleted member 49125]

I do have the automated Welcome PMs. It welcomes them plus also gives some information on how to start.
For other forums, I do skim them. I don't want them to be too long.

 

[Lee]

I can't remember the last time I read a welcome PM - for that reason, I do not have them enabled on my community right now.

 

[Eclipse]

I like welcome PMs and have them enabled on my forum as well. I think it's beneficial and worth if it at least one person reads it. Not all new members are familiar with forums and may find it super helpful to be given a list of important links to the forum rules, a way to contact staff, etc.

I don't really like the automated welcome threads though. I prefer members having the opportunity to create their own introduction thread and the rest of the community welcoming them

 

[Nebulous]

I’ll admit I don’t read them but I do have them setup on my forum. I think they’re useful if people pay attention to them, however if they don’t then they’ll figure things out eventually. No biggie.

 

[Page]

I’ll admit I don’t read them

One point of not doing it

 

[Nebulous]

One point of not doing it

Everyone isn't me, I am sure they are helpful to some newbies out there. 😛

 

[KnownSyntax]

I only have one automated PM when they register, which explains a few things and links out to various pages that may be helpful to save/remember. Otherwise, no other automated messages at all (notifications are separate).

 

[Nomad]

I check automated PM just to make sure I don't miss important information. However, sometimes I also avoid checking automated welcome PM. I delete them outright.

 

[Gizmo]

Automated welcome topics are very stupid. I enjoy making my own introduction.

As for welcome PMs I will skim read those and if there's anything interesting I'll read it more otherwise I delete them.

 

[Page]

Automated welcome topics

Indeed they are, most people do not even read them and they just spam topics. I used to have them then I stopped it.

 

[Shortie_]

I don't mind using the automated PMs for when someone new registers that welcomes them to the forum and gives them pointers on where to find the rules and also where to introduce themselves but that is about all I use. I have in the past seen people use welcome posts as well which I do think is great if you want that kind of thing on your forum, that is not something for me though and I would rather the user introduce themselves when they are ready to.