Welcome PMs/Emails

[LunarScorpio]

Every once in a blue moon I’ll come across a forum that when I join I’ll get a PM welcoming me to the forum, which I sometimes read and sometimes ignore depending on what the content is inside said message. I was just curious, what are you opinions on getting automated welcome PMs and/or emails when you join a forum? Do you find them informative and useful or are they annoying and a waste of PM/Email space?

If you were to get a message that was not necessarily automated, would you appreciate that more or still find it to be just as annoying?

 

[Eternal]

I used automated PM's/Email on my forum and include important things within the PM such as a link to the rules, and links to other threads that may help the member out on the forum.

As for me, I don't find getting them annoying, and in fact a lot of the time they can be quite helpful.

 

[Black Angel]

I don't have a welcome email, but I so have both the welcome topic and pm in place on my forum. This is so that:

A. They know where the rules, newbie's guide and FAQ as well are and cannot say that they didn't know that there were rules, or didn't know that they did was wrong, but expect me and my staff to let them slide.

B. To prevent spam from post exchangers in the intro section on my forum. I've had people intentionally make the bulk of their posts in the intros area, welcoming people who have either been banned, or haven't been on the forum in a very long time. This has happened so often that I have had to disabled the post count in these areas. At that point, the ones who complain about this are the ones I know for a fact are trying to rip me off and I'll let them know that I am on to them.

C. To welcome the legit exchangers who have read my terms and know to avoid the intros area, but still want to be welcomed anyway and also to get the important info that they'd otherwise get from the intro thread.

I always try to post a [human] welcome in the intro thread, and I don't mind if they reply once or twice but that is about it and I'll occasionally reply to their pm if they asked a question thinking that the welcome not was human. I opted for a username instead of something cold and unoriginal like "Welcome Bot" or the like.

 

[CyberFreak]

I usually ignore them. Usually I am more than able to work out my way around the forum myself. Also quite often then PM's are very basic and give no real information about the forum itself.

 

[master412160]

It depends really.

I would say the feature has its use if used to its full potentional.

So no welcome PM with "Hi welcome to the community" but something more "informative".

 

[Black Angel]

I usually ignore them. Usually I am more than able to work out my way around the forum myself. Also quite often then PM's are very basic and give no real information about the forum itself.

I thought about doing this, and I would've included that in both but I figured that it'd be redundant seeing as how I've already covered it on my portal's brief description, the about page, and it is even in my FAQ.

This is what is currently in both my welcome topic and pm.

Hello User, and welcome to The Twilight Cafe. Thank you for joining, and please enjoy your stay here.

If you are new to this forum's software and don't know how to post, or if you are new to forums in general, and have no idea as to where to begin, then you can read the newbie's guide posted here.

[removed link]

Be sure to post around, so that you can get a feel of the board, as well as checking out the various things that we have here..

Also, make sure that you read the Rules (<= click.) throughly so that you have an understanding of what is, or isn't acceptable here.

Please note, that you will not have access to the Arcade, Shoutbox and other areas here are restricted if you have less than 20 posts.

Also, before you ask a question, please read the Frequently Asked Questions (<= click.) before posting it.. or if the question you have isn't in the FAQ, then feel free to ask in Support Center. (<= click.)

Chances are, your question has been asked an answered already.

Thank you for joining, and we hope that you enjoy your stay here.

 

[Nathan]

I don't read them at all. I don't personally like the idea either. Most of them just consist of the same old stuff, read the rules, welcome to the forum, blah, blah, blah.

I don't see the point in having to send everyone the same message, every time. If you feel the need to send everyone a message to read your rules, they're obviously not positioned in a good spot.