How Can We Make A2K More "Inviting" to People?

Iwas active in Abuzz with my original name and critical views.
Iagree that the new commers are not motivated to air their free frank fearless views.
Obviously because some of us so irrational to their taste.
I had pollutted with my views in those days of yore as abuzzer.
I agree with the author about the views.
Message is more vital than messenger.
Contents are more important than the container..

If you will all just pay close attention to my demeanor and interactions and follow suit I'm sure we can make this an even better place for love and fellowship. I just love all of you.

How Can We Make A2K More "Inviting" to People?

Go to "Unanswered" and answer somebody, engage them.

Do you mean online?


If so, do you have any cites, please?


I'd be interested.

Good idea. Also quoting someone when commenting is more sociable because posters can see they are being responded to. This is particularly encouraging to new members.

Great topic, Phoenix. Some excellent ideas here already.

A few other suggestions --
* Don't feed the trolls, don't make the site about them. If you don't want the site to be dominated by certain personalities, then take a pass on engaging them and you'll find that they're diminished over time.
* Report the spam (yeah, I'm a broken record). It's not inviting for people to see spam and porn on the site. We do what we can to get rid of it and people have been very conscientious but it helps us even more if that stuff goes unanswered as that is another way for us to spot it. So if reporting is not in the cards for you, at least don't answer the spam and porn and tell your friends not to as well.
* Make new and interesting topics. It's easy to fall into a (conscious or not) desire for someone else to entertain us. Welllll, that's not how a forum works. There's so much out there to talk about, or revive an older topic with a new spin. You can all do it. You're intelligent people.
* For topics easily answered via Google, answer them (if they're not already answered), but don't browbeat the poster for not using Google. Many, many people have no clear idea of how to use Google or they don't write English well or they can't spell, so they don't get good results when they search. No sense in berating them for that.
* The last one, probably the hardest thing, is don't make the site or the posts all about you. It's like the two parents who are talking about their children and the first one is yakking it up and the second one can't get a word in vertically. Then the second one can say a little something about their child and the first one interrupts to yap on and on some more about their precious darling. It's got to be more of a give and take. Plenty of posters don't come back after one or two posts, but that's not always because they've forgotten their passwords or how to get to the site or because they got their answer. Sometimes, I'm sure, it's because they felt that they could not get a word in vertically, or that their topic was hijacked as a forum for discussion of someone else's experiences. Give and take is not always easy with time zone and scheduling differences but at least newbies, who may be hesitant about jumping in, should be made to feel that there is a place where they can jump in.

Thanks for listening.

I feel in some tangle / intangible way A2K has both lost some spice and also become harsher.

Maybe it's because of Timber's passing plus Frank's leaving plus Doc's disappearance.

It could be because there seems to be more needless critique for no net benefit.

Perhaps it's because despite there being just as much to learn, it seems A2K has an inevitable degree of pedestrian repetition.

Maybe it's because winter is approaching and I am busy with work.

A2k has a sort of long history, and part of it is that with change of servers, the decimation leading up to it and the actualisation to the changes, we always have lost a lot of people. I've watched this happen several times, and watched Phoenix post on how we should shape up, each time.

Non that I disagree, but that that I do think there is an underlying process re the consolidation of the site and that some don't make it past the tecnological pass.
And I think some of those come back later. and some don't. I'll suppose my observations are merely anecdotal. Which they are, I'm soooo not a data keeper.

"It is said that what is called the spirit of an age is something to which we cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation." -Hagakure 1716

I think a lot depends on whether you're the sort of person who can stand up for himself in the playground. I've only been here a short while, and mainly come here just to pass the time and either interact, or just read through threads and possibly learn something. It depends on what mood I'm in when I log in. Some of the threads I've found are real eye openers, full of interesting facts, information and viewpoints. Others are nothing but hilarious. There are some real comic geniusses (geneii?) out there.
I have read through many threads, old and new, but there are many more yet to be discovered. The level of knowledge of some of the posters here is astounding, and although I'd like to make a comment on a particular subject now and then, I can't help but feel slightly intimidated which tends to hold me back, for fear of having my ignorance highlighted and held up for public viewing.
Nevertheless, as long as I acknowledge my limitations and contribute where and when I feel comfortable, this is a fantastic site for just sitting back and learning.
Quite early on I learned not to jump in with both feet and fire all of my bullets at once. If a new member does this, they should be aware that there are a large number of established members ready to shoot you down, even if only to score a few points within their established and long standing peer group.
As far as I am concerned, it doesn't really bother me whether other posters agree or disagree with my viewpoint, but I can see how this would possibly put off a "thin skinned" newbie.
My only advice for a new member who may read this, would be to just sit back and read all you can for a while, and familiarise yourself with other posters, especially the regulars. You would then be more aware of any offence or risk of attack you may cause or incur, once you get round to posting your opinions.


Great place though, and very addictive.

Interesting question, Phoenix. But I think it works both ways. Yes, we need to make new members feel welcome (Why on earth not?), but new members also could perhaps make the effort to familiarize themselves with the existing A2K community, parts of which are very established, to understand what exactly they're getting themselves into. Most of the long-term members I feel I "know" a bit I've gotten to know over time (via Abuzz, as well as A2K). It was a longish process, really. And I got to know them through participation in threads about topics that interested me. Really, there is no way of feeling instantly, comfortably "at home" when you join any new community ... virtual or in the real world. My suggestion to new members is to suss out the site & get to know it before, say, starting a new thread on day 1 or 5 on some very divisive or controversial topic. The inevitable response to that sort approach is almost guaranteed to make any newcomer feel under attack, right from the start. From what I've observed It doesn't take all that long for new members to become accepted in this community, if that's what they want. A lot depends on their initial interactions here.

Doowop said:
"I have read through many threads, old and new, but there are many more yet to be discovered. The level of knowledge of some of the posters here is astounding, and although I'd like to make a comment on a particular subject now and then, I can't help but feel slightly intimidated which tends to hold me back, for fear of having my ignorance highlighted and held up for public viewing."

Heck, I show my ignorance every day. Don't let that stop you from posting.

edgar- I think the exact opposite way. I love to be with people who know more than me. That's the way that I learn. IMO it is boring to be with people who know less than me.

If a thread on a particular subject is at a level that is beyond my knowledge, I might not say anything, or simply make a comment. Basically, I just like to absorb what other people are saying. That is not because I feel intimidated, but if I don't have anything substantial to add, why bother?

My point is, fear of appearing ignorant or dumb can keep a person from posting some interesting opinions. I don't post on dozens of threads, because I have nothing that will further the topic, even ones I am greatly interested in. But, it's not from fear of exposing my ignorance.

I think that we are going back to the fact that newbies are sometimes not treated too gently. I think that it especially true with some younger people, (not old farts like us) who have not yet developed the confidence to take criticism with aplomb. Also, as someone has already mentioned, some newbies barrel in without checking the lay of the land, and get cold water splashed in their faces.

I think knowing when to hang back and keep one's mouth shut is a skill developed over time and experience. Unfortunately, there have been some new people who have not yet learned this, and then are upset and leave when they get the reaction that they do.

I am wondering if the large spread in ages on A2K has anything to do with this. Out in real life, people tend to hang out with contemporaries, although there are exceptions. We are talking about three diverse generations interacting. What do you think?

I acknowledghed that one uses that kind of judgement. It is at this point one makes an inane funny, or checks out of a thread. Adios.

Timber's passing was a great loss to us all. He was of invaluble assistance to me over the years with his great knowledge of computers, which he shared freely with members. He was the sort of guy who had many members clamoring around his threads.

Frank was someone who tended to have large groups of people gathering around him. Although many people did not agree with him, and he did tend to get a bit nasty at times, for better or for worse, he put fire into the site. And that fire translated into a lot of people responding, even if only to argue with him.

Chumly, I think that you are right about A2K losing some of its "spice". Over the years, we have a number of people, who have come and gone, who have raised the hackles of members. Even so, those folks, to a great extent, brought the rest of us together, if only to disagree. That irritation gave life to the site, and it resulted in many more postings.

EdgarBlythe wrote :
Heck, I show my ignorance every day. Don't let that stop you from posting.


No, it doesn't stop me from posting, it just discourages me from posting in haste, which isn't a bad thing. By the time I've worked out what I want to say, someone else has usually beaten me to it anyway, so maybe I just need to speed up a bit, and risk the slings and arrows. :wink:

One thing's for certain, I've certainly learnt a lot about Americans, their politics and general attitude to life and such. I'd never heard of Barak Obama until I found this site, for instance.
I also thought that the majority of Americans actually liked George Bush and suppported the war in Iraq. Thankfully, this seems not to be the case, according to some of the threads I've read here.
You do seem to have a massive chasm between your political camps, however, and very rarely are you willing to even listen to one another, let alone concede even the smallest point to the other side. It certainly makes for interesting reading though.
Over here in Britain, we tend to hate all politicians, whatever their stripe.

I was gonna do more, but these two posts from nimh cover most of what I was going to say:

http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2553074#2553074
http://www.able2know.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2553087#2553087

I think that if everyone here were armed, it would be a much more polite online socieity.