Membership Saying hello to guests

[Morrigan 1,826]

So I'm not sure I like it or hate it. It's really a whatever sort of thing, if I want to say hello to a site I will pop into their cBox. I love doing that when I'm interested in a site.

 

I, as a long time site administrator, know that a lot of guest traffic is spoofed.from search engines so it won't necessarily be an actual person that upped that guest number. So to me I think it's pointless but I can see it actually bringing someone out too, but it could also run them away.

 

How does it make you feel as the guest?

How do people feel about members of the site greeting guests? Whether it be Staff or members.

[Huntress 2]

Due to some trouble members that we had to ban and then keep banning because of their determination to cause trouble, we ended up making the cbox only visible to members once they sign up. Never really been an issue having the feature to start if I were, to be honest there, as we do have a guest forum that we strive to answer as quickly as possible.

 

When we did have the feature up, honestly we had the issue of members being "too" friendly and drowning out guests with their rapid-fire chatter. Then there were those who thought themselves mods and would answer questions incorrectly and then a staffer would have to come in and basically, negate what was said and then give them the right answer hoping they actually took the time to pay attention to what we said and not what a member told them. Been toying with the idea to open up guest chats again, just to see how that goes again.

 

As a guest looking at a site, I prefer to look over the forum itself and see what/how people write. To see if I like the feel of the plotting, the characters, etc. The forum overall is more important to me than a cbox, because I tend to be more talkative over skype or other such things then in a cbox.

[VirusZero 176]

I generally don't greet guests unless they initiate contact first. Mostly because I want them to have space to explore and look around without feeling hounded. If they want to chat then awesome. If they don't then I don't want to pressure them, put them on the spot or make them feel like they have to.

 

I've toyed with the idea of making the chatbox member only repeatedly, but I keep coming back to the idea that I still like for guests to be able to ask questions and chat with us. Plus I'd imagine members might be annoyed if the chatbox wasn't visible unless they signed in. (Some like to just chat without signing in at times.)

[Elena 546]

4 hours ago, VirusZero said:

I generally don't greet guests unless they initiate contact first. Mostly because I want them to have space to explore and look around without feeling hounded. If they want to chat then awesome. If they don't then I don't want to pressure them, put them on the spot or make them feel like they have to.

 

My point too. I feel hounded if greeted before I am ready to chat.

[Rune 1,099]

I will, occasionally, offer up a "shout if you have questions" if I see someone legitimately looking at topics to start out in. But more than likely I'm not going to say anything unless they initiate it first.

 

And then I go a step farther. I, personally, don't acknowledge the *meow*/random "RP" bullshit random people seem to think is clever. My members and other admin do, but I've yet to see one of those people turn into an actual member and I'm guessing they only do it for the temporary attention or something. My being an old fart means I just get unreasonably annoyed and grumpy so I let other people handle it until they have legitimate questions I can answer.

 

If they act like a human and use words, I'm all for chatting them up, even if they don't stay. I have the weirdest things that make me angry.

[Death Kitten 200]

Since our chat isn't a cbox, but an external service, I only see when people are snooping around if they choose to join the telegram chat... but I've had more than a few people pop up in there, and it's gone various ways on potentially signing up. We still have one person lingering while trying to decide if she has time to join, though her wife has been a fantastic addition to the crew already. ^_^ And we have other people who stick around in the chat despite never signing up, or leaving the game.

 

If I was on the receiving end of someone trying to say hi in a cbox or something while I'm just snooping around, it would depend on my mood on what I'd think. But most likely, I'd probably just miss in. I'm not one for cboxes much, honestly. >.<

[Lusitano 0]

It makes me a lot more interested in a site to see people in the cbox, staff especially, saying hi to guests. It's really a big thing for me actually because it shows me that someone's paying attention and that's huge. As a general rule, I'll be less apt to join your site if no one's saying hey to the guests. Now if there's two members logged in and they're engaged in a conversation I get it. But the sites where a bunch of people are on and the cbox is dead? I expect a hello, or a "let us know if you have questions" something along those lines.

[Yume 99]

You know it's funny. I used to pop up with the hey/ask if you have questions but now I wait until they say something first. Because I've found most guests don't respond and a few seem to flee.

 

As a guest, I don't expect engagement until I speak - but when I choose to speak in chat, if I do, I expect a response - especially if members are talking around me. Even a half distracted 'hi' is better than nothing. I try to time so I don't interrupt or break the flow too much. But if I can't get an acknowledgement we're going to have a problem 'cause. I'm kind of talkative, sometimes, and I tend to enter the chat as a test to see if I'm going to get along with the community.

[CovertSphinx 710]

I used to say hello, with very mixed results. Then I would just answer if they had questions/made contact as not to be intrusive to their lurking (after all, who wants to accidentally find themselves talking to a bot? lol).

 

Although to be honest with the site I'm on now, I disabled guests from being able to post in the chat - we have 4 RL members who aren't there around the clock, so we just ended up with a lot of "are you dead" comments just because somebody didn't answer right away.

[Guest Archaic Cyborg]

I only say hello if the guest says something first, because half the time that 'guest' will be a bot. And like @Rune does, I don't say anything if a guest is posting gibberish. It's not cute, let alone inspirational, when someone meows, rawrs, flops, rolls, peeks in.

 

Thankfully, my timezone means I get to avoid a lot of such things! =D /sorry not sorry

[Rune 1,099]

I think another thing missing here is that I would, very much, LIKE to say hello to guests...

 

But 90% of the time its a bot and I feel like filling the cbox up with "hi guests!" when you are talking to no one is kind of pointless and defeats the purpose of legitimately engaging those interested in joining.

 

But, as we have learned, I am a creature of many opinions on things that don't matter.

[Morrigan 1,826]

9 hours ago, Rune said:

But 90% of the time its a bot

This is completely accurate. It's actually I think a higher rate then that TBH.

[KARA BELLA 18]

I used to day hi to guests all the time when I noticed them on the site even if they didn't say it anything first, then not only did I realize that most of them we're probably bots and could care less I found it out that not everyone visiting a site likes that.

 

If it were me I wouldn't really mind whether the staff said hi while I was visiting, although most of the time I am only on other sites to advertise so I won't say anything in the cbox myself.

[Hysteria 56]

As a member/moderator, I try to be as welcoming as possible without scaring off a guest. That includes letting that guest know that there's a mod/member online who's willing to answer questions and direct them to specific threads they need or want to read but for whatever reason cannot get to on their own.

 

As a guest on a new site, I personally look to the Cbox as my first major test. Not only does the activity of the members matter to me, but their personalities and the way that they respond to a guest. I'll wait and see if they say something while going over the site, and if they don't by the time I've read the rules and information, I'll pop in to say Hi. If I don't get a response, I don't stay.

 

It may sound petty, but if I see a lot of members online, chatting and not one of them can offer a greeting? It tells me they won't be inclusive in roleplay either. Not only that, but it also gives off a Clique-ish vibe for me, and while I hate using that word due to it's usual misconceptions...it is true, in those rare cases anyway.

 

At the end of the day, as a Guest I'll feel appreciated if I'm given a helping hand, and that means a lot to a potential member in my eyes.

[Morrigan 1,826]

7 hours ago, Hysteria said:

As a guest on a new site, I personally look to the Cbox as my first major test. Not only does the activity of the members matter to me, but their personalities and the way that they respond to a guest. I'll wait and see if they say something while going over the site, and if they don't by the time I've read the rules and information, I'll pop in to say Hi. If I don't get a response, I don't stay.

 

 With this, not all admins or members are on all of the time. I know that personally if I'm the only admin and I'm asleep I can't promise a hello. So does that affect your decision? Actually seeing someone on? I know that online lists also lie. If I refresh my page before I get up and go to bed it means I'm still gone.