Membership Saying hello to guests

[Kittenmitten 40]

I personally get suuuuuuper squirmy when people say hi before I do. It's like, do I say hi back? That would be polite. But what if I don't stick around? But what if I don't say hi back and DO stick around and the admin checks the IP and they see it's me and get SUPER ANGRY THAT I DIDN'T SAY HELLO TO THEM THAT ONE TIME?! That friendly gesture turns into a huge emotional investment for me. 

 

So it's not something I do, as a member and staff on mine. When they initiate, I'm more than willing to chat, help guide them around, answer questions, whatevs, but it's started on their terms.

[Icewolf 258]

Personally, I wait until the guest has posted something in the c-box before greeting them because I'd find it weird if someone just said hello! out of the blue while I was browsing a site. I do sometimes post site updates or what I'm doing on the site in the c-box when it's open so that visitors know I'm there. Other than that, I think it's best to let the guest make the first move.

[Uaithne 543]

I don't mind if people say hi to me even if I'm not really going to join. Many times I say hi back, tell them that I don't have time for the site, and chill for a few minutes in conversation.

 

Although I also don't mind greeting guests before they talk first, I understand that some people don't like it, so I don't do it often. No need to make people uncomfortable. Sometimes I'll say something if I see we have lots of guests or someone is doing some hard core look into the board information threads, but I don't like to phrase it in a way that forces a reply of puts pressure on anyone to reply.

 

Also, I am turned off when I see an admin who constantly greets guests. It's a bit desperate and a little intense for my tastes.

[grimfox 1]

I find it really creepy when someone says hello to me before I've said anything! More often than not I'm going to look through the provided information before saying anything - I don't usually chat with people unless the site looks like something I'd join. 

[nyx 164]

I greet guest only if they have poked into the cbox chat first. I do though like to have our box as active as I can with members chatting to hopefully entice the guest to chat with us but if they don't then it's cool, some folks don't like chatting.

Edited August 20, 2017 by wicked

[StormWolfe 557]

I am always way late to these interesting topics!

 

We do not have cbox on our one forum. I had them just for members use on my two Nova sites, but discontinued them due to lack of participation.

 

Currently, we have Discord installed on our site via Titan and it is supposed to be guest friendly. Haven't had anyone try it out yet. They usually just grab our Discord invite and come on in to the server. Which is absolutely fine! And, this is why I like having our site set up with Discord that way. The guest may not stay, but once they have joined the server, I feel like I can at least say Hello, please look around and let us know if you have any questions - that sort of thing. Being friendly, but not pushy! Should the person decide we're not the site for them, that's A-OK too. I actually don't mind lurkers in our Discord server or around the site as long as they are not disruptive.

 

In general, I get uneasy if I am greeted in a cbox before I'm ready to initiate contact. Don't ask me why! It's just a thing. I like to read the site's lore, a few posts, and some bios before I make contact. It's even possible I will bookmark the site and return over several days. Not saying that having someone contact me right off the bat will cause me to run screaming into the night, but depending on how it's done, it can make me feel pressured. Which is really silly. I mean, in essence, I've walked into their room and it'd be rude for them not to say Hello, welcome...

 

Go figure!

[Kazetatsu 263]

My site doesn't have a c-box but we do use a discord. whenever someone new pops in members are quick to greet them and offer help.

 

I personally prefer the speak when spoken to tactic, and am rarely the first one to say hi to a guest,

As a guest on a site, i don't look at the c-box at all. I look at the forums to see if its a theme i like, and then see if there is any posting on the board for that day. If I like the rp I might interact with the community oocly, but usually I only do so after establishing an ic presence. I'm even not the type to post a 'new member joining' thread.

[Kit the Human 758]

I admit, I giggle whenever I see people saying hi to guests because more likely than not, they're saying hi to bots XD (Which is why I don't say hi to guests.)

 

If I am online when they say hi to guests, I'm ignoring them unless I've reached the point of actually being interested in joining your site.

[Suzi 20]

Personally, I don't usually acknowledge guests on board (cbox) until they've said something, but if someone joins our discord I will absolutely begin with a welcome  Once we've had introductions I will provide answers to any questions they may have. I feel this works fine for us at ATO, as most who join our discord have already seemed (at least from our experience) to have had a look around the site, and are ready to chat. 

Most people on ATO use discord to chat, so often I just have an @guests message to direct them to join the discord for a more active conversation  Have debated for a while on removing the cbox entirely, but i feel it's necessary if anyone doesn't like discord, or perhaps doesn't want to join it straight away ^^ 

[Jam455 10]

like others said, i don't greet our guests until they pop into the cbox. but when they do i'm super friendly and overly "notice" them if that makes sense. i've seen too many sites where guests get skipped over or a quick "hi" without a lot of engagement. that's kinda lonely and results in guests usually just leaving. so once they're ready to chat, i pay a lot of attention to them until they've meshed in to our group ( usually takes about 30 minutes ) and then i let them take it from there. and since i've been that way with all guests my members are pretty welcoming i think because they remember how they were treated when they first got on.

 

i'm rambling but anyways, yeah, i don't think calling out guests who aren't ready to chat yet puts them on the spot and might make them feel shy. 

[Icewolf 258]

I've already answered this some time ago, but I think it's best to wait until they post something. I was browsing a new shop today while I was out shopping, and there is nothing that puts me off more than staying in a shop to see if they have what I wanted than the shop assistant saying something when I've just walked in - it makes me feel more unwelcome than if they just ignored me and got on with something else. (It's probably my personality, but it makes me feel like I'm being watched and judged if I'm acknowledged before I've had a look around to see if there is something worth buying - I like to be relaxed when I'm shopping.) I think it's the same feeling I get when I'm browsing a site. I like to take a look around, see if the site is right for me and then make contact if I feel like it's the place for me. If I plan on staying around then I'll make myself known.

[Patrick 66]

On 8/31/2016 at 1:13 PM, Morrigan said:

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.

 

In the past when I wrote on other people's sites, I NEVER paid attention to c-boxes. So it never mattered to me one way or another, as it wasn't ever on my list of criteria for joining a site.

 

As an admin, ehh.. I'll respond if a guest says 'hello'.  But if they're looking more for a c-box community than a place to write stories, I don't think they'll find ultimate psychological fulfillment on any of my sites.   That's sort of the role for these non-RP sites.

 

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Patrick

[the torture artist 21]

As in stands, my site's cbox most of the time looks like it's just me saying "good morning" "good afternoon" "good evening" and "goodnight" into the void. For the reasons stated above, I never say "hello guests" and instead try to keep it general to just let know people I'm around if they have questions, etc. Since most if not all our out-of-character talk takes place in an out-of-character chat (alongside our in-character chats), I do worry about guests and potential new members thinking the site is dead because all the activity is off-site. 

[coastaloceangirl 9]

So I used to do this all the time. When Guests would show up on the site I would pop into the chatbox and greet them or try and encourage them to come in and say hello. To start a conversation. I did this with every site I've had until this most recent one. This time I thought I won't. I will do something a little different because yes, often times the guests aren't actually people looking into the site or they are there to drop their ad off and that is it. What made me decide really though to stop doing this, is that I remember seeing my chatbox on one particularly slow day and a good portion of it was me or my co-admin simply greeting guests and asking them to come say hi. It looked ridiculous to me and desperate. Not to offend anyone who does this by any means!! It was just my view on my personal site and my opinion. I just didn't think it ended up helping me get any members in the long run. This time, not saying something, again I don't know if it is making any difference but there isn't any random 'hello guests come join!' messages.

[Nerissa 15]

I have seen this a couple times too, and I always feel weird when they just go "hello" and never reply again. Like, do you reply? Or do you just be silent unless they ask something? It's hard to decide..