Newbie board

[SteveB]

FWIW, I do not care about post count. That is not what brings me to XMTS almost every day. I hadn't paid much attention to the "rank" until I had posted about the preferred mode of kilt wearing. The next time I posted, I noticed I had become "Kilted Regiment". I thought the change had occurred because a Mod had read my last post on another thread. I think I had been on the forum for about three months before I noticed the "rank" changes and looked it up in the forum FAQs. Most important to me is the warm, friendly, encouraging, and kilt oriented format that has made XMTS what it is.
BTW, I became a "kilted Elder" when I posted about how the kilt is a chick magnet for us real old men.....Mods again?
I post a generic welcome from fingers to newbies who do not put anything in the OP or their profile. I try to customize the greeting where there is some information available.
Slainte

[Bugbear]

Well, I'm making progress. I just posted in a Newbie thread, and wrote a little more than just "Welcome."

The strange thing is that when I went to write this post, I found myself writing "Welcome" as the first word...

[beloitpiper]

This isn't about shutting down the Newbie board or discouraging people from welcoming our new members. It is a great way to greet them and make them feel welcome. My reasoning is that this is a kilt forum and if we're going to have a system of counting participation on the site, than it should be for kilt-related topics.

[English Bloke]

... My reasoning is that this is a kilt forum and if we're going to have a system of counting participation on the site, than it should be for kilt-related topics...

So you're saying (I think?) that welcoming a new kilt wearing or kilt inquisitive member to a board for wearers of the kilt, is NOT kilt related?

No offence intended, I just can't see the big deal. I don't put great store in the numbers game at all and it's what an individual contributes in terms of content that makes them stand out on here. Take any of the famous "characters". Redshank for his stunning photo's of Scotland. Pour1Malt for the same, not to mention his idiosyncratic posting style. Glen (McMurdo) and Jamie (Panache) for their sartorial elegance. Hamish for wit and mind blowing quantity of kilts. MacMillan of Rathdown for his knowledge of etiquette and Todd (CajunScot) for his boundless historical input. BarbT, Matt, The wizard, Rocky, supreme input regarding kilt making. Crikey... where do you stop? There are many others too numerous to list but I think you get the jist. Everyone here makes a valued contibution everytime they hit the 'Submit Reply' or 'New Thread' button. I don't think anyone here shows up just to say hello to new blokes on the newbie board and to get their numbers up. What would be the point in that? and if they did... who cares?

[/rant]

[Jock Scot]

Cut and paste? What's that? I am old fashioned enough to consider that a welcome is the norm and as to the post count, well, to coin a phrase "frankly I don't give a damn" one way or the other.

[starbkjrus]

OK, if I haven't had time to look at the newbie posts for a few days, I admit I have occasionally been guilty of copying and pasting my standard welcome, but its the thought that counts and the Newbie probably neither knows nor cares whether the welcome was individually typed or was copied and pasted, the important thing is to maximise the number of welcomes a new member receives. Where I have something in common, like an ancestral name or they live in a place I know I would add an extra line or two of individual conversation and would check back to see whether it gets replied to by the OP. I'd never considered whether or not posting on these threads affected my overall post count.

Well said Alex. ...and with that said turns out that Greg is right...It's Off Topic and the Celebration Zone that don't add to post counts.

And coming from someone who's job includes announcing rank ups - who cares if it adds to the post count. I think its polite and yes, necessary to make new members feel welcome.

Phil - I'll be sending your steak knives out as soon as the post holiday mail has settled down.

[Beertigger]

Cut and paste? What's that? I am old fashioned enough to consider that a welcome is the norm and as to the post count, well, to coin a phrase "frankly I don't give a damn" one way or the other.

Jock speaks my mind.

[Sammac]

Whether welcome to newbie's count or not makes no difference to me. The important thing is to post the welcome's, still being new, it gave me not only a nice feeling to be welcomed but an instant feeling of belonging.

[SteveB]

If welcoming another person to the KILTED way of the KILT board is not kilt related, what is kilt related? We could split hairs, and that would not be a pleasant way to go. Should my post count "attendance" be only on the Kilt D.I.Y., Kilt Piccies, and Kilt advise posts. Should a post about my learning the bagpipes be counted and a post about Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, or Real McKenzies music not count? As I have stated previously, the post count is not why I am here. If it goes up one notch today and none tomorrow, is irrelevant.

Now if the counter was to be changed to an attendance counter, it would only click up one for each day one checked into the site. The only real leaders would be the Mods, who devout every day here.

Now as far as site popularity goes, to keep the search engines interested, every post in every forum is added to the day count. It keeps the bots on their toes and keeps XMTS in the search engine limelight.

I believe the administration of XMTS has very wisely set up the board and the count functions. The Mods do keep the boards very clean. We need to honour the Mods, House chairs, and the admins method of running the show.
Slainte

[GDub]

I could care less about post count, but I am one of those mostly "generic" message posters to the newbie section. Why? Because I enjoyed all the "Welcome" messages I got when I first joined the board. And not only that. I found it very interesting that there were kilties from every which corner of the compass--being a bonafide newbie (I didn't lurk for months before joining), I had no idea what to expect to find in a kilt forum.... So, IMHO, I think it's a courtesy to welcome a newbie (with a generic "Welcome, from..." message or whatever), and I'm going to keep it up regardless of whether it "inflates" my post count or not.

Oh, and three cheers to the welcoming committee!!!