'Our stories' - your opinion on this title?

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for your patience with us while we take on your feedback and work through the updates. Some more of the landing page changes are being rolled out over the next few weeks and you can see the update here

Meanwhile we think your points on the New Members & Our Stories are really clear and make sense. So we wanted to ask a few more questions. Like @Zoe7 mentioned - what would everyone think if we added a new topic area to help new members know where to go and start? This space would be for new members to post introductions and we can also have pinned threads at the top for how to start (what to post for your first post - the three random facts icebreaker and then links to the other topic areas with their blurbs so they can choose where to go next) and orientation (that links to the how to's and guidelines pages)

Like we flagged, we are seeing that its not super intuitive for new members to find the introduce yourself thread. Having a clear area to start can just be a bit more helpful. As well we thought it might make it a bit easier for current members to find and welcome the new members as they post in there.

Some ideas we had for this new area to be called:

- New Members (is it clear though that current members can go in here and reply to welcome them?)

- New here? Introduce yourself

- Welcome and getting started

I will be reviewing all your replies to this properly next Friday but @Former-Member and @Former-Member will still be around for this 😊

I've just moved this over here so it can be better seen by everyone on both sides of the forums!

Maybe we could combine two of them @Former-Member - New Members: Welcome and getting started. It may be a bit too long but encompasses everything we have already taked about - a separate area for new members, highlighting to current members it is a place to welcome new members and also the how tos' of the forum.

I like @Zoe7 suggestion for this. I believe it will be helpful to have a separate space for when you are new to gain some confidence and familiarity with the forum. I also like the idea of having some info like tagging members, uploading images etc here as well.

Hi @Zoe7 and @Teej ,

Many thanks for both of your input and suggestions on some pinned thread topics for this area! 😊

Hi @Zoe7 @Teej - thanks for your input and time on this! I like where you are coming from but unfortunately we are limited to the the amount of words/space it will take up for a topic area title. It can also impact the look and feel and spacing if its too long. The options that we listed were kind of at the max capacity we could really go. Sorry about that! But I am really glad to keep talking this through together and its given me more thoughts to chat through with you all:

Even though we won't have a blurb under the topic title at the first level- when you do click into a topic area you still get the blurb there - see below.

So we can make sure we are clear there around getting members to introduce themselves to the rest of the community and the community to welcome people too? Put in that bit of 'welcome and getting started' in there?

So my two thoughts are, if we go with 'New members' we will have to work as a community to get into the habit/culture of the more established members knowing to go in and reply and welcome people there.

Or we go with the New here? Introduce yourself. We could even pair it back a bit and call it 'Introduce yourself here' it allows for more broadness perhaps for the community to go in and check out peoples introductions and say hello? So its not just targeted at new people as such...🤷‍♀️

I thought it might help us to see how these options look next to the other titles we have:

Our Stories

Social Spaces

Somethings Not Right

Coping Skills & Self Care

Useful Resources

Special Events

Forum News and Feedback

New Members

Introduce yourself here

New here? Introduce yourself (I personally feel like this maybe doesn't fit in with the other titles as much...?)

Welcome & Getting Started

Super grateful to work through this with you guys to get to something works for both look and feel and navigation!!

Hey @Former-Member I personally like Welcome and Getting Started. The underlying threads could then include 'Getting to know the Community Guidelines', "Tips to help you out', "Starting a new thread', 'Introduce Yourself Here". Could there be a link at sign up directing new members to the Welcome and Getting Started section?

As for - we will have to work as a community to get into the habit/culture of the more established members knowing to go in and reply and welcome people there - I do not see this as any different to what is already done by members for the Introduce Yourself thread we currently have - it just moves those welcomes to that particular area. ...and in-fact I feel it would make it easier for members to be able to check and see if there are any new members and reply to them if there is a designated area set aside specifically for that purpose. It is harder to find right now unless you subscribe to that thread and get notifications when a new member posts there.

@Former-Member @Former-Member

Sorry a bit late to the party but again I totally agree with everything @Zoe7 has mentioned. It might sound like a total suck up @Zoe7 😜😘 but I truly agree with your thoughts on this. For me a new members section then with the threads that @Zoe7 mentioned plus others if there is a need.

I agree that members are stepping up to help out so much. Having a new members section will probably boost this too.

I never saw this discussion @Former-Member @s-jay