Roll Call replies

[bama bbq]

Does anyone else find it interesting that we ask new posters to introduce themselves in the Roll Call and then the same folks post the same cut and paste message to each and every new member? IMHO we should be just a little more welcoming than simply attaching a form letter to their first exposure to our community. Can't we think of something geniune to say? It just seems fake. ...but, that's just me. Maybe I'm out if sync.

 

[themule69]

Does anyone else find it interesting that we ask new posters to introduce themselves in the Roll Call and then the same folks post the same cut and paste message to each and every new member? IMHO we should be just a little more welcoming than simply attaching a form letter to their first exposure to our community. Can't we think of something geniune to say? It just seems fake. ...but, that's just me. Maybe I'm out if sync.

I think it's great that the same few take the time to read every post in roll call. I'f you will note the same few who have their cut and paste also take the time to add to that and answer questions.Even though roll call is not the place to ask questions or post pics of your smoke. By all means jump in and give everyone a proper welcome.

Just my

.02 cents.jpg

• themule69
• Apr 24, 2013

Happy smoken.

David

 

[s2k9k]

Yes I find it very interesting that we have over 52,000 members but only about 5 or 6 that consistently welcome new members in RC.
Some days we will have 30 to 40 new members post in RC and those 5 or 6 members probably don't have time to try and think up 30 or 40 different things to say.
I know Kat, Mule and myself all copy/paste a standard greeting and they all contain some important useful information and like Mule just said we also try and add something to it to pertain to what the new member has said. A lot of times new members will only say something like "Hi I'm Joe and I'm new here", what can you really say that is personal to something like that? That is where the important helpful copy/paste really gives "Joe" something to get started with.
I think everyone who is taking part in helping out the RC Mods and replying to the threads is doing a very good job and I really appreciate the help they are giving. I have never seen a RC thread go unanswered since I have been a Mod!
Again, Thank You to all who consistently help out in RC!! But I would like to see more people on here get involved!

 

[Bearcarver]

I noticed there are plenty of people answering Roll Call, some with form letters, some not.

I often go to "Unanswered" and answer anything I can. Figure I can be more helpful there than just copying & pasting, "Welcome, how y'all doing" a thousand times a day.

Bear

 

[s2k9k]

Thank You Bear! That is a very good point, there are a lot of unanswered threads on here. If you go to the top of any page and hover your cursor over the "Forums" button a drop down menu will appear and at the very top of it you will see, "New Posts", "Hot", "Unanswered" and "I've Posted". If you click on "Unanswered" you will get a list of all of the unanswered threads on here. It is very helpful if people will reply to these threads if nothing more than let the OP know someone read their post and they aren't wasting their time posting on here.
Thanks again Bear!

 

[Bearcarver]

Thank You Bear! That is a very good point, there are a lot of unanswered threads on here. If you go to the top of any page and hover your cursor over the "Forums" button a drop down menu will appear and at the very top of it you will see, "New Posts", "Hot", "Unanswered" and "I've Posted". If you click on "Unanswered" you will get a list of all of the unanswered threads on here. It is very helpful if people will reply to these threads if nothing more than let the OP know someone read their post and they aren't wasting their time posting on here.
Thanks again Bear!

Yup, It was somebody like you that turned me on to that & where it is. I've been hitting it whenever I have extra time. That's a Great tool to keep people from getting pizzed and leaving, because they feel like they're being ignored.

Bear

 

[themule69]

The unanswered section is the first place I go when I get on. They are a lot of times the ones who need an answer right now. It can make or break their smoking experiance. It is more inportant than BSing with my friends on here.

Then roll call. I remember when I joined. I got the form letters you are refering to. It made me feel special. Someone took the time to notice I was here. i did not know they were form letters. In fact if that had been my only post and moved on I would never have known. It was a long time later before I returned to roll call. I noticed that their were so many people coming to this group looking for knoledge. or looking to share their knoledge.

If i affend someone with my "FAKE" smile. I'm so sorry. At least I took the time to smile.

By all means i'd like to see every new memeber get as much attention as someone would get if they just cooked the best??? with a new recipe...On their new smoker... that they just built from scratch.

Untill then alls I can do is

Please take the time to drop by roll call every now and then.

Give them a

Happy smoken.

David

 

[disco]

I read all the roll calls that come in when I read my "smoking newspaper" (SMF) every morning. I have always appreciated it when the experienced members responded to my roll call post and my other posts.

• First, the "form letter" pasting helped me get started and I wouldn't have enjoyed the forum as much without the information they gave.
• Second, I do respond to roll calls when I have something in common with the posters.
• Third, I do respond to a post when I see something I really like or I've learned something new.
• Fourth, I am loathe to post in too many other threads or roll calls because I am afraid I am setting myself up to be considered in the same light as SeenRed, Mule, Bear, Smokin Husker, Nepas, Kat, and so many others and I don't have the experience or knowledge be considered in that company.

Am I understanding you would like less experienced members, like myself, to comment more to these threads and roll calls or are my points above valid?

I love this forum and don't want to do anything that will have a negative impact on it.

Disco

 

[s2k9k]

I read all the roll calls that come in when I read my "smoking newspaper" (SMF) every morning. I have always appreciated it when the experienced members responded to my roll call post and my other posts.

• First, the "form letter" pasting helped me get started and I wouldn't have enjoyed the forum as much without the information they gave.
• Second, I do respond to roll calls when I have something in common with the posters.
• Third, I do respond to a post when I see something I really like or I've learned something new.
• Fourth, I am loathe to post in too many other threads or roll calls because I am afraid I am setting myself up to be considered in the same light as SeenRed, Mule, Bear, Smokin Husker, Nepas, Kat, and so many others and I don't have the experience or knowledge be considered in that company.

Am I understanding you would like less experienced members, like myself, to comment more to these threads and roll calls or are my points above valid?

I love this forum and don't want to do anything that will have a negative impact on it.

Disco

Disco, you might consider yourself "less experienced" but I have seen you turn out some really good looking food! And you have always described your process very well. So yes, start considering yourself "experienced" and jump right in where you know you know what you're talking about. And no one really needs to know anything to post in RC and just say Welcome!

 

[fwismoker]

Good Idea.. I'll try to go to the unanswered more often.

 

[themule69]

I read all the roll calls that come in when I read my "smoking newspaper" (SMF) every morning. I have always appreciated it when the experienced members responded to my roll call post and my other posts.

• First, the "form letter" pasting helped me get started and I wouldn't have enjoyed the forum as much without the information they gave.
• Second, I do respond to roll calls when I have something in common with the posters.
• Third, I do respond to a post when I see something I really like or I've learned something new.
• Fourth, I am loathe to post in too many other threads or roll calls because I am afraid I am setting myself up to be considered in the same light as SeenRed, Mule, Bear, Smokin Husker, Nepas, Kat, and so many others and I don't have the experience or knowledge be considered in that company.

Am I understanding you would like less experienced members, like myself, to comment more to these threads and roll calls or are my points above valid?

I love this forum and don't want to do anything that will have a negative impact on it.

Disco

Disco

I am no expert. i just have a box of matches. i would love to see you post on a lot of threads. in fact I'd like to see all 53'250 members post on one thread. To everyone in roll call 53'250 hello's

Happy smoken.

David

 

[mdboatbum]

I usually scan the new posts and try to answer the ones to which I think I might be able to add something useful. I have noticed, perhaps due to more and more new members posting in the roll call, that there are the same 3 responses to EVERY new member post. While I do appreciate that the members are getting a proper welcome, it does get a tad repetitive. Perhaps, and this is just an idea, it might work to send the canned response in a PM form rather than in the public forum. That way the mods are getting the welcome across and the new member feels welcome, but the public forums are less cluttered with the same "form letters". Others might be more likely to post a welcome as well. I know when I see a post titled something like "New Smoker from Pig's Knuckle Arkansas" I'm not very likely to even open it as I figure the usual responses will already have been posted and I won't have much to add.

 

[rabbithutch]

You know, it should be possible to create a little "Welcome to the Neighborhood" stock email and send it to the new faces who post in Roll Call with a note in the welcoming post saying that they will receive the email and that it will contain useful information about www.smokingmeatforums.com that we hope they will find helpful. That might personalize the process a bit.

I'm just sayin' . . .

 

[Bearcarver]

Disco, you might consider yourself "less experienced" but I have seen you turn out some really good looking food! And you have always described your process very well. So yes, start considering yourself "experienced" and jump right in where you know you know what you're talking about. And no one really needs to know anything to post in RC and just say Welcome!

  What he said!!!

Bear

 

[bama bbq]

I like RHutch's recommendation to this issue:

You know, it should be possible to create a little "Welcome to the Neighborhood" stock email and send it to the new faces who post in Roll Call with a note in the welcoming post saying that they will receive the email and that it will contain useful information about www.smokingmeatforums.com that we hope they will find helpful. That might personalize the process a bit.

I'm just sayin' . . .

I gotta say I laughed out load when mule said "I got a form letter and it made me feel special". LOL.

I'm not tryin to start anything -- just point out that repeating the same posts is NOT special. It's repetitive and given RHutch's recommendation I think it can be done in a more personal way.

 

[s2k9k]

You know, it should be possible to create a little "Welcome to the Neighborhood" stock email and send it to the new faces who post in Roll Call with a note in the welcoming post saying that they will receive the email and that it will contain useful information about www.smokingmeatforums.com that we hope they will find helpful. That might personalize the process a bit.

I'm just sayin' . . .

And who is going to send out all these emails?

When someone becomes a member they get an auto-generated email from TulsaJeff Welcoming them with some important info and a request to introduce themselves in RC.

 

[bama bbq]

You're right my friend. Please disregard I said anything and delete this post in its entirety. I didn't intend to ruffle feathers by trying to make a suggestion to change the status quo. I am probably out of line for sayin anything at all to begin with.

 

[s2k9k]

You're right my friend. Please disregard I said anything and delete this post in its entirety. I didn't intend to ruffle feathers by trying to make a suggestion to change the status quo. I am probably out of line for sayin anything at all to begin with.

I think you made a relevant point and I'm glad you brought it up. A lot of people probably have wondered the same thing.
I think a lot of people probably aren't aware of how busy RC can be. We have averaged over 1000 new members each month, now not all of them post but a lot do. The Mods on here (in all the forums) do a great job trying to get to all the new posts but most of us only have so much time in a day to get to it. This is a very busy forum and so some of us have had to find a way to try and keep up in the limited time we have.

No feathers were ruffled and I have really enjoyed reading the replies on this thread. I am not going to delete it because I think there are a lot more people who haven't seen it and I would really like to hear more comments on the subject at hand.

 

[webowabo]

I try to make my Welcomes personal.. and if I can help I will.. If I cant I try and let whom ever to know the search bar is greatness... and someone should be around soon enough to help out :) But.. now saying that... you probably weren't talking about lil ol Mikey here so.. nevermind

 

[hambone1950]

I noticed there are plenty of people answering Roll Call, some with form letters, some not.
I often go to "Unanswered" and answer anything I can. Figure I can be more helpful there than just copying & pasting, "Welcome, how y'all doing" a thousand times a day.

Bear

I do the same thing , bear. But if I'm honest , it gets to be a lot of writin after a while. Plus , being a newish member I feel awkward jumping out in front and welcoming new members so I tend to wait til there's a few replies before I jump in. .
I can't really fault the moderators who use the cut n paste....they have to welcome a LOT of new members and if they crafted an original greeting to every single one they'd have little time for much else. But I do agree with 'bama that it looks a little robotic if that's ALL they get.
I think that's where us other , non moderator members can come in and just pick out a few each day to welcome to the forum.