Re: A More Welcoming Community

From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-09-20 23:01:09

On Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 1:54 PM Andrzej Krzemienski <akrzemi1_at_[hidden]>
wrote:

> I must say, I do not see a direct connection with stimulating
> participation, and helping the community cohesion.
>

Maybe when someone signs up for the first time we could ask them to give an
introductory sentence like "hi my name is Vinnie and I am interested in
writing concurrent network programs." And then in the welcome post, we can
show this message next to their name. Or if a sentence is too open-ended we
can give them a set of checkboxes where they indicate their area of
interest:

[ ] closed-source
[ ] networking
[ ] containers
[ ] math and science
[ ] c++ compatibility

And then when we introduce the new people to the mailing list, we can show
their interests. Then, the regulars on the mailing list can use this to
start a conversation or something.

> I guess people have different reasons for joining the list. I have seen a
> number of people sending a message of the form "I am new, I want to
> participate, where can I start?" Maybe a hint that you can ask for guidance
> when you send the initial message.
>

This sounds like a good idea. I haven't signed up to the list in a very
long time, what happens to someone who signs up for the first time? Don't
they get an introductory email explaining how to unsubscribe or adjust
their mailing list settings? We could customize that by including the
discussion policy and some ideas on how they might introduce themselves.
Which they can follow, or if they don't feel like talking they could also
not do that.

Thanks