Introduction Section Vs Introduction Thread

[Bexter]

My site's been getting "spammed" with a lot of introduction threads lately.
New members posting, and other members/staff posting in every introduction thread welcoming new members since they were last online (always between 10-50 every time i log on).
I've asked the main staff member, nicely to cool it down a bit :P

Anyway...............other staff have noticed as well, and think it doesnt look good when clicking new posts and 90% of them are in introductions, 5% in spam, and the other 5% on the main part of the site/forums. So we've discussed an intro thread instead of an intro section.

Something I've thought about doing, and something I've seen on other sites, but I'm posting here, to get some feedback/thoughts on it.

Personally, i think, it could be a good idea to do that now, however, i do feel that, one mega intro thread for everyone, makes it a bit less personal, where as an intro section for anyone to post in if they want, and have their own thread, to me, makes it seem more personal, that we care more about our members, but is it just me who thinks that?

Which do you have on your forums?

Sorry for the waffle

[Jase2]

I have the introduction forum. I don't like just havin' one big thread for introductions, and believe everyone should be able to introduce theirselves more "personally".

Spam is deleted within minutes on my forum... so spammers don't get far.

[KTBleeding]

I bet if you make that forum not count towards the postcount, it will stop.

[Bexter]

Yeah, already done that lol.
Made a bit of a difference, but not much.

[Brandon Sheley]

We use a intro forum, I wouldn't think an intro thread would work all that well

[KTBleeding]

Originally Posted by Bexter

Yeah, already done that lol.
Made a bit of a difference, but not much.

Honestly, I don't know your forum at all, but it sounds like the more entertaining part of it is intro threads. That's an issue that should be simple to fix. Create threads in other forums that are more entertaining and fun for your members to be a part of.

It sounds dumb, really.. but if the highlight of your forum is saying "Welcome, enjoy your stay!" then that needs to be fixed or it will crash and burn like a good percentage of forums out there.

[deezelpope]

My board has a Newbie section with one thread for Intros, and I mention both in my Welcome PM. Works nice for us.:up:

[Rapscallion]

We have a separate forum for it, and not counting for post count really cut down on padders.

Rapscallion

[Ryan Ashbrook]

We have a forum, and we close new member threads after the member has been a part of the board for a while.

Which reminds me, need to go through said forum now.

[Lynne]

If the problem is having all those threads show up when you hit New Posts, then why not just exclude that forum from the New Posts search (assuming all the Intro threads are in their own forum)?