Hello everyone,

We're looking to improve the experience that a new user has when they first sign up on the Guild. I'm not going to sugarcoat it -- right now it's pretty lackluster. Introduction threads receive very little attention from the rest of the userbase and (other than an automated PM with a a few links and a warm greeting) newcomers are left to figure everything out on their own. 

The staff has already discussed a few ideas in order to incentivize users to greet and lend aid to the newcomers but we'd also like to hear what the community has to say about it. You'll be the ones that are going to do most of the heavy lifting, of course.

One of the more silly ideas was to add a new counter just below the post count, something along the lines of "newcomers welcomed", so you can (publicly) keep track of how often you've discharged your Samaritan duties.

Another idea is to more officially appoint a squad of 'mentors' (call them what you like) whose task it is to extend a helping hand to new members, which they are free to accept or decline. Should a new user feel the need to have a veteran show them the ropes, a mentor would stand ready to provide such a crash course and to answer any questions. 

Everything is in its infancy, of course, and Mahz is currently very focused on the back-end of the Guild. My hope is that we, together, can come up with a solid plan of attack to improve the new user experience and create something workable for him to implement.

Thoughts, y'all?