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Originally Posted by Rainbo1956
I find that when people flirt with one another here, it seems they get more attention (from business to play). Bec and the other beautiful women here are excluded because, being that they are either straight women or lesbians, the pressure is off. And I love em just the same!
People flirt on here? Where do i get some of that action, ive been missing out :eek:
On a serious note though, i know exactly what you mean however, when our community members flirt with one another it is because they have become friends, they know the boundaries that each of us has and generally speaking dont cross them, i know ive had conversations with Bec and Basschick of the board and on where i have been playful with them.
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Being a gay man that tries to become a member here in "good standing", well, I've found that it's been very, very hard to become "part of the total board" unless you "know" someone or know them from FL, NV conventions, etc...
Again i do see where you are coming from and yes to a point i would agree that putting a face to a name is a great way to build a friendship. That being said, we have community members here who i have never personally met that i still work, play and do business with, the thing is, they actually took the time to become involved in the GWW community, as Scorpio mentioned above, we have a lot of people joining and leaving after making one or two posts, spam or not, that isnt really enough time for anyone to get to know the poster especially if the posts were promoting the individual and / or program that community member works for.
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I've seen some members come in for the first time and receive the warmest welcome...why? Because they've been to the xxxconventions and "know" many of the webmaster members of the "gay webmasters community" already. That's cool, but, why not welcome everyone with the same and shout out a "special hello" to the one's you already know....then don't forget about them (the "new" ones)
Speaking for myself, i know any new member gets greeted the same by me, whether i know them or not, i even start threads welcoming all of our newest community members and extend to them an invite to tell us about themselves, more often than not though, this invitation goes unanswered, there is only so much any of us can do to welcome a new community member to GWW.
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Where as, I've seen some come in for help and they leave because they've had a hard time feeling like they're "fitting in".
Yep ive seen that happen too and it is unfortunate however, at the same time, as mentioned above, there is only so much any of us on GWW can do to welcome new members if the new members arent willing to converse with us in return ;) Im sure you'll agree that we are a friendly and helpful bunch (with a couple of exceptions lol) and are more than willing to offer help and advice to anyone that asks for it but, at the same time, its a two way street, we dont know how to help someone if they dont ask us ;)
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Most everyone here is very warm and welcoming...it's why I stay a member. I'm just wanting to offer some sugestions about welcoming new people who do not know all the folks here and haven't "met them in person" ...or flirted with them "online" or been to FL or Vegas.
You know i addressed this above but, again, i must say that when someone joins, speaking personally, i dont care whether i have met them at a show or not, they get greeted the same way id greet anyone for the first time and there are a few people who post on GWW that i only met myself for the first time at the Vegas show this January.. Im sure they will tell you they were overwhelmed with how welcoming both Gary and Myself made them feel.. As if we had known them for life.
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Sugestion....Start a newbie forum or a thread for the new people who are feeling they want to start a new gay site/sites.
In all honesty, a few years ago we did have a new webmaster forum however, it didnt get any posts and became unproductive, the general forum imho is the place to go on GWW for anyone, gay, straight, male, female, newbie or not, i think everyone gets treated with the respect they deserve to be treated with irrespective of whether they are asking about gay market issues or staight.
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There are so many talented people out there that could give back to our community so much. As well as so many here that want to help the new webmasters (at times they seem few and far between) unless someone is known or at least has "met" someone from here or where ever).
Again i have to respectfully disagree. I have seen new community members make one post and get given the milk and the cow in the responses they have received and, at the same time, i will admit i have also seen people make a first post and they havent received any help because it wasnt clear what they wanted help with.
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I had a person that I thought had the greatest designs. Very unique and fantastic designing. They seemed like a very wonderful person...their sites rocked, she had fantastic straight sites and she wanted info on how to make gay sites because they were thinking about doing that...and they should because they're sites rocked...she rocked in my perception...but, I feel she didn't think she fit in here (no one really communicated with her much in her post). So, she left here (i.e., I haven't seen her post here anymore...and, she isn't the only one I'm talking about. I KNOW she would have had wonderful gay sites and fit in here well!
Again, just to reiterate, we can only communicate so much on a given subject, words in a post are fine, if thats all that someone is looking for but, to be able to give someone SOLID advice takes time, especially when it comes to design related issues.. Im the first to admit i know squat about design related issues but ill offer an open, honest review of anyones work if its asked for, sometimes its making sure that the right questions are asked in addition to making sure the right answers are given ;)
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This is only my own observation (however, I have been asked by a few webmasters why they're not feeling welcomed here)...I myself haven't felt too left out. But, then again I'm a "forward" type person and could give two shits about how anyone feels about me. I'm not into the conventions, I don't go out to the bars, I don't make "online" friends-business or otherwise, brunch, lunch and or otherwise....still, I come to this board to meet people that are in the biz, chat, to explore all avenues, and to keep alert to what's happening in this end of the biz...that's about it. Making friends online...well...I have my other opinions about that as well.
First off, im glad you arent feeling left out however, to those that do feel left out, unless we know about it, we cant do anything to rectify the situation, any tool is only as good as the individual using it, that goes for a hammer, a car or a community such as GWW.
I would also like to say that we have just recently started our weekly site review threads and IMHO that is a great way for someone new to the biz especially the gay market to get the BEST type of feedback possible so far, the sites that have been reviewed, from what i understand have made the changes that were suggested and benefited from them.
Its unfortunate that some people do feel left out of our community and i really can sympathize with the however at the same time, if they feel left out after only making one or two posts, they simply havent given our community members a chance to get to know them. A community such as GWW is a two way street, you have to give in addition to taking.
Great thread BTW :)
Regards,
Lee
