Change "Introduce Yourself" into "Member Activity"

[Joshy 4,297 / 42,765]

We have the Introduce Yourself forum category, which is cool and all, but it's not very robust and a lot of weak topics that would have done well elsewhere end up in General Discussion.  For example, people will be posting things about how they'll be offline for 2 or 3 days, or when they are coming back and how excited they are.  There aren't really any pronounced areas for posting these topics (especially the ones where they are "coming back tomorrow")...  If they're leaving, then goodbye is the best, but it's only a very temporary goodbye; if they're returning, then it's definitely not goodbye nor an Introduction ("Hi, my name is Joshy and I'll be back online in 48 minutes...  I better start a new thread to get people stoked about it since everyone and their mom loves me!").  The other default is off-topic, but these topics aren't *that* off-topic and there is flexibility for people to argue that it *could* go in General Discussion.  Here's an example thread.

 

The problem with posting it in General Discussion is that these topics don't really stir a discussion, and they also bump down other topics that do.  This does hurt our activity, and it does look spammy and pathetic.

 

I think an easy solution to this would be to change Introduce Yourself into a more robust title such as Member Activity, where people can Introduce their self, say their goodbyes, and post about their general activity.   I think this would group the topics much better, and it would help prevent posting them in General Discussion.

 

Just a small idea  

[Bae 2,489 / 41,407]

I'm neutral on this, since at least most are legit introduction that I've seen so far. Some like to troll because they either want the attention or do not know how to turn on the Status Activity/Update. Um, but if it's changed to Member Activity, I think it'll end up like General Discussion in the end. This is just my opinion, if it does change it like that, I'm guessing we could have only pinned topics like:

• Picture 
• Introduce Yourself 
• Top ## Things About You

Something like that. It's a good idea, but regardless, intro has no post count.

[Joshy 4,297 / 42,765]

I'd like to bump this up again to see how people might support this.  I'd really like to make that forum more broad and I even have a personal update about my activity that does not fit into the introduction or goodbye category.

[Benmytot 5 / 2,195]

I think this is a great idea, I think it'll be a great way for people to connect with each other, especially people who live outside the US..

 

For example, if I were to update my activity like... I just played this game or like watched this movie/show/anime/whatever Y*-*Y, some people could be like "Hey, I watched that movie or whatever too, which part/gameplay did you enjoy the most?" so that's one way of starting a conversation..

[Joshy 4,297 / 42,765]

I'd like to revisit this again.  It hasn't been much of a problem lately, and that's probably because we're in the middle of the academic year, but I think this would still be a more fitting and completing category name.

 

I'd also like to amend my idea with changing Supporter+ to "Fireside Lounge."  The supporters section should be a perk, not a tech support area much like this forum category is.  I think the lounge name is self-explanatory, and I pulled the Fireside component from "Fireside Chats" as I was thinking of something historical and how cool it is to hang out next a fireplace and chit-chat with your friends.  I want supporters+ section to be really appealing and come off more as a perk while we work on the other forum features we want to offer (more badges).

[Shuruia 3,125 / 26,807]

Given that the forum is no longer chiefly used for introductions, I might as well change the name.

 

EDIT: I also added a description to the Off-Topic & Random Questions forum to clarify its difference from the rest of General Discussion.