I noticed that we often lose members or have people disappear without letting anyone know in advance.  While people move on and that is normal, I don't want people to feel they have to leave because they aren't welcome or not cared for in this community.  To that end, I wanted to create a dialogue on ways to make people feel more included.  Even though we have our limitations, there must be some things we can do to increase morale.  Here is a few of my suggestions:

- One thing that came to me was we should be more proactive about reaching out to members who haven't been active in at least 2 weeks and left without saying goodbye.  This way the person in question will see that there are people who care about them. 

-  Make it a point to find postings with less than 5 responses and try to talk to the member.  Even if you don't have an answer to their question, you will make them feel more involved in the community.  I know it feels nice to know that others took out the time of their day to read one's post.  That alone can be helpful to the person and make them feel better. 

- Travel to the other boards in the forum from time to time.  I think creating a dialogue between people of different backgrounds, gender, or beliefs can be a strong way to strengthen the community.  This way people feel the community as a whole cares for them and not just a portion of it.

These are just a few suggestions I have.  They aren't perfect and I don't always adhere to them myself, but it's at least something.  Again, I realize some leave for personal reasons unrelated to the board itself, but I would like to keep those around that need the support.  I would appreciate some feedback and further suggestions. 

Thanks.

I never go to any specific board, never figured why anyone would. You do have a good point about checking on someone if they haven't been heard from in a couple weeks.

          

All right, I'm the site Morale Officer. If I hear of morale problems, there will be daily beatings until things improve. 


Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on September 01, 2013, 12:30:23 PM
         

All right, I'm the site Morale Officer. If I hear of morale problems, there will be daily beatings until things improve. 


Hugs, Devlyn

Devlyn. I assume that's a habit you picked up when you were in the army, or maybe it was in the navy along with keelhauling??
France being a far more civilized country than the US, when I was in the army they took care of morale by either having us running up and down mountains with 30kgs of gear on your back (excellent for keeping you in shape too  ) or, if time was short, crawling around a gravel covered parade ground on your hands and knees with a pack full of rocks on your back. The latter was particularly in favor when doing tours of duty in off beat places like Djibouti.
Keep smiling soldier, that's what you signed up for!   

Hugs
Donna 

Thank you LTL for considering an inclusive community effort.
Your suggestions are spot on.  I appreciate that folks like LordKAT travel around with us.  There is more than enough divisiveness and segregation in the world.

What I appreciate is hearing from all corners of the globe, all ages, faiths, all kinds of presentations and gender identities.  I feel stronger knowing You!

Devlyn does beat us down from time to time but apparently we need this humor too.......

Oh you girls are so funny

Cindy and Kelly will be along shortly with the branding irons, the "I'm having fun" iron is always popular!

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on September 01, 2013, 12:30:23 PM
         

All right, I'm the site Morale Officer. If I hear of morale problems, there will be daily beatings until things improve. 


Hugs, Devlyn

Hey it worked for Stalin right?

I don't really have any thoughts to contribute to the thread proper except to say that all of LTL's ideas get my approval

In our little corner of the world we have LGBTQ groups such as PFLAG, Marriage Equity, Men's Potluck, and Trans support but the whole community really rocks when we have a mixer dance and we eventually dance so packed in and close that it is more just bouncing up & down.
Bringing us together ensures our strength.

I delayed my self acceptance for years partly because I had only a mono-dimensional view of what is transgender.  The true colors of our rainbow now light up my life and it really helps to have so many able, capable and articulate writers contributing here.