How did you find out about TFP, when you first joined? Did you lurk for a while, or jump right in with posting? What helped you open up and start posting?
Crompsin also introduced me to TFP. When I started out I spent more time reading than posting and was pretty quiet for the first several months of my membership. I attribute this to two factors: not feeling like I was yet able to commit enough time to posting and keeping up with posts on a regular enough basis to become an active member of the community; and feeling somewhat intimidated by the quality of discussion (the bar was already set rather high from how Cromspin had described TFP's community and content to me already) and not wanting to leave a bad initial impression with my first contributions.
Someone already touched on the very strong push for membership, but I think there's an even stronger emphasis on commitment to the community, which I have admittedly found somewhat intimidating. There are people who joined only a few months ago and have already racked up over a thousand posts, and they are rewarded for that. But someone with less time to actually
give to posting and responding may feel just as much commitment to TFP, though their commitment is not as visible and therefore not recognized in the same way. Obviously if you read more and post more, you become more familiar with others and they become more familiar with you, which will help you feel like you belong here among those who have been around a long time. Is this possible in some other way for those who just can't spend as much time here?
From the beginning, how did you feel about the porn aspect of the board? (And the fact that as a result, there are far more male than female members here)? Has that ever made you hesitant to post more often here?
I haven't paid the porn too much attention but it's never really bothered me. As for the skewed ratio of males to females, I would assume that's still pretty typical for online bulletin board communities that aren't specifically geared towards female-oriented subject matter.
What kind of "female" board topics/forums might encourage you to post more often, if you could vote for something? (E.g. a "wedding" forum, or something for parenting, or any other topic that might be interesting to you?)
My honest initial impression of the ladies' lounge was that it wasn't so much going to be a place for me. As a perpetual tomboy turned bisexual woman in a monogamous lesbian relationship, I've steered clear of discussions here about pregnancy, clothing, stuff there is to love about men, straight sex and any posts having to do with birth control, since I can't really relate to any of those things. That's not to say that there isn't anything here in the Lounge for me, but thus far I have hesitated to post my own threads dealing more closely to my personal experience. I hope to change that, as I know the only way to make the Lounge more comfortable and inviting is to look harder for and start posting about topics I can relate to. Duh!
Can you think of anything we might be able to change on the boards, to make it more appealing to potential new members? What is it about TFP that has made you stick around this long?
Quote:
Originally Posted by little_tippler
Since so many ladies feel that sometimes the TFP can be intimidating for newcomers, in terms of the “superior attitude” given by some members, maybe we could consider a system where newcomers get assigned old-timers to show them around for the first week? May seem silly but it could help establish stronger bonds between people.
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I really like this idea. As for what's made me stay, I had a moment of reconnection—or initial connection, really—with the board a few weeks ago and decided I was going to try to make the most of my membership here and start posting, come what may. I think the most disconcerting thing for me is responding to a topic that's been going like gangbusters for days and seeing it shrivel up and die with the last post being mine. Not sure whether that's a skewed perception on my part, but I hope my contributions haven't been entirely off-putting to other members. Maybe I'm just out of practice.
