Dreamwidth Welcommittee
Jan. 2nd, 2026 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
newcomersOnce upon a time, before the Internet, fans found each other through fanzines, clubs, and other means. Among the most famous was the Star Trek Welcommittee, which helped people find ways to participate in the fandom. The National Fantasy Fan Federation, which started even earlier, still has one going. The idea spread to other fandoms and beyond. A welcommittee is basically a group of volunteers who enjoy reaching out to new people and helping them connect with a given organization or subculture. Many organizations have them, and so do some towns.
I'd like to encourage something similar for Dreamwidth. It's a way for more experienced bloggers to participate innewcomers. We need folks who can answer questions, explain how the platform works, and help new users find things they like in hope they'll stick around. It doesn't have to be official or complicated -- just a few concepts and resources for folks to use when they meet a new user. It helps support the platform we love.
Beyond fandom, there's another area where people pay a lot of attention to outreach and integration for new members: churches. Set aside the specifically religious aspects, and they have some very useful observations about what works and why.
* Friends. Some references cite a need to make three friends, or seven friends, or whatever; but they generally agree that making new friends is vital for securing a bond with the group, and the more the better. People often join groups specifically to spend time with current friends and/or make new friends. Therefore, a welcommittee or other volunteer can help by suggesting possible friends or subgroups that suit a new person's interests.
* A meeting of needs. Churches advise watching for people in distress. With a platform like Dreamwidth, that means watching for other platforms to wobble or collapse. As they shed users, reach out to people in your circle of friends and encourage them to try Dreamwidth. Whatever they're complaining about the other platform doing badly, check if Dreamwidth does that well and point it out.
* A confluence of connections. A commonly cited set is "a friend, a feeling of belonging or nourishment, and a responsibility or task to fulfill." A new person should feel like they're getting something by joining the group, and people like to feel that they matter so getting involved with a project or activity of some sort serves that purpose. If you see someone wishing for an activity, suggest opportunities for that. Many communities here have signups where folks can volunteer to host something for a day, a week, or a month.
Think about how confusing a new platform can be and how hard it is to find what you want. Where are all the people? How do you make friends here? What do you do when something goes haywire? And who can you even ask these questions? Anyone who's been using Dreamwidth for at least a few months can usually help someone who just got here. It doesn't have to be fancy, just friendly.
I wound up writing the same things over and over so many times, eventually I wrote out a version that I could just copy-paste and customize as needed. Here's a current version:
newcomers has lots of resources about how to use Dreamwidth and where to find things you'll enjoy here.
The Follow Friday Master Post has lists of active communities by topic where you can look for some based on your interests, including some of the Most Useful Communities. Many bloggers use recurring posts to pin down their key interests and maintain activity, which is also a good source of inspiration if you aren't sure what you want to post yet.
Below that I typically add a recommendation for the next big event, such assnowflake_challenge in January or Three Weeks for Dreamwidth (April 25-May 15). Newcomers often mention some of their own interests, so I try to recommend active communities based on those, or other bloggers who like or do such things. If we have any overlapping interests, I'll mention where mine match theirs. If there's a current issue with another platform, I customarily make a post about that so I can link to it and help welcome folks coming from there to here. Feel free to use the sample above or make your own.
Resources
8 Ideas to Welcome New Members to Your Organization
Activating Communities
Converts Who Stay in a Church
How to Find Friends Online: Tips for Making Meaningful Connections
How to Hack the Snowflake Challenge
How to Make Fandom More Inclusive
How to Run a Fandom Event Through Dreamwidth
Improving Communities on Dreamwidth
Improving Community in Fandom
Living Star Trek: How Two Women Breathed New Life into the Franchise
Without social media or the internet, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah made miracles happen to bring fans closer together.
Making Friends -- how to articles from wikiHow
Three Weeks for Dreamwidth
If anyone wants to volunteer, reply in a comment and I'll list you. It's not required, but might be convenient to know who are some folks doing this.
Participants:
*
*
*
*
*
I'd like to encourage something similar for Dreamwidth. It's a way for more experienced bloggers to participate in
newcomers. We need folks who can answer questions, explain how the platform works, and help new users find things they like in hope they'll stick around. It doesn't have to be official or complicated -- just a few concepts and resources for folks to use when they meet a new user. It helps support the platform we love.Beyond fandom, there's another area where people pay a lot of attention to outreach and integration for new members: churches. Set aside the specifically religious aspects, and they have some very useful observations about what works and why.
* Friends. Some references cite a need to make three friends, or seven friends, or whatever; but they generally agree that making new friends is vital for securing a bond with the group, and the more the better. People often join groups specifically to spend time with current friends and/or make new friends. Therefore, a welcommittee or other volunteer can help by suggesting possible friends or subgroups that suit a new person's interests.
* A meeting of needs. Churches advise watching for people in distress. With a platform like Dreamwidth, that means watching for other platforms to wobble or collapse. As they shed users, reach out to people in your circle of friends and encourage them to try Dreamwidth. Whatever they're complaining about the other platform doing badly, check if Dreamwidth does that well and point it out.
* A confluence of connections. A commonly cited set is "a friend, a feeling of belonging or nourishment, and a responsibility or task to fulfill." A new person should feel like they're getting something by joining the group, and people like to feel that they matter so getting involved with a project or activity of some sort serves that purpose. If you see someone wishing for an activity, suggest opportunities for that. Many communities here have signups where folks can volunteer to host something for a day, a week, or a month.
Think about how confusing a new platform can be and how hard it is to find what you want. Where are all the people? How do you make friends here? What do you do when something goes haywire? And who can you even ask these questions? Anyone who's been using Dreamwidth for at least a few months can usually help someone who just got here. It doesn't have to be fancy, just friendly.
I wound up writing the same things over and over so many times, eventually I wrote out a version that I could just copy-paste and customize as needed. Here's a current version:
newcomers has lots of resources about how to use Dreamwidth and where to find things you'll enjoy here. The Follow Friday Master Post has lists of active communities by topic where you can look for some based on your interests, including some of the Most Useful Communities. Many bloggers use recurring posts to pin down their key interests and maintain activity, which is also a good source of inspiration if you aren't sure what you want to post yet.
Below that I typically add a recommendation for the next big event, such as
snowflake_challenge in January or Three Weeks for Dreamwidth (April 25-May 15). Newcomers often mention some of their own interests, so I try to recommend active communities based on those, or other bloggers who like or do such things. If we have any overlapping interests, I'll mention where mine match theirs. If there's a current issue with another platform, I customarily make a post about that so I can link to it and help welcome folks coming from there to here. Feel free to use the sample above or make your own.Resources
8 Ideas to Welcome New Members to Your Organization
Activating Communities
Converts Who Stay in a Church
How to Find Friends Online: Tips for Making Meaningful Connections
How to Hack the Snowflake Challenge
How to Make Fandom More Inclusive
How to Run a Fandom Event Through Dreamwidth
Improving Communities on Dreamwidth
Improving Community in Fandom
Living Star Trek: How Two Women Breathed New Life into the Franchise
Without social media or the internet, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah made miracles happen to bring fans closer together.
Making Friends -- how to articles from wikiHow
Three Weeks for Dreamwidth
If anyone wants to volunteer, reply in a comment and I'll list you. It's not required, but might be convenient to know who are some folks doing this.
Participants:
*
*
*
*
*
