Posted by LadyKitt
(here)
One of the first things I discovered after my membership had wonderfully been approved <grateful wave to Bill Ryan for the invite>, was that there were close to a hundred other new members who had joined over the past several months.
The surprising thing for me was in not seeing most of them posting to any of the numerous timely topics, or updates to ongoing investigations, and so on. Of course the reasons are varied and fully understandable, like feeling overwhelmed by the incredible range of subjects which are not limited to but include UFO, paranormal, metaphysical, alternative science, government obfuscation, and oh so many other exciting matters needing serious research and addressing.
And as usually, being a new member in such a large community of like-minded people which also includes so many active illustrious researchers, can be intimidating, leading some to hesitate to post on the perhaps erroneous perception that they might not have anything to contribute to a thread.
At the same time, for those of us who have been online and periodic members of discussion forums for quite some number of years, we've regularly encountered posters who fall into a category aptly described by Whiskey_Mystic in araucaria's "Not so fast: a guide to better posting" thread:
"Or am I just trying to dazzle everyone with my (alleged) brilliance? Am I just writing this because I like the sound of my own voice?"
So how and when does a newbie here in the Avalon Forum know it's time to dive into a thread and start participating in the discussion and/or research?
Beats the heck out of me!
What I can do, however, is to create an environment where newbies can express their interests, and engage and participate in discussions relating to the topics and subjects and people and events that matter most to them, without worry of criticisms or the protocols governing appropriate posting to the thread.
As with all wonderful discussion threads, however, trolls are warned to get lost. And flames will result in immediate reporting to the Avalon Forum moderators. Those are the only crucial protocols to be applied in this thread. And I'm also donating the thread's ownership to all newbies here, past present and future.
Just as importantly, this Newbie Matters thread is open for participation by all members, in a casual and laid-back holiday outdoors barbeque family and friends gathering and meet'n'greet. The tone I personally would like to see applied to this thread was marvelously described by Mike in that same thread:
"I like that bit aracuria wrote about becoming a stranger to your work. Sometimes I'll get sort of drunk, write a bunch of sh!t at night, wake up, and be pleasantly surprised when the relaization hits that I wrote something I had forgotten about. I'll revisit it with excitement and maybe a little trepidation (if it's public writing)....and it just tickles me. It's like opening a gift. It's like reading someone else's work. And at the risk of sounding pretentious, I usually really enjoy it."
Who's got the hotdogs?
Re: Newbie Matters
no need to be ashamed. 
Thank you for your kind message as well. 
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