aeclectic too big for newbies........

[faunabay]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread. So, of course you can move it if you need to.

I have sent 2 new people here to aeclectic in the last couple of months. Both of them said they got overwhelmed with how big the site is and haven't come back. They would like to beable to come in and feel comfortable but it's just too large for them right off the bat.

Now I've been around for so long that as the site grew larger I slowly figured out which areas I wanted to keep up with and which ones I pretty much just ignore now.

How can I (we) make it easier for newbies coming in? Does anyone have any suggestions that I can give my friends to help them beable to feel more comfortable coming in?

I had them come to aeclectic tarot. Maybe I should have had them just come to the forum and ignore the rest for now? Or just come to specific parts of the forum at first? What do you all think?

[Pao]

I'm confused. what do you mean by they left because its too big? there are too many people or too many thread sections? they can start of in the talking tarot section and using cards and move on from there....I'm cofused...

[faunabay]

OK, this is what they told me.........

They came to the site - and I'm assuming it was the home aeclectic page, not the forum - and got overwhelmed by so much information they left. Now of course, it could have been they just didn't want to take the time to go through all that info. (shrug)

But I was just wondering if there is someway I can make it easier on them coming in for the first time. Assuming of course that they want to.

One of the people is new to tarot and wants to learn. Maybe pointing her towards Thirteen's area going through each card????? Which I'm not even sure where that's at, but I can find it.

[Pao]

ohh. well if you mean this here you can find it on the using tarot cards thread on top I started off by going to talking tarot and using cards section. its the ones I used to learn. They can go to the exchange to see how others read. those 3 are good at first. once they feel more comfortable they can move to others maybe. its only my opinion tho i dont know if it would help them

[x_shadow_xx]

Well speaking from a newbie point of view, I found this site very easy.

I first found this site after googling tarot meanings, and found the descriptions, and thirteens notes very helpful and I learned a lot in a week.
Then I noticed the forum and had a little click around 'tarot fun', 'using tarot cards' and 'tarot spreads' before I joined.

I kinda stick to these threads, the 'learn' section and now that I have enough posts I am using the newly granted 'your readings' threads to flex my tarot muscle

[GryffinSong]

I would probably point them to the discussion forums and recommend a couple to try at first. Talking tarot, for instance. I can see where trying to sort through all the info on the main site and the forum might get a little confusing. But in the forum they can discuss with people and ask questions, which might be more friendly than trying to find useful things to read?

good luck.

[faunabay]

Thanks for your suggestions. Since I have been around here for so long I truely can't think like a new person to this site and I know there are places I don't go myself that might be good for newbies. So I thought it would be nice to hear some suggestions from others.

Everything you all have pointed out sounds great. And Pao, thanks for the link to Thirteen's beginner area. And GriffinSong, that's what I thought too - that getting them to come to the forum would be nice to talk to others, ask questions, and just read what others have said. One of the things I like about aeclectic is sometimes people will bring up something I've never even thought about and I get information I would have never thought to ask about.

[Shadow213]

I'm a noob and I uausally just stick around the forum and see where I can get and I try to make friends and see if they can help me, of course that's what I do on all sites is try to make at least one friend and then find out what they know and figure out how the site works then I branch out from there. So far for me it's worked pretty good I need to make more friends here so that I can get more info on this site.

[Moonbow]

This is a big site, I agree, but its certainly friendly and the members are very willing to help new people. I would suggest spending some time reading the different forums, and definitely introducing themselves in New Members, its the first step to getting to know other people.

The moderators can also be PMd, and will gladly point people in the right direction and answer questions (as will members).

Its worth remembering the stickies at the top of each forum too. I know its tempting to skip over them, but they are stickies for a reason.... the information they provide will help to navigate the forum and know where to post.

[Grizabella]

Yeah, the stickies are very important. Especially in the Your Readings forum.

Maybe they don't realize that even though we have thousands of members, the core of regular members who post a lot is quite small by comparison and we're a very close-knit, friendly group.

I use this link: http://www.tarotforum.net and it brings me right to the discussion forum. Maybe you could give them that link and it would work better for them.