I think I am the latest newbie to lose her newbie status and so I especially want to address this while it's fresh. But time is short at the moment. So I'll just make a start and say more later.

There is nothing like being new, to anything, to give one a fresh sense of what is possible.

Some people are better at welcoming new people to a going concern, than others.

Some people are more graceful at arriving and being welcomed than others.

The BEST welcoming I've had here has been welcoming that helped me be in charge of my own being-here, by giving information and encouragement, and by hanging in when I felt unsure about how I fit in.

The WORST welcoming has been the rush to respond to me as though I am one-dimensional, with whatever long-saved stereotypes, positive or negative, people have about what kinda critter I am. YES I invited that, and have made lots of important connections with people in the process, but everyone here seems one-dimensional just at first. That's true of newcomers and veteran members-- you see what I first present, and I see what I first see of you. I would suspect that here in the virtual environment, where all we have to see is often words, the usual effect of first impressions is enhanced by the medium.

But it is also true that if you stick around, and have any flexibility in your nake-up at all, this place also lends itself fabulously well to the debunking of the stereotypes. (See my recent de-newbification at the tavern, somewhat consciously sought but assisted beyond my wildest hopes).

Incorporating new people just is complicated. It's that way in any setting-- ask me about new-member incorporation at church!!! Here, a hand is a powerful tool. Friendly hands or unfriendly-- people come here more wide open than I see them in the 3-D world. Friendliness and unfriendliness are both more compelling here than out "there."

Well it was going to be short, but it may get longer yet.