Introductions Forum

Knowing who each other is in a community is key to that community functioning. In the old MCC forums, there used to be an "Introduce Yourself" forum. Both players and staff actively used it. The forum was active because players want to know more about who surrounding them. An introductions forum helps achieve this. That's why I think it would be a great idea to re-add this forum and make it apart of the website and community again.

Spoiler: Note

I do know this forum existed at the beginning of the move to Xenforo. However, the administration removed it due to the reasons discussed below.

Why shouldn't there be an introductions forum?
Down below are some reasons why the introductions forum shouldn't be re-added:

• Post farming - When I spoke to @Unadvised last month on why they removed the introductions forum, he said they it was because people used it to farm posts. This reason can be seen as a good case because a user could go through 30 threads and respond in some sort of way, "Welcome to the forums!" However, there are ways to combat this
• Users can introduce themselves or have conversations via Discord - Another argument brought up in my discussion with @Unadvised is the fact that people can freely converse in the Discord. This argument can also be seen as a fair point because Discord allows easy and swift communication with different people. Whether you're reporting the sight of a hacker in Skywars or you're chatting with a friend about the Skyblock reset in the #skyblock channel, Discord allows you to communicate with people easily
• Users can use the Off-Topic forum for introducing themselves - The Off-Topic forum does allow for a variety of different conversations to take place. And this could be a fitting place for introductions as you can an introduction thread in whatever direction you wish as long as it complies with the rules. A little freedom can be useful for building a community

Why should there be an introductions forum?
Down below ware some reasons why the introduction forum should be re-added.

• End post farming by disabling the post count in the forum - One of the main arguments against the introductions forum was the fact that people farmed posts by posting replies such as "Welcome to the forums!" I believe this reaction was due to a lack of knowledge. Xenforo allows you to disable the post count in a particular forum. This feature helps define a user's legitimate post count, in turn, helping them when it comes to opportunities such as being considered for a staff promotion
• Bringing the community closer via a dedicated forum - A new player having an actual location to introduce themselves is essential. Having different responses makes them feel about a part of something and will make them stay. Not only that, but they'll also be more likely to contribute to the community. Whether that's forum posts, player reports, giveaways, etc., this, in turn, brings everyone closer and builds a stronger community. Merely posting in the Off-Topic forums can get messy with everything that goes on there. Not only that, but you can't control post farming that much here (looping back to the issue in the section above)
• Forum activity - The forums aren't super active as they used to be from what I've been seeing. I think adding the introductions forums can help with this and drive more traffic to the forums. Consistent engagement will not just bring more people back to the forums, but bring new people to the forums and them likely staying

 

Thinking about a compromise then. What about adding a Discord channel for introductions? Also, I talked about Skyblock as an example.