What has made you feel welcome here?

The Tune Stranglers and Monday night. I feel a stronger connection to some on the blog more than others. Rick, Phil and Meta, in particular, because they always were down there on Monday nights. Sarah and Operagirl, later on, due to Coffee meetups on weekend mornings....and clothes shopping, but that's a tale for another time.

How can we welcome others?

More goofy threads. The threads that seemed to get everyone talking and learning personalities seem to be the ones that don't hold really strong feelings/opinions. I don't think removing intense threads is the answer, but adding more inclusive threads would be good.

What advice do you have for new members?

Read. Go through and read some of the more popular threads, read all of the current threads, try and pick up on the little quirks that make some of us tick. Don't take anything too seriously, or get too defensive. Chime in when you have something to say, and be honest. If you have the chance to meetup with any of us, do so, it really makes a huge difference when communicating with folks on the blog. That's my $.02

EDIT: and to add, and this is one I really need to work on, be OKAY with people disagreeing with you.

Basically, what I was going to say is that that thread really reinforced the power that OlyBlog has as a community builder. Religion v. Atheism can be a divisive subject and that thread could have been an ugly one. Instead of letting that happen, people recognized the commonalities between their experiences and what the closet atheist was going through, and the conversation stemmed from a sense of solidarity, and never focused on the antithetical nature of the relationship between the two ideas.

I think this is a great clue as to how we can have tough conversation in a civil way. It's all about where you start from. If we begin our conversations not at a point of contention but work from even one place of commonality, however small, I think our conversations will go a lot farther constructively. We will never all end up agreeing, we'll still disagree, and that's great, but we'll know each other and other perspectives better. In the end, that can only make our community stronger.

I post here because I have something to say and that it might be interesting to someone else.  I cannot please everyone and really don't intend to do so.

Controversial subject matter is healthy, in my opinion.  I usually come out the other end of the conversation thinking slightly different than I did when I started, therefore, I've grown in one way or another.

On the social side, I don't find a whole lot in common with others on this blog.  I've enjoyed a time at the Brotherhood, but would not find myself frequenting that, or any other place for that matter.  For those that enjoy such, I think it's great.

I'd like to just see Olyblog continue, with its positives and its negatives, with its Larrys and its Ehver Greens, and let the chips fall where they may.  I'm certainly not here as a popularity contest and expect that no one really cares to a great degree whether they are popular with me or not.  Should we agree and like each other, so be it.  Other than that, it's just a blog.

Send a PM when someone new pops up in the comments (if they're nice).

Welcome them to the conversation by acknowledging their comments.

Don't respond to (well behaved) strangers with harsh criticism or sarcastic remarks, treat them as guests.

Keep our own disagreements civil and to the point (not personal).

Don't confuse conflict with healthy debate. Pissing matches are only welcoming to a small and unsavory cadre of posters.