How to encourage new participants

[Mary996]

How can we encourage newcomers to participate in the Community Centre? 

There are probably many seasoned Hosts who have never been here or have visited and been put off for some reason. It can be a tough environment and I do not appreciate this.

I was thinking that new Hosts might be directed here as part of a their 'inset' or orientation where they will have the opportunity to learn more and to ask questions or to make the kind of suggestions that fresh faces and fresh perspectives can bring. But I do feel that an element of self-help and of reciprocity is warranted with an expectation that everyone will take their turn. How would it be if Hosts were allocated periods when they are 'on-duty' and expected to respond to Guests and to other Hosts?

In the long run having an element of self-help makes good economic sense. It also contributes to shaping the organisation in the way we would like it to be. An appreciative and supportive place. Any thoughts??????? 

[Emilia42]

@Ute42 I caught on to that 🙂 You remind me of my Oma. There was no sitting around singing Kumbaya with her. She was who she was and if you didn't like it then she would simply say "tough."

[Ute42]

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@Emilia42  

What? I remind You of Your Oma?

I'm a sexy silver surfer, a woman in her best age. I'm driving around with my BMW convertible in the sunshine, the rooftop open, the wind in my hair and I have 2 handful of guys on my heels. And that reminds You of Your Oma? Come on.

[Helen3]

Ooh  sounds fun can I come join you @Ute42  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Ute42  Maybe her Oma was a wild one, too. Maybe even sexier than you 🙂

[Emilia42]

@Ute42 What makes you think my Oma isn't doing that as well?

[Ute42]

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@Helen3 

Allright, come on in, here it is. I know You can't see my face but I'm in there, my hubby took the picture from a bad angle.

@Emilia42  

The car has a Harman-Kardon sound system, 500 watts, it's louuuuud. This is NOT an Oma-car!

[Stephanie]

Nice wheels!

Thanks for the laugh @Sarah977 @Ute42 @Helen3 @Emilia42 🤣

[Sandra126]

@Ute42 it's a cultural thing as well. Germans and Swedes for instance can be very short and snappy. My boss at my first job in Australia had to teach me not to just launch into what I wanted to say, but instead wrap it with pleasantries. Hello, how are you...

[Ted307]

Hi, @Ute42 

I do think people come here to tell their story, what happened to them, and have an understanding listener. But, even better if the understanding & more experienced host has solid grasp of the problem and can frame those choices like you just did above. Sympathy and understanding only go so far, and giving the new inexperienced host a list of the options is very helpful, I believe. Then a discussion can lead to a plan of action to solve the problem.

Others, such as myself, are in the data acquisition mode. Since I am not the original poster with the extra guests, I like the short and blunt answer you gave above! It gives me something to think about before the situation occurs. Once on here I read about a host who got a poor review about hairs on the sheets, even though the sheets had been laundered. I learned from this and use a lint roller when I make the bed. And I tie up my very long hair while I work on our place! So, I am thankful to the original host who got a low review and was upset and posted here, but also to those who posted the practical, if blunt, replies!

[Robin4]

@Ute42 

Ute thank you so much for giving me such an accolade!

My feeling is, we walk a fine line with what we say here, and in our mind we have to judge how, not just the enquirer, but the casual reader is going to respond to what we say. In most instances you can bet whatever we say is going to fall into one of three categories:  Patronizing, Self indulgent or Not relevant, so, if I can cover all bases.

If you tell someone what they have done wrong, you are patronizing them! Nobody likes to be told they have made a mistake, they want to be guided and offered alternatives, not be slapped in the face for their judgement. 

If you tell someone how much better your solution is than theirs, you are being self indulgent and the hard part about that is, how do you guide people through experience without looking like a know-all?

In many instances we have to be mind readers, we are expected to guess what the problem is with the enquirers take on what the issue might be.....we are not offered a balanced assessment, and end up giving an irrelevant answer!

Like the rest of you I am accused of indulging in all three of those frequently and, I wish there was some magic formula to get inside the questioners brain and say, 'we are trying to help you, if we can'!

I am finding through a few sites I am getting some accolades, (there you go, a bit of self indulgence) I have an answer on one site that has gone through 1 million views and hit 60,000 up-votes.....

At 1 US cent per up-vote, that's $618.00 US that answer earned me and counting. And I have another dozen that have gone through 15,000 up-votes and all of them relate to nice feel good stories. With all the upheaval in the world at the moment people are universally reaching out for something nice to brighten their lives. 

@Ute42  I have been asked by Carmen Forrest (convener) to write for a German site....

https://wirsinddu.eu/geschichten/?lang=en

So in the near future you will see some of my contributions there. To this point there have been no contributors from Australia, so I will be the first.

I bring all this up because, all I ever want to do is help....and if I can find a way of doing that, I will.

It won't always be seen as help.....but I try!

Cheers.........Rob

Cc: @Mary996 @Colleen253 @Pat271 @Sarah977 @Mark116 @Linda108 @Alexandra316 @Ann72

[Ute42]

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@Robin4  

One thing's for sure, You are one of a kind.

• „If you tell someone what they have done wrong, you are patronizing them!“

I know that people don't like it if You tell them they have failed.

But: As far as my own life goes:

Whenever I succeded with something it was my own energy, creativity and my thoughtful decicions that let to a positive outcome.

And whenever something went wrong it was my inability, my stupidity and wrong decisions I made that let to a disaster.

In general that's the same thing with other people, but they don't wanna hear it.

Anyway, I think You've found the perfect job for Yourself, hosting on airbnb. You have all the talents You need to for it and You can do it for the rest of Your life, noone can fire You. Keep on the good work.

[Helen3]

The reality for many hosts @Mary996  is that they post here when they are having a problem or are new to Airbnb and want advice on how it works.

They have busy lives and aren't really interested in being an ongoing part of this community - they just want answers and it's quicker and easier to post on the community then navigate airbnb's own channels .

I think your suggestions that hosts are only allowed to post advice during allocated time-slots a rather strange one to be honest. Not all hosts know the answers to all issues. I think it's much more helpful for those wanting answers to have a variety of answers that they can learn from - as has been already said take what you want from the answers you receive and ignore the rest 🙂

The nature of online communities is that the vast majority will only post when they have a problem they want help with and that a much small number will become active regulars who change over time.

Some because they have an axe to grind because they don't like Airbnb, some because they genuinely want to help others and some because they don't have a life 🙂

In terms of your comments that you find some of the responses you receive difficult to deal with, I find when this happens it's good to not be as active on the forum and not respond in kind with your own sometimes negative response. Instead focus on other more positive things in your life. The problem with the internet is that words on a page can come across differently than they were intended and there is no intonation or visual references to help provide context.

By the way on another thread I see you praised Dale for his command of English.....You may not be aware but Dale is from the US, so it would be surprising indeed if he didn't have a good command of English 🙂

Finally I think Airbnb could do more to flag the forums existence with hosts by the simple measure promoting the community when hosts sign up to Airbnb in a welcome message. I also think they should do much more to highlight their Airbnb Help website which has useful FAQs around the basics of managing your listing.

[Mary996]

Hi Helen @Helen3 

"your suggestions that hosts are only allowed to post advice during allocated time-slots"

This was a misunderstanding.

I was advocating a pathway for newcomers via the CC as part of their joining process but it would need a strategy to see everyone through and to link them up with existing volunteers and would probably involve some time tabling.

Ute suggests awarding points towards Super Host status which sounds creative and she could best explain/ progress her thinking about

Stephanie talked about gamification

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mary996 

As I am not good at English.....would you be so kind to tell me how would you tell another CC member that he gave wrong, bad advice (again) to someone who came here asking for help? I mean, how would you word it in a clear but polite, and respectful way so he and no one else gets upset and accuse you of bullying and being vicious?

I know we could politely continue to ignore him for another few months or forever but I really feel sorry for all those people who came here looking for help but get confused with the opposite answers they get. Here is just one example: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Lifiting-two-day-Friday-Saturday-booking-restricion-only-fo...

I would really appreciate it if you would write such a sentence for me so I can copy-paste it when needed. Thank you indeed.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Yes, if we are trying to be welcoming to new posters, it's quite disturbing to see them being given incorrect or confusing information or advice. (they can get that any day from the CS dept 🙂 )

That could cause a much worse impact, if they naively followed that advice, than reading a response that sounds unkind or harsh.