Hello Marjo ( & other Launch Pad hosts)
Yea! I'm the first one to post on the New to Hosting Board! And I'm experimenting with different fonts. This is fun. Let's try this. Oh! Oh! Surprised to find that here! (Well I dont' know greek better not do that I'll confuse myself... )
Okay...enough fooling around, now I have a question. I am here exploring these new boards, and have a question about this new board. In name it sounds much like the existing group that I have a lot of familiarity with, since I am one of its organizers -- the New Hosts Forum. So I am wondering in what ways this new board would be similar to New Hosts Forum and in what way different. I see that this board is being described as "new hosts can ask experienced hosts for tips on getting started." Now this most certainly was one of the functions of the existing "New Hosts Forum." New hosts would sometimes come in saying, okay, I set up a listing, now what? When do I get a reservation? Why is no one contacting me? What should I do? What am I doing wrong? And they would get feedback. Hosts would give them direct feedback on their listing -- very helpful. Ideas of what to do better, how to get good photos, clear description, good house rules, and how to be patient, what they might expect. But that was only one of the ways that the New Hosts Forum worked and helped hosts learn. Other ways were things such as -- a host (at any level of experience) would post a problem they had with a guest and ask for help. Then everyone would come chime in and offer ideas to them, advice on what to do. So, the collective problem-solving situation was a teaching opportunity because everyone would be offered an opportunity to first learn of a new type of problem, and thus a new thing one might need to consider as a host, and then one would learn from the responses, a variety of possible ways to approach that problem.
Is this still going to be okay to do on this board? This is not actually about tips to get started, which is stated as the purpose of this board. It's about hosting "problems" and how to deal with them. Such a post, of a host presenting their problem and asking for help, would not seem to fit into the topic of "general hosting" either, which is described as "listing, reservations and payments " -- or is that covered in reservations? If so I think it would be good to change the description of general hosting board to make clear one can talk about "hosting problems and issues with guests".
And then there is still another type of post that was common on New Hosts Forum, which was the "sharing my story about my guest" tale. It wasn't necessarily a request for help -- it was a story to share, that more often than not, contained nuggets of wisdom, things to learn, teachings about what to do, what not to do, how to make the best choices. And, because the regular participants on that group became a community, they would want to share their stories with their community. WOuld they still be able to do that on these boards? I worry about what I am reading about posts being moved to other boards ---"Community Team Staff may move replies/threads to somewhere more appropriate if they start to head off topic." I think some group members might feel their babies were being taken from their chest if their reply gets swooshed away elsewhere. Or maybe I just haven't seen many highly irrelevant posts -- maybe I'm used to folks staying generally on topic?
In the existing forums, it was the community of hosts who sort of collectively decided (or the moderator decided) if a certain thread didnt' fit. Now, it seems that "Community Team Staff" will be charged with this responsibility -- any idea of what amount of flexibility is intended here, or not? I am concerned the guidelines to stay on topic, together with the comparatively narrow articulated subject range of the new groups (which may be fleshed out later) might make folks feel hemmed in, in trying to post. Anyone have any thoughts about these things?
