Lee, Ken, this is a great idea! Please keep it up. I don’t recall our newbie days very well, or if we were so welcomed. But, we came into this RASH pumped by the spring JS item on 10 neat things to do with your children. Perhaps we didn’t need any more encouragement but, I am noticing a growing number of cachers that seem to loose interest after 20-30 caches. Normal? Perhaps, but encouragement can go a long way toward keeping our numbers active.
tb

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Originally posted by kbraband:
And thanks to you for encouraging geocachers by acknowledging when they pass a 100x milestone.

[/B]

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Thanks Ken,
I noticed that when you had finished 300 and we had finished 200, several days passed and there were no acknowledgements coming for what was, in a way, a rather important accomplishment for each of us. I realized that if someone was going to acknowledge such accomplishments, it would have to be me. Now I am worried that I might miss one or two along the way. So, I wish someone would try to beat me to the punch with a few. I would then know that there is some kind of back-up here.
I will in turn do my part to welcome newbies as well.
Keep on caching.
tb

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Originally posted by Trudy & the beast:
Lee, Ken,
Trudy & I have drafted a letter for newbies and started sending it to those we find while scanning the logs. The text of that letter follows:

____________________________

Welcome to our georanks!

We noticed your recent log at [cache] and wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this important step in your life. You are now one of us. It won’t be long and the addiction will set in. You will be scouring the shelves at the Dollar Store, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and the like to find suitable treasures for the caches you are dreaming of creating. You will be gawking at the accomplishments of people like The Lil Otter and BruceS. Other symptoms of the addiction will become evident as time passes.

You may be a newbie now and feel rather inept or even stupid at times. We have all been through this. At times, I feel that newness still hasn’t left us. I still feel naïve at times. Your numbers may be low now. But, remember that if you find only one cache a day, which will be almost 400 in a year. Few of us will achieve that mark.

Again, welcome to our ranks, we are really happy you have joined us. Read about us [you too] at http://www.wi-geocaching.com ; http://www.geocaching.com ; http://www.insidecorner.com/geocaching/

Keep on caching,
Trudy & the beast

_____________________________

Please feel free to use what you will from it.
tb

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Beast,
I realize your letter is written to be amusing, but personally I would be scratching my head if I received it after finding my first cache. To me it would be intimidating to have a stranger proclaim “you are now one of us”, tell me that I will soon be addicted, and talk about geocachers I have never heard of. My suggestion would be to tone down the tongue-in-cheek voice until after you get to know these people better.

Regarding a form letter, it will lessen the effect if we each use the same form letter or even similar sentences. We should each come up with our own welcome note.

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Originally posted by Trudy & the beast:
Ken,
Thanks for the input. Your points are well taken.
tb

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Thanks for understanding. I didn’t mean to sound too critical. The last thing I want to do is dampen your enthusiasm. You’re doing a great job helping get people involved.