Introducing yourself in a new camp

You have found a camp you like the look of. The posts are good, the replies sound friendly, and you would like to be part of it. So you open a new post, type “Hi everyone, I'm new here”, and stop, because nothing in that sentence gives anybody a reason to answer.

A first post in a new camp is a small social act, a lot like walking up to a fire where people are already talking. You do not need a speech. You need to say who you are in a way that hands someone an easy next line. Here is how we would go about it.

Sit by the fire for a while first

Joining works a little differently here than on most social sites. A camp is a topic page that gathers every post on that subject from every writer on BirchCamp, so there is no button to press and no membership list to get onto. If you have a writer account, you join by publishing a post with that topic. If you do not, you can still join in with a reply, which only asks for a name and a comment. The help page covers the details.

Because nothing stops you posting straight away, it is tempting to skip the part that makes the post good. Before you write, read the newest handful of posts in the camp and look at the replies under them. You are looking for three things:

• the names that keep turning up, and what they tend to care about;
• the usual length and tone, whether that means long careful essays or quick notes from the kitchen table;
• one post you have a genuine reaction to.

That last one is worth more than the other two together. It gives you something to mention, and it shows the camp you came to read as well as to be read.

Say why you came, not your whole story

Your profile already has room for a short bio and a pinned intro, so your first post can leave out the job title and the list of hobbies. What the camp would like to know is narrower: what connects you to this subject, and why you turned up now.

Imagine a camp about baking bread. Here are two ways into it.

“Hello! I'm a marketing manager and mum of two who loves food, travel and good books. I'm excited to join this community and looking forward to connecting with you all.”

“I have baked the same sandwich loaf for three years, and it has become boring for me and for everyone who has to eat it. I'd like to learn rye. So far I have made two very convincing bricks.”

Both are friendly. Only the second gives a reader anything to pick up. Someone can laugh at the bricks, ask about the starter, or admit to bricks of their own. Notice too that it fits in three sentences. Two or three short paragraphs of this kind will carry most of an introduction, and you can leave everything else for later posts.

Bring something to share

A post that only says hello asks everybody else to do the work. Arrive with something small in your hands, the way you might bring a bag of apples to a camp you have just been invited to. It need not be impressive. Some good options:

• A small true story. The moment you got interested in the subject, told in a few sentences.
• A mistake. People warm quickly to a newcomer who is honest about what went wrong.
• One useful find. A book, a tool or a trick that helped you, and what it helped with.
• A response to someone already here. Link to the post that caught your eye and say which line stayed with you. It is a generous way to arrive, and the writer will probably be glad to read it.

Pick one. An introduction that tries to do all four starts to read like a job application.

Finish with an invitation people can answer

The last lines of your post decide whether anyone replies. “Any tips for a beginner?” sounds humble, but it asks a reader to work out everything you need and write it all down. Most people will mean to answer and never get round to it.

A smaller question works better, ideally one that a regular can answer from memory and another newcomer can answer too:

• “What was the first rye loaf you got right, and what did you change to get there?”
• “Does anyone else here bake mainly for other people? I'm wondering if that's why I never try anything new.”
• “I started with the book everyone recommends. Is there a better one you wish you had read first?”

Each of these can be answered in a sentence or two, and each has room for a story if the reader feels like telling one. Ask one question and make sure you would enjoy answering it yourself. We go further into this in writing posts people want to reply to.

You can also make the invitation personal. If you mention someone's earlier post, it is natural to ask them something about it: “You said your starter took a month to settle. Was that normal, or did you nearly give up?” Direct questions are hard to ignore, as long as you keep them light and do not lean on one person to welcome you.

Help people find you

A few practical touches make a difference. Give the post a title that says something, since “Hello!” tells someone scrolling the home feed nothing at all, while “Three years of the same loaf, and now rye” already sounds like a person worth meeting. Add the camp's topic exactly as other writers use it, so your post lands on the same page as theirs. One or two other topics are fine if they really apply. Tagging every camp in sight just makes you look lost.

Before you publish, it can help to check the draft against this short outline:

1. One or two sentences on what brought you here, and why now.
2. One small thing you are bringing: a story, a mistake, a find or a nod to someone's post.
3. One question you would happily answer yourself.

If all three are there, publish it. The post does not need to be clever. The community guidelines are short and worth a quick read if this is your first post on the site.

Stay around after you post

Every reply here is read by a moderator before it appears, so a thread moves at an unhurried pace. An empty space under your post on the first day is no snub. BirchCamp also sends no notifications, so make a point of coming back in a day or two to look.

When replies arrive, answer them. Writers can join their own threads, and your replies carry an Author badge, which makes it easy for people to see that you are present. Thank each person for something particular they said, and ask a follow-up if you are curious. If a reply comes across a little sharply, give it the benefit of the doubt. Our notes on keeping a group conversation kind may help if you are unsure how to answer.

And if nobody replies at all, try not to read too much into it. Go and leave a thoughtful reply on someone else's post, then write your next piece. People often get to know a newcomer through the second or third post, and by then you will not need to mention that you are new. You will just be one of the people around the fire, and sooner or later someone else will turn up and say hello.