Posted by Callie L in Question for Candidates - Member Retention via Aesthetic?
This is a question for both tickets.

I’ve been in STF for four months now and there are some points/questions that I would like to raise regarding how STF appears to new members and what your thoughts are surrounding the aesthetic of the club and how daunting the website is at first. This is relevant, at least to me, because I struggled somewhat when I first joined and my initial anxiety nearly prompted me to simply not post and disappear into the void. Thankfully that didn’t happen!

So! My questions:

1) Discord: It’s quite confusing and daunting to new people when they first join, they don’t know who to talk to or how to get roles and sometimes some people, like myself, end up in a position of having to build up the confidence to ask someone for roles after a few days.

Do you have any plans to make the discord more user friendly?
Also do you believe that this will improve new member retention?

2) Website & Courses: At first the site can be confusing to navigate for new members, there’s a lot of old (but useful!) threads on there relating to the courses which inform people on how to write and give information to help them develop their character. Could this be made easier for new members? Could it also help graduating cadets be more confident moving on from the academy ship?

Do you have any thoughts on how you could make the academy courses more accessible than they already are? Like a wiki or something similar?
Are there any thoughts on updating these with anything new that might help retain new members and catch their attention?
Would you add any information in for graduating cadets and how they should progress from there?

I know there are other threads that delve into this more so I’ll stop the interrogation questions there!
Also I’m still relatively new here, apologies if I’ve touched any topics I shouldn’t have.

Thank you for your time in advance,
Callie L.

HI Callie!

Your questions are quite important as is your opinion as a new club member! Thank you for jumping in and asking!

As per our splat form post, Matt and I are supporting work that’s already being done to update and streamline the academy and mentor programs. A lot of work has been ongoing quietly in the background to address the issues of how new people can easily navigate the website and access needed or wanted information.

That being said, Matt and I also have a plan to put a spotlight on how things work in the club via monthly updates on the things being done to address issues like the ones you’ve pointed out.

Please feel free to relate your experiences to the club, no matter who wins the election, as all of us intend to work together to make your experience better as time goes on. And I can safely say we all value your opinions.

Hope that helps!
-Dave Eads