I start this post with no expectations... I had a good chat with the Greeters Team today and the conversation made me curious... what happens with New Joiners? How long do they stay? What do they write about?

So, this is what this post is about. I think that 6 months is a good time period for a new user to settle into Steemit life which is why I'm going to go back to 1st July 2023 and achievement1 of the Newcomers' Community.

To do this, I will of course take the opportunity to promote my new (SCI) interface with the Newcomers' Community and achievement1 tag highlighted. I'm using a new feature which I've not put live yet where old posts are included when a tag is selected. Particularly useful if you're interested in a specific topic from the archives (i.e. hashtag condenser).

You might recall that I'm sceptical of new users - hesitant to trust and quick to dismiss. This post might help to change my perceptions... it might also confirm them.

Without further ado... 1st July 2023...

kayse

Meet kayse from Somalia - the 1st July was his 2nd time posting his Achievement 1 - which unfortunately, appears to have gone unnoticed. He shared 3 more posts, powered down and then was gone.

Using another of my tools - reviewing the main user of the Shared Wallet and reviewing the faces in the photos suggests that this was an attempt to create a duplicate account so was rightly ignored.

A bad start for trust.

Trustworthy 0-1 Untrustworthy

kashishchidar

A jazzy introduction by our Indian Newcomer - certainly more eye catching than the usual affair although the initial photo wasn't considered acceptable so the one you see above is a 2nd effort. The first effort is to the right and the cropping certainly looks strange. It's also never a good sign when Greeters are being pestered to verify which she was eventually so then what...?

Her timeline is the classic diary game and contests. Varying levels of support with a few booming and sc03-09 votes scattered around.

She didn't last long though - less than 2 months before inactivity.

Again, a couple of shared wallets - her introducer and another person the introducer introduced. They all seem genuine but none of them lasted long.

I'd probably put this one in the "maybe" pile.

Trustworthy 0-1-1 Untrustworthy

gideonpolycarp

Our final newcomer from 1st July, this time from Nigeria. Introduced by another Nigerian user via WhatsApp and verified after a week. Then what...?

Nothing. Zip. Nada. Gone. No activities. No Transfers. No goodbyes. Just "Hello" and then gone.

Another draw I'd say.

Trustworthy 0-2-1 Untrustworthy

Not a great return so far. 3 Newcomers on 1st July, all departed fairly rapidly... let's see what the 2nd July has in store... 2 more users. Then maybe that'll be enough of the detail and some light analysis behind the scenes will do...

ratubarat

Our first Indonesian user, arrived from YouTube (promising to "not be involved in suspicious activities or violate the rules") and reached Stage 3 of the Achievement programme. Our best so far.

Predominantly Diary Games, contests and the Engagement Challenge, she lasted a month before disappearing with her 120+ SP left untouched. She had good support from steemcurators and booming - deservedly so. Her content's high effort despite not being within the sphere of my visits.

This is definitely in the "Trustworthy" group and I can't see a reason for her disappearance. She received good support both with Rewards and Comments. Maybe she expected more ($400 per post?)... who knows?

Trustworthy 1-2-1 Untrustworthy

kansal29

Another user from India, this time introduced by another user (who didn't reply to the introduction). Suspicions were raised very early when the introduction photo was edited from his father to himself which saw the curation vote removed. Not a good start and it was little surprise to see the account become dormant soon after (1 diary game written before the curator noticed the edit). No transfers out, probably due to the minimal rewards earnt.

Trustworthy 1-2-2 Untrustworthy

Ok, so things aren't going great. None of the 5 users on the platform stayed for very long and only 1 was an account that appeared to settle into things... unfortunately, not for an extended period.

Summary of other users

A user from Venezuela introduced by her co-worker - she appeared to settle but once again disappeared after 2 months, leaving half of her earned STEEM as SP (club5050). Another genuine user who once again specialised in diary games and contests (by contests, I'll include SEC for simplicity).
A user from Pakistan - she was questioned about her introductory photos and was never heard from again.
A user from Nigeria introduced by his friend - only wrote Achievement posts 1, 2 and 3 - didn't get a vote on Achievement 3 so disappeared, leaving the few STEEM he earned as SP.
Another user from Nigeria, introduced by the same user as above (presumably at the same time) - and finally a user who's still on the platform. Diary games... contests... engagement challenges... 100% power up... all very "by the book" which whilst uninteresting to me, looks genuine... Let's read some of his content, give him a chance.... 💤💤💤 It's not for me. All mundane... boring... arse kissing where "required". But a user.

I've now spent far too long looking at this. So let's summarise with some stats and then some kind of conclusion - let's call it thoughts though. This isn't an essay. Although it probably feels like one.

Still here?	Yes: 1 No: 8
Trustworthy	Yes: 3 Maybe: 3 No: 3
Follow-worthy	1
Content other than diary games and contests	0

Thoughts

Were the results expected? Probably.

My biggest surprise was finding a user who showed some character and I wasn't alone in thinking this... She was the only user to receive any support from sc01 and deservedly so in my opinion. None of the others attracted the attention of sc01, also deservedly so. She received a lot of support and appeared to be on a good path before disappearing... why?

Almost every user I reviewed disappeared fairly shortly after arriving - again, I ask why? The untrustworthy I understand... the maybe's I also understand but the 3 genuine users appeared settled. They received reasonable interaction yet 2 of them left (and neither of them powered-down). Maybe they'll return.

This curiosity started following a discussion with some greeters from the Newcomers' Community - those that follow me will know that I'm a sceptic when it comes to Newcomers - I do a very poor job at hiding it (and as you can see, with good reason). After a month's worth of posts though, I could identify a user that I'd want to follow and all it took was however many hours it's taken me to write this post... (approximately 2 of the UK's finest). It obviously would've been quicker if I wasn't typing as I "researched". I could "work" exactly 1 month behind the achievement1 posts to see who might be worth following - it appears that most have fallen by the wayside at this point and a little boost might keep these users motivated... Something to consider alongside my recent thoughts around post promotion.

With 150 new posts within the Newcomers' Community using the hashtag achievement1 each month, as well as the other achievements that the Greeters are expected to review, that's a heck of a lot of posts which need reviewing and given the above stats, is the effort worthwhile? Would the drop off rate be higher or lower if there were no designated Newcomers' Achievement Program... we must remember that the Greeters are all volunteers, performing an often thankless and under-rewarded task.

So many thoughts already and there are probably more. I've wittered on long enough for one evening though. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

the-gorilla's Alternative Steemit Interface

In case you didn't know, I've created an interface to help you find content that you're interested in more easily.

Posts by voting bot users, abusers and spam tags are hidden and you can search by multiple tags - allowing you to find the content that you're interested in more easily.

👉 Launch Alternative Steemit Interface 👈

the-gorilla's Club Status Tool

I've also created a tool to help users review their club status - showing them where their power's coming from, how much they're powering up, transferring out and who they share a wallet with amongst other things.

Please use it wisely.

🆕 July 2023 Newcomers - Where are they now?