monkdiscuss
benn
There's been discussion of the [Monastery Gates] UI [id://24701|before], but I'd like to expand that to suggest a whole new 'main' section - Welcome.
<p>Many monks probably skip the front page and go straight to [Newest Nodes] or something - it's interesting to see what people thought worthy of frontpaging, but I would suggest that basically it's for people new to the site. And it's not the *friendliest* front page, really. No "Hi, and welcome to the monastery. Please wipe your feet and read the following guidelines." Functional, I grant you - just not as welcoming as it could be.
<p>Maybe slipping in a small section at the top of the page that included links like [id://176063|Welcome to the Monastery], [PerlMonks FAQ], a line or two on using [Super Search] etc. would be helpful ([castaway] had a great suggestion about an "Ask a question" button that linked straight to the SOPW textbox). Another useful section / link might be something like "Top 10 questions *not* to ask" ("How do I make a binary / obscure my source...").
<p>I know part of the initiation into the Monastery is the whole [id://126|discovery] thing, but I can't help but think that if more AM's were 'shown around' immediately (the [Monastery Courtyard] maybe :)), they'd be more likely to come back / create an account / get involved.
<p>Cheers,<br>Ben.