How to Better Look After Newcomers?

Also I should add, the membership application is not to become a member of Jediism, but a member of this church.

In the protestant church there is a membership process as well. We need to know about our membership before you can become part of this church.

But that does not stop you from being a Jedi, or a part of Jediism.

Quite honestly, I balked pretty hard at the questions on the application as well...and hesitated for several weeks before submitting mine, for much of the same reasons you have raised here Asakura Shoko.

Still not quite sure what the tipping point was that convinced me to take the risk...but I had many of the same questions and many if the same answers through some PM and chat interactions...probably with many of those participating in this thread.

I know my experience is unhelpful in resolving the question...but probably helps in conveying the sentiment that you are not alone in your reactions or concerns at all.

Arisaig wrote: From my understanding the membership application was introduced before SW Ep. VII was released to cut down the workload for the membership team and to find those that were willing to wait 7 days... to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

Actually, this sort of brings me around to what was going to be one of my original questions/points in this thread. Isn't there some way to automate new member emails and stuff? I mean, it's great that Brick sent me a PM, but I would be none the wiser if that was a site-automated message and not something Brick had probably mostly copy/pasted.

You can also have your larger groups of people, like Novices or Apprentices, be the primary welcoming committee, to take some of the pressure off those higher-ups who already have a ton on their plates.

I had ideas about a lot of this written out but got sidetracked by the app question of jaw-droppingness and started with that instead.

SamThift wrote: Quite honestly, I balked pretty hard at the questions on the application as well...and hesitated for several weeks before submitting mine, for much of the same reasons you have raised here Asakura Shoko.

Still not quite sure what the tipping point was that convinced me to take the risk...but I had many of the same questions and many if the same answers through some PM and chat interactions...probably with many of those participating in this thread.

I know my experience is unhelpful in resolving the question...but probably helps in conveying the sentiment that you are not alone in your reactions or concerns at all.

Thank you for this. I was, indeed, feeling a little lonely.

That having been said, I'm kind of always the person who points out the big elephant in the room that people are trying to avoid talking about, or who mentions the emperor is not wearing any clothes, so feeling that way is nothing new. It's rare, but so very nice, when someone else also says, "You know, you're not entirely crazy..."

Slightly off-topic, but I forgot to say...

Atticus wrote: As a public defender...

That's an insanely difficult job in so many ways. It's also one of the most Jedi kind of jobs, at least how I define being a Jedi. Hats off to you.

I more or less ignored the membership question until I achieved a comfort with the place, and found my expected gain to be greater than the implied risk.

I was still somewhat uneasy though.

If anything, it may be worth it to review the question in whole, and see what the law actually requires alongside what best practices are in general.

Disclaimer: if I touch a point that's been answer already, I apologize. Im replying in a very limited period of time. If I'm wrong about anything below, I welcome a councilor to come in and set the record straight.

Shoji, the only people who have access to the information are the Membership Officer(s) (currently filled by John), John, and possibly Ren. As John is currently the owner of TOTJO, he holds a legal responsibility to take steps to protect the member base. If he wants to know ahead of time if someone has a criminal background, then that's his prerogative. If something were to happen to one of the minors here, for example, he has a right to be able to defend himself and say "I took what steps I could to make sure they were safe."

Background checks are, from what I've been told, required of all individuals who work with sensitive information. I'm fairly certain that this applies to at least Youth Officers and Security Officers, but I could be wrong.

The application as a whole - this is supposedly necessary for TOTJO to maintain a legal religious organizations status for tax purposes within the US. I guess the IRS tracks numbers to make sure that organizations don't try to fraudulently claim exemption status. I'm not sure. Either way, the application as it currently stands has been there since I joined four-ish years ago (or 3... I can't remember if I joined in 2013 or 2014). The only part that has changed is requiring people to wait a week before submitting it. But that question has always been there.

Finally, answering positively to that question does not preclude anyone from becoming a member. The only purpose it serves is to protect the general membership, not exclude. We have members who have admitted publicly to some former crime or another; some of them have gone in to become senior knights or councilors at some point or another.

And again, you can participate in the site and complete the IP without ever submitting the application. It only becomes necessary for membership at TOTJO, which is only necessary to become an initiate... Or basically an apprentice really. Otherwise, participation in the site is fairly open.

Also... I feel a bit that this has come to the point of derailing and should probably be it's own topic.

Just my two cents about the membership app: I didn't think twice about answering the criminal background question. Maybe I should have. Maybe I've become so used to the culture of sharing online that I've forgotten proper boundaries. But for me, the whole significance of joining TOTJO lies in placing my trust in the community, in feeling comfortable to share the deepest details of my personal development in my IP journal. Without that from the very beginning, this place wouldn't mean anything to me. And really, anyone could find out my criminal background from just my name and address if they wanted to.

On the topic of looking after Newcomers better I have two more thoughts. Thought one - chat. I get lucky about 1 in 3 times in chat. I've met some brilliant people through chat; they like crispy pastry on pies, excessive waffle toppings; trains, swords, crafts... the temple is made up of all sorts. Chat is a great resource for newcomers to get the know the temple - I feel more open to the place after starting to log in there - but sometimes it's just me and the crickets.

Second thought - calendar of events - maybe there is one already; but I've not found it yet. It'd be great to have one if there isn't one, and maybe we could make it part of "IP Lesson 0, Temple structure" to know where it is. the temple is not just the people, but the things it does - sermons, knighthoods, special commemorative days etc. being able to attend one of those would probably give newcomers a better idea of the place; and less a sense of "oh, something happened yesterday! I did not know about it, looked interesting".

Twigga wrote: On the topic of looking after Newcomers better I have two more thoughts. Thought one - chat. I get lucky about 1 in 3 times in chat. I've met some brilliant people through chat; they like crispy pastry on pies, excessive waffle toppings; trains, swords, crafts... the temple is made up of all sorts. Chat is a great resource for newcomers to get the know the temple - I feel more open to the place after starting to log in there - but sometimes it's just me and the crickets.

For the record...fried chicken is not an "excessive waffle topping"

Otherwise, two great points!