Two months ago my camel's back broke.
I was part of another online developers community and after getting one too many undeserved insults from some of their lesser members I decided that enough is enough. And began looking for a new home.
Luckily, it wasn't before long that I found dev.to and immediately took to it. The staff were friendly, people were actually posting nice, constructive comments to other people's articles, and the general atmosphere was that of inclusion rather than one upmanship. Lovely.
Now I'd like to share some tips I've collected in an effort to help both newcomers get started, as well as help keep the spirit of this wonderful community alive.
Welcome
First things first.
Whether this is your first day here or you've been here for a while I'd like to newly welcome you.
I'd especially want to welcome you if you took the time and wrote a little blurb on the welcome thread that never got any love or comments.
So, Welcome!
Profile
I know, I know. We're all sick of filling up all these profiles everywhere we go. But this is different. This profile here is for other humans to read to get to know you, not for machines to figure out how to target ads at you. So go ahead and tell us a few words about yourself. You're much more interesting than you realize.
Comments
Join the conversation. If you read an article you like, go ahead and say something in the comments section. Even if you're not an "expert" on the matter. Your opinion absolutely matter.
First, it helps the author know that they are not talking into a void and second, it gives you the opportunity to ask questions and get answers. Many of the articles are quite technical and while the authors are doing their best in explaining the material, it is absolutely expected that questions will come up.
Make others feel at home
Make a habit of visiting the welcome thread every now and then and saying hello to newcomers. It means so much for a new person to get that first hello and feel welcome.
This is doubly true for people who follow you.
Share your experiences with us
How many times you thought to yourself: "maybe I should write an article about that" and then didn't? I'm going to guess that it happened more than a few times. The short answer: just do it already!
Even if it improves the life of just one person, isn't it worth it?
And by the way, it doesn't matter what you write about or if there's a million articles on the subject already. Your experience is unique. Your perspective is unique. Your background is unique. So just please share it with us.
Don't condone littering
When I published my first article here I was stupid enough to post a link to it in the previous community I was part of. Before long the nasty comments started appearing. But this time something else happened. Members from dev.to were sticking up for me. Next, dev.to staff stepped in and removed the garbage. I was amazed.
So know that you're part of a really cool community and take part in keeping it like that. If you notice someone bullying you or others, take a stand against it by referring them to the code of conduct.
Say thank you
Lastly, feel free to say a word of encouragement to the
team every now and then. They're doing a brilliant job building this platform and giving us a home.
Good luck.
Latest comments (257)
Thanks for this article.
It's quite refreshing and so welcoming.
Good choice of words, and I'm super informed now on publishing here and being intentional at writing comments.
Thanks Arik, I am not one for putting myself out there. this made me feel like I should, and I commend you for that. I'm am new to dev.to, and coding for that matter. I have got fairly fluent with HTML, and now I'm working my way through JS. I noticed that you are also self taught. Is there any pointers you can give me?
Hi Christopher. Really glad you're here. I bet you already know about coding a lot more than you realize. It's not all that different than building beautiful boats. The theory is great and gives some guidance, but there's no substitute to getting your hands dirty again and again and again. As an aside, I would love to see an article (or even a series) that shares your process from your unique perspective.
Yep. Exactly.
Again thank you sir, I haven't quite looked at it from that perspective. Although I would be lying if I didn't say, <"From were I sit"> this task looks daunting... No worries though, I have pulled myself from far more unbecoming situations. I must say though, coding is now beginning to feel less foreign, and more comfortable. I have always had a knack of finding my flow state. I can not wait to see what that looks like coding. Also, I am pretty sure I know what an article is. I am assuming a series is a group of articles?
Yes sure and well said. Many thanks.
I mentioned this elsewhere a few minutes ago, and it is worth repeating again here.
Thank you so much for this welcoming article. Especially the lines:
I am eager to learn from all the great minds out here. I will take my time to look around the community for a bit, and then I will also make some contributions here.
Thank so much!
Thank you for sharing this welcome Arik. It's very encouraging.
🙏
Saludos te deseo lo mejor y si me necesitas aqui estoy suerte
Nice Post, Arik. Really Enjoyed your post.
Its true that profile on dev.to serves as an introduction to other members in this community and we need to put utmost interest and update as much details.
I recently wrote a post and didn't get any likes or comments (0,0,0 😅), what did I do wrong? By the way, when I wrote this post (2020), it was a very personal, important and emotional moment and stage in my life.
When I wanted to start sharing something with others, ideas, but never got around to publishing because I wasn't sure. And now, I'm publishing again, and nothing... it's a drop in the ocean.
You did nothing wrong at all. I think there's so much content for people to consume these days that it's easy for even wonderful articles to be lost in the shuffle. Please continue sharing your insights. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time.
I am truly feeling more welcomed . You know I m going to Devfest Ranchi today . Gonna write about this soon 😊😊
Nd ur note was an encouragement 😊
Sorry for the late reply but this just made my day!
Thank you so much for these great encouragement and pushful tips to help us all especially me to be a better developer and communicator with everyone in the community. Thank you once, more sir.
Thank you so much for your beautiful comment. We build each other. 🙏
Thank for the post Arik, I felt like not commenting because I'm new here. But your article gave me courage say good to meet you.
Beautiful ❤️
Very nicely presented, Arik :)
🙏
Thanks for this post.
As someone who prefers staying in the shadows, it's suprising that I'm actually raising my hand to comment - the first of many comments to come.
This is wonderful. Thank you! And welcome.
Thank you Arik. It's very encouraging. Yes, being in an environment where each try to help others in a constructive way is nice. Hope I will also come to a stage to publish nice articles some day.
Great article! I also am not used to leaving comments (usually I fell like "I don't have anything smart to say"), but reading this changed my perspective and now I understand how valuable it is. If nothing else then for the author, to get rid of the that feeling of speaking into a void. Thank you!
Yes! And you'll surprise yourself pretty quickly -- I'm sure -- that you have a lot of insights you may take for granted but the rest of us don't have.
Thanks for the encouragement Arik - appreciate it! :)
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