# Edit DiscoBot "Greetings" msg + Customize Onboarding
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144
**Category:** Community Building
**Tags:** discobot
**Created:** [February 9, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144 "2018-02-09T00:04:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@David\_Kwan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/David_Kwan)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/1 "2018-02-09T00:04:44Z")
I was wondering if it’s possible to edit this initial discobot greetings message. I like the links included but would like to tweak the wording to match my community:
Also, I am interested in customizing the on-boarding process for new users. For example, I’d love to include a checklist for them to complete with customized steps on how to get started. I’d also like to perhaps edit the design of the home page shown below or add a cover page that is slightly less overwhelming. A few users have told me that it can be a little much at first:
Lastly, I’d love to see/hear about examples of what others have done to improve the on-boarding of new users and convey the purpose of their specific community. I am not as concerned about teaching them how to use the actual features of Discourse (the discobot is doing a great job of that), but more so teaching them how they can use our community for it’s specific purpose (sharing educator resources and becoming certified in our program).
---
### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/2 "2018-02-09T01:11:49Z")
> [@David\_Kwan](#):
>
> I was wondering if it’s possible to edit this initial discobot greetings message. I like the links included but would like to tweak the wording to match my community
See
> [@Customize Discobot User](https://meta.discourse.org/t/customize-discobot-user/63233):
>
> Is it possible to customize the ‘discobot’ user or change what user sends the default greetings, etc. messages. We’d like these sorts of messages to be sent from a different user or customize the discobot user, so it has a different image, visible username, etc. Is this possible within the settings?
---
### Author:  [@David\_Kwan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/David_Kwan)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/3 "2018-02-09T20:54:35Z")
Thanks Joshua. Do you know if there is a way to see how many people have interacted with the Discobot and/or completed the tutorial (receiving the certificate)? I went to discobot’s profile but do not see any activity there.
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/4 "2018-02-09T21:00:03Z")
You can look through discobot’s messages to see all the conversations. If you want to know just who completed the tutorial, look at the Certified badge.
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### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/5 "2018-02-09T21:37:20Z")
> [@David\_Kwan](#):
>
> I was wondering if it’s possible to edit this initial discobot greetings message.
See also this discussion:
> [@New users aren't starting the discobot tutorial](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-users-arent-starting-the-discobot-tutorial/62995):
>
> I’ve had discobot enabled for two weeks and am running into problems with it. Not a single new user has responded to discobot’s “greetings!” message, and my own moderators are having a hard time understanding what it is all about as I nudge them to write to discobot with “start new user”. One of them thought she was going to actually create a new user! \ About the new user narrative message, here’s what one of them wrote today: It would be nice if the function was more “dummy” friendly a…
---
### Author:  [@mbbroberg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mbbroberg)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/6 "2019-10-30T17:04:59Z")
I don’t see a resolution here so I thought I’d mention that you can make a few minor customizations through the admin panel: [yoursite.com](https://discourse.YOURSITE.com/admin/site_settings/category/plugins?filter=discobot)
I see options under Plugins where I’ll disable discobot until I find a way to adjust the onboarding experience:
I’m not totally sure what the “quick start guide” is yet, but I’d prefer it over the default message for now. Hope that helps others 👌
---
### Author:  [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2019, 5:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/7 "2019-10-30T17:37:07Z")
> [@mbbroberg](#):
>
> I’m not totally sure what the “quick start guide” is yet,
When you set the Welcome Post Type setting to ‘Send all new users a welcome message with a quick start guide’, the default notification that gets sent looks like this:
You can customize the notification in a couple of places. First, go to Admin / Emails / Templates and search for ‘Welcome User’. This is the template that us used for creating the notification. You will see that the template contains markdown text, and a couple of placeholders. You can edit the markdown in this section, but not the content of the placeholders.
To edit the text that gets replaced for the `new_user_tips` placeholder, go to Admin / Customize / Text and search for `system_messages.usage_tips.text_body_template`.
The easiest way to test any changes that you make is to create a new account on your site with a throw-away email address. As an admin, you can use the same email address for testing the new user experience multiple times. Just go to your Admin / Users page and delete your test user so that they can sign up again.
---
### Author:  [@debryc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/debryc)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/edit-discobot-greetings-msg-customize-onboarding/80144/8 "2019-10-30T18:04:17Z")
> [@David\_Kwan](#):
>
> I’d love to see/hear about examples of what others have done to improve the on-boarding of new users and convey the purpose of their specific community.
Here’s what we do:
## 1. On our banner topic, we clearly explain the purpose of our community.
> **Young people, you are here to lead and influence systems that impact you. Adults, you are here to listen and share resources. We are all here to power youth-led collective impact. Only when we work together can we equip ALL of New York City’s young people to thrive.** To get started, check out [First time here? Welcome!](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/first-time-here-welcome/)
## 2. Our [First time here? Welcome!](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/first-time-here-welcome/) post “sells” why people should sign up for the forum.
> **Welcome to #NYCEDU!** We’re youth leaders and adult allies working together to equip ALL of New York City’s young people to thrive.
>
> **Here’s how to explore the community.**
>
> - **Engage online**. Follow discussions in #public-square, look for #jobs, and check out resources from the #learning-library.
> - **Meet in-person**. Come to [upcoming events](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/master-calendar-of-nycedu-events/80) hosted by community members and network partners.
>
> **Want to get more involved?**
>
> # **[Sign Up for an Account](http://discourse.nycedu.org/signup)**
>
> **By signing up, you will**
>
> - **Receive insider news** on all things happening in New York City youth advocacy and systems change
> - **Have access to special sections of our website**
> - **Join a community of youth leaders and adult allies** who are all committed to working with you towards collective impact!
>
> Please note, because of legal reasons, only people 13 years or older are able to [sign up for an account](http://discourse.nycedu.org/signup). Not 13 yet? Please email [hello@nycedu.org](mailto:hello@nycedu.org) to engage in a different way.
>
> Finally, not ready to create an account yet but want to stay in touch? Subscribe to our quarterly newsletter [here](https://airtable.com/shrY6ZCK4qUCQLNcZ).
>
> Caption: Group photo from our 2018 Potluck Party in the Park showing #NYCEDU participants young and old!
## 3. Our welcome message reads
> **Hi and welcome to #NYCEDU!**
>
> **Choose one of these popular first steps to take next.**
>
> - [Add a profile picture](https://discourse.nycedu.org/my/preferences)
> - [Introduce yourself to our community](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/introduce-yourself-to-the-nycedu-community/132)
> - RSVP for an [upcoming event](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/master-calendar-of-nycedu-events/79), and/or
> - Post a conversation starter on #public-square
>
> You can also learn how to use our website features by starting an [interactive tutorial](https://discourse.nycedu.org/new-message?username=pupbot&title=Hey,%20I%27m%20ready%20to%20start%20my%20new%20user%20tutorial!&body=Directions:%20Just%20click%20the%20blue%20%60Message%60%20button%20below%20to%20tell%20@pupbot%20start%20tutorial) or reading the [new user guide](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-new-user-guide/96331).
>
> **Enjoy!**
Notice that we’ve made everything a link, including a link to start the user tutorial. This keeps the message short and sweet. We’ve also highlighted the actions we care the most about.
## 4. We’ve had a lot of success with our [introduction thread](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/introduce-yourself/132). About 2/3 of our new users have posted!
> Hi from all of us at #NYCEDU! We’re eager to hear your story.
>
> Where are you from?
> What issue related to young people are you most passionate about?
> What would you like to ask of and offer to the #NYCEDU community? We want to help!
> And for fun, share a random fact or two. 🥰
>
> Haven’t added a profile picture, yet? [Add it now.](https://discourse.nycedu.org/my/preferences)
>
> To welcome the newest people, [jump to the last post](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/introduce-yourself-to-the-nycedu-community/132/last) and say “hi!”
## 5. We emphasize adding a profile picture.
Most new users didn’t, so I moved that step to the first in the list within the welcome message, and added a reminder to add a profile picture to the introduction thread as well. Before I would message each user privately to ask them to add a photo. Let’s see how well that works.
## 6. We have on our roadmap to create banners that work people through onboarding steps
We draw inspiration from [How We Increased Community Engagement By 160%(Case Study)](https://www.feverbee.com/communityparticipation/) and have on our idea list to use [Feverbee’s code for interactive banners](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/create-interactive-banners/311).
## 7. We’re writing more detailed workflow documents
[https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/how-do-we-document-organizational-policies-meeting-minutes-and-project-updates/195](https://discourse.nycedu.org/t/how-do-we-document-organizational-policies-meeting-minutes-and-project-updates/195)
Our discourse site is in early days yet, so we’re going to constantly evolve and grow. I’d love to be updated on what you find works, too.