The Feature Fairies may lower the bar slightly for a newbie, but not much.  As Carol mentions, the majority of the 1st timer posts would not be topics that would get the wave of the fairie wand and the gold star that comes with it.

I do actively try to find new bloggers to Feature in my Saturday series. The problem I'm having is:
#1: They're promoting a property or a market update
#2: They're a student doing an assignment that has been done 10,000 times
#3: They're using AI for 100% AI-generated content 

The AI-generated content has become VERY common. I don't have a problem with AI-assisted writing. I have a problem with 100% AI-generated content. That's not worthy of a Feature in my book.

I catch first time bloggers from time to time, comment and follow them. Not as much as I likely should. Maybe once a month feature them?

If we had a more alert-style way of seeing a new blogger's post I'd comment on more. Right now what catches my eye is if someone I follow re-posts them, or the newbie themselves posts a topic or a title that catches my eye. I do not surf the lists or buttons too often in AR - I'm busy enough posting and reading "thems that I follow". Great idea t mention this though...redraws the eye to a great reminder to support the newbies.

No, but others do. You EARN your place on the feature board. The best of the best so to speak.

The welcome wagon has long been recognized everywhere to deal with people coming into a new endeavor. It should be a worthy gesture too

I commented on a couple . . . there's one from a RE student that was good! 

If I see something that catches my eye and interest, I do. Otherwise, this is not high on my list of priorities.

I used to feature newbies with a graphic on their blog posts.  I make a comment and add a question:  How did you find Active Rain?  Rarely do they reply.  I also suggest who to follow to become more involved in navigating AR.  I sometimes feel they are cut and psting non-original content or they are hawking something they wish to sell without building any relationships.

I will visit all the folks in your Q/A and see how many I actually commented on.  Ben asked us not to promote membership until the development had a better handle on fixing the broken code.  Consequently, I find I do not go to Newbies.   

If the content warrants it, definitely.  I do try to reach out to the newbies but it seems that a lot just dry up and blow away. 

Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573 I read the new blogger posts often but few seem worthy of uplifting to me.

Thank you for highlighting these folks. I'll be certain to comment on these.

I do all that I can, the best I can, with the time and resources I have to dedicate to the AR platform.  

I do on occasion but should probably search them out more often 

my first blog wasn't something that was or should have been featured.  A welcome committee... I'm all for that....

I try to invite new people to blog and share with us here in the Rain what we can learn from them and how we can help them.

I don't see much of a benefit to this.  I think people joining new will learn the norms and meet members over time.  It is fun to be new as it is a learning experience.

The people I see "reaching out" to the newbies are people who are clearly commenting for points.

You can find newbies at the bottom right of the page... using the link "first blog posts".

Yes and I see the ones who follow the newbie with the caveat of asking for a follow back. Tacky in my opinion!

It's been a while but I used to email or call a new member to welcome them and offer my help if needed. Never has anyone responded. That said, it would be nice if those joining the platform were given some kind of orientation. 

Important to make everyone feel welcome.

I used to check the "first blog posts" regularly but got tired of wading through spam, posts with just a link, real estate students asking something but never returning. So I stopped. But good reminder - I will start checking more frequently.

That would be lovely in a perfect world, Andy! I believe that newbies probably would take a bit to know that you must have a featured graphic to be on the feature board. Most new posts aren't really topics that are featured normally either.

I know my first few were market reports and I certainly didn't expect to make it to the feature board for years! LOL

I do love welcoming them and thank you for reminding everyone to do so, Andy.