ok i just read some posts by adidas and discovered hes a mod at another LD forum, dreamviews.com, nice place i might add. anyway i was lookiing throught the forum index and saw under the section Forum-Related, a forum that read as follows:
Adoptions
If you would like to adopt someone, be adopted, or discuss adoption, please post in this forum.
ok whats this being adopted online at a forum thing all about? i dont get it. could someone explain it to me?
and lastly why dont we have it here?
ok wow im so dense, i saw a topic earlier that was called Dreamview but i didnt realise it was about the actual site dreamviews.com, until jsut a minute ago i clicked on it and suddenly realised, “why the hell didnt i just post this in that topic?!” oh well.
well, its good you started another thread for this. It’s a whole new topic. 
I’m not sure I understand “adoptions” either, but I’m reminded of Sealife’s dream teams. I’m assuming it’s like having a sponser for support and questions.
Hopefully, the dreamviews members here can explain it more.
yes you have it. it’s something where the older members adopt any newbies who want it. the adopter will help the newbs navigate the forum and answer any questions they have on the subject. we did it because we’d get tons of re-posts asking the same questions and we’d get newbs posting in the wrong forums (which i did with my first post here by the way). 
it works well because we get people who genuinely want to learn the craft so-to-speak and it helps the newbs make friends.
personally i’ve never adopted because i have a short tolerance for people who choose not to read the site then come into the forums with guns blazing.
-jake
Adoption sounds a bit formal to me. Any newbies make a post here and they are immediately “adopted” by all the active members. 
I 2nd what adidas just said.
I’m a newbie at dreamviews as well, and was adopted right away. I’m so glad I was because I was able to ask him questions before making a huge a$$ out of myself (like I did with my 1st post here!).
So yes, it’s very helpful to have adoptions. It sympathetic to newbies and encourages them to stick around as well. But it shouldn’t be an excuse NOT to read the tutorials/stickies. But it is easy for a newbie to get overwhelmed in a new forum, since they are not all exactly the same.
I think that adoption sounds like a good idea. It could be very helpful to some people. When I found ld4all I spent two weeks reading almost everything on the forum before joining. But then I had a LD and I just had to join since I got so excited from my first LD 
and I had to tell someone about it.
Yes. If it works… I join the dreamview forum some months ago and posted a post in the adoption’s forum and I still have not got an answer. but now im her and do not need to be adopted The Dreamview forum is not as active as this one
We have an active introduction thread, and I sometimes drop in there and offer my hand in PM or email.
I don’t ever get than many though. 
I think we have many members that would offer help via PM or email. We always have people ready to help in the Chatroom.
Maybe we generate a list of “helpers” and list their contact info in one neat thread. . . . problem there would be people not reading that thread. 
I wonder if DV has problems with repeative questions about “what is adoption?” The new people have to start somewhere. 
we do get the occasional n00b who makes it a point to over look our adoption section and go right into general discussion looking to get adopted. 
we’re also toying with “list of helpers” idea. we have something called ‘newbie hotline’ where you can offer your services in a less formal way… either through pm, email, aim, or yim. same thought behind it but less commitment.
Oh yeah, I forgot that ya’ll just added the hotline at dreamviews.
Yeah, that was a good idea. Especially for those that want forum guidance w/o having to wait for adoption just to get a simple question answered.
Adoption is great for some, not necessary for all.
That adoption idea sure sounds good