Template talk:Welcome

I'd like to remind everyone using the welcome template to substitute it by using {{subst:welcome}} rather than just {{welcome}}. In case we make a change to the template, people should see on their talk pages the welcome they were given when they joined, not the current welcome message. Jimbo-Jambo

How to use the template

Just type or copy the text {{subst:welcome|YourUsername |~~~~}} onto a user's Talk page then add your signature. As soon as you Save, the entry will lose its link to the template and become ordinary text, which you can edit to personalise it.

Use of "subst:" prefix

Using the prefix before any template name copies the template then cuts the connexion. If you omit the "subst:" the result copies just the same but will not be editable and will always show the current version of the template - probably not a good idea for a one-off welcoming message, although it is useful for many other templates.

Edit it to make it more specific to this wiki

For example, it could say "Welcome to the XYZWV Wiki". You could add a link to a page you particularly want new users to look at. You could use the "upload file" link to add a new picture that is meaningful (or funny!) to your visitors, and change the code [[Image:Example.jpg]] to the name of your new picture.

Make another one just for you to use

On your user page you could create a link to something like [[template:welcJG]] then make the resulting page a copy of template:welcome and modify it any way you like. Then you can type or paste {{subst:welcJG}} on a newcomer's page and not need further personalising.