I'm in your store, converting your customers to Gaia

[WhipWhip]

I just show people tek tek and then tell them that's why I like the site.

[space rubble]

I would advertise the site, but if I did, Gaia'd probably be filled with spam and trolls everywhere. So, that being said, I only tell it to some of my friends.

[Heads Will Roll]

If the talk of online games or websites come up between friends I name drop it but that's only happened twice and both of those times they've said they had already joined like years ago.

[eusheeta]

I don't promote it , Gaia's my guilty pleasure.

[elum olegna]

To be honest, only close friends from middle school know I use this. I otherwise erase every trace of this site from the real world.

[J 4 C K]

I don't go talking about Gaia to people I see on a daily basis, but I don't hide it either when I'm browsing on my mobile.

[Anabaena]

My best friends know I'm regularly staying on this site and I sometimes even tell them weird situations I've seen on here, but that's pretty much it.

I guess I don't promote it since I've had some pretty bad reactions in the past. I mean, I get that most people would think it's a 'kiddie site', so I just don't let them see it.

I even feel weird opening gaia on a public computer on my university. LIKE EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT ME! emotion_0A0

[Liber Chronicarum]

Shiver`

The more people = More trolls/idiots.

Only the cool people fine this place without massive advertizement. Nerdy word of mouth is the best. emotion_awesome

Thou spoke gold and I bow down to thee in admiration.

[Magnificent Moonbeam]

I try not to advertise gaia to anyone who aren't into sites like it. But then again, there are only a few who know of this site from me (first ex and a good friend from school)

[Milk Kittea]

I talk about Gaia on my blog all the time & I've converted quite a few friends by doing so.
It's great seeing people, especially ones who are my age, interested in joining the community.
Seeing cashiers' reactions to Gaia cards at Target is also fun because most of them don't understand the concept.
I have fun explaining what the site is like wherever I am though, online or IRL.

[GoldSundara]

I mentioned gaia in my blog several times, but it's a blog for english class and nobody ever looks at it. Sometimes I tell ppl about it, but it doesnt happen often

[Magical Cat Party]

I have tried to talk about it to my friends, but everyone always rolleyes and act like this is the dumbest s**t they've ever seen. I explain that there are forums, games, and a large amount of other things to do. stare is a face they make, and usually tell me about how they are on facebook. The next question is usually "why aren't you on facebook, I want to friend you" as if being on this site is nothing like that one...
Though I don't feel like I'm having a conversation with my entire town all at once on here... That's what's good about Gaia, it feels like a town, but I'll never run into anyone I really know. It needs to stay that way though, so I don't talk about it anymore unless it's to people who already knew about it.

[PedaI]

Does Gaia advertise in Shonen Jump or anything?
I feel like they may have in the past, but I'm not entirely sure.

I agree with Shiver, in that broader advertising would bring more undesirables.

[Frothy]

I don't understand this thing about being "ashamed" of how you spend your free time on Gaia. Is it because one's peers might think this is a site for children? How is that perception ever going to change if there aren't active adults on the site who let their presence be known (outside of the site)?

And trying to actively dissuade people from joining is silly. You can never keep out the trolls and bots- no website can. But if you judge people based on some ideal, then not only are you potentially ruining someone's chance at finding an awesomely nerdy hobby but also detracting from Gaia's potential customers. This is a website that needs ad revenue and customer purchases to stay afloat. And who's to say they won't find some feature or niche-community interesting that you perhaps do not enjoy, like Rally or one of the Art Discussion forums or etc.

I'm not suggesting everyone start ranting and raving about Gaia to every person they meet in the hopes of finding a handful of needles in the proverbial haystack, but it's stupid to think that silence or even negativity will keep this site moving forward.

As to whether or not I talk about Gaia, I do recommend it to friends or- if they have kids- suggest that it would be a good site for them to check out. I've gotten a few involved through different avenues- forums versus dress up, for instance. If they aren't interested I don't press it, but I do talk about my activities once in a while when we chat.

[Silk Kanishk]

On rare occasions that I do talk to people, I tell them Gaia is something like Facebook so that they'll be more understanding.