Template:Welcome/doc


 * Description
 * To welcome a new contributor who has a user name, add this to the user's talk page.
 * For an "anonymous" contributor, you may wish to use welcomeIP instead.


 * Syntax
 * Type  or   on a user's talk page.
 * Use the second version if you want to add a personal message after the template, but before your signature (or if you have a complex 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 connection. 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.

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 on a newcomer's page and not need further personalising.