Please vote: Should GWAPA Open Most of Forum to Non-Members?

[krisw]

Damian, what's being proposed is this:

1. All forums except for the Members-Only or Vendor-related ones will be read-only to the public.

2. If someone registers on the forum, they will STILL only be read-only.

3. If someone contacts the gwapa@gwapa.org account, asking for posting privileges, we will give them posting ability to the public forums.

4. Members will always have read and post privileges to all forums. So, you can hide in the members-only section if you don't want to deal with those nasty non-members.

[londonloco]

Kris, I obviously misunderstood. I thought you had to become a member to post. What's the reasoning behind this? Just wondering....

[krisw]

Kris, I obviously misunderstood. I thought you had to become a member to post. What's the reasoning behind this? Just wondering....

The thinking is that most folks who go to the extra trouble of actually contacting us for posting privileges, will get them, get sucked in, realize there are group orders and other perks to being a member, and join. There are also cases where folks contact me, want to check out the forum, but don't want to join either via Paypal or until they've been to a meeting. Why not let them interact with our community a little bit? Obviously, if there are any problems that arise from ANYONE (member or non-member, and yes there have been problems with members), we will deal with them on the forum. That said, I really do not anticipate a flood of people, or problems, from this change, since posting still will require a bit extra effort from them. So, this is more about opening up more forums read-only, while giving me the lenience to give posting access to non-members when asked upon.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Can the profile indicate if they're a paid member? Maybe have that status show up on the left side, under their Avatar?

[krisw]

Ghazanfar, we can probably do something like that.

[londonloco]

OK, ty, seems reasonable. Kris, since there has been pages of dialogue on this now, is there a way to change our vote? The voting is w/in two votes of being split, if someone wants to change a vote, can we notify you, or?

[krisw]

If anyone wishes to change their vote, you can contact me, and I reset it for you.

[ricoishere]

I voted yes, only because I think that allowing others to "View Only" limited foums would open up many others to this hobby. If given a choice, the "Teaching/Learning" forums like AQUARIUMS & HARDWARE would be the ones to have open read access. Others forums like Group Buy/Auctions might be better left closed IMO. I registered in 2009, and the forums I could read were only 2, and I cannot remember which were those. I've learened a great deal more from becomijng a full member. The other open/free forums, although great, have to much to sift through to really be all that useful to me. If I have to read 50 answers to a question, and determine which one might be right, I'll wind up getting lost. I'll gladly pay to be a lifetime member, and be able to reach a very small group of experts, who I get to fellowship with several times a year. So, I'll keep my vote as yes, with the conditions I posted.

[Aaron]

This club has the SCMurphy’s, KrisW’s, Aarons, Inggs, Paul S’s, the list can go on and on…

LOL, I don't think I'd put myself in the in the same category as the others you listed, but thanks for the honorable mention!.

You'd leave me off the list too if you saw my tanks right now.

[jcali10]

...

1. All forums except for the Members-Only or Vendor-related ones will be read-only to the public.

2. If someone registers on the forum, they will STILL only be read-only.

3. If someone contacts the gwapa@gwapa.org account, asking for posting privileges, we will give them posting ability to the public forums.

4. Members will always have read and post privileges to all forums. So, you can hide in the members-only section if you don't want to deal with those nasty non-members.

As Kris restated it, I see no reason why we shouldn't open up the forum. It seems non-intrusive enough to me, and visitors to the site will get a chance to see and evaluate what the club and forum have to offer. So I'm voting yes.