Suggestion Disccussion on making the RPF a private site

[Chewbacca]

Knowledge should be shared, what use is a book that is left on the shelf that no one reads?

Freedom of speech, freedom of knowledge.

I do agree that there are some private threads that should be hidden from would be rep-casters and quick buck grabbers, genuine interested persons should be given a password/code to access this info.

 

[cicicross]

cicicross, members like you are EXACTLY the reason we opened up the site to Google indexing and the reason we don't want the site to be private. Glad to have you here!

Glad to be had :love :lol

 

[cicicross]

Wow, I killed the thread, lol.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Revival.

Well... hadn't it sorta run its course?

 

[Art Andrews]

How dare you resurrect an old thread! Bad! Bad! :lol

 

[Mercury]

I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I agree, this board shouldn't be private. It wouldn't help anything in the long run as far as sockpuppets.

I do, however, think that the old cycle of registration periods was better. Those periods of scheduled open registration and the time in between allowed old and new members time to get acclimated to each other. A steady stream of new members coming everyday with no respite can be a bit overwhelming for all concerned. In some cases, rehashing the same crap again and again. I realize one of the reasons is that if some talented prop maker came and couldn't register, he/she wouldn't return, but I really doubt that would be the case. This is the RPF. There isn't a bigger prop board on the net and he/she would return without a doubt.

I might be in the minority, but I really don't think so.

Anyway, just my humble opinion.

 

[Art Andrews]

This is the RPF. There isn't a bigger prop board on the net and he/she would return without a doubt.

As much as I wish that were true, internet statistics show that it is not. People's attention is SO fleeting... you have but a moment to capture them and the smallest misstep can mean they just give up and go elsewhere, never to return. I think the first big influx when we opened the floodgates was a bit rough but feel that for the most part it has settled a bit and we now have a relatively steady but manageable flow of new members coming to the site without a massive influx. Older members seem to be settling back down to all the changes and getting comfortable again and we seem to be doing pretty well.

 

[Mercury]

I respectfully disagree with your take on the that. We saw time and time again introduction posts of very talented people who stated they have been months reading the posts excitedly waiting for registration to open. I would think we would want folks who were that interested in building and/or collecting to bookmark the site and wait for their opportunity to join. To me, the new policy is perfect for any unscrupulous person who is just looking to buy or sell quickly and/or cause mischief and could care less about the hobby or community. Of course that could happen with registration cycles, but to me those people are the ones who more than likely wouldn't have the patience to wait and return.

Regardless, things change, I know that. Sometimes change is good, sometimes not. If it benefits us in the long run, even my opinion will change, and I truly hope this to be true. Time will tell one way or the other.

 

[Art Andrews]

Mercury, you do have some good and valid points there. We have a LOT of changes we are working on in the background (mostly software based, not rules) so for now we are going to let it go and see how things work out. It is certainly something we could revisit later if we feel that it is indeed hurting the site.