Hi Guys & Gals.....
I use several other forums and the entire contents is open to read but only registered members can leave comments. To me that makes sense. Not everybody wants to give details to a stranger not knowing how they will be stored or used. The Stamp Board that I use has 6780 members and the most on at the same time were 263 (
http://www.stampboards.com). This is based in Australia and uses the same engine as what is used here.
To me (personal opinion) what would make most sense is to have all forums open for general viewing but only members able to make comments. There should be a members only section for chit chat that is not available to the general public. The other boards generate a huge amount of traffic from google searches but let's be realistic here, the bigger the board, the more traffic the more work for the behind the scenes people. Manfred in particular would have a much bigger work load rejecting would be scammers and protecting the site from hacking. The moderators would be similarly affected as there would potentially be more to police.
You only have to look at the news to see corporations getting hacked regularly. These companies employ full time staff to design and protect their networks and they still fall foul of intruders. There is no way that we can expect volunteers to put in the amount of time that would be needed to protect the site it is simply an unfair ask.
I can't write poetry but I do enjoy reading it and I wouldn't have bothered registering here had I not been on the old site previously. There needs to be an easier way to access the poetry for "browsers" and then I think we would generate more members because they could see that it was worth while. Currently the "public" exposure is too limited. People are weary of supplying personal details unless they see that it will be of benefit. We need to show those people that fly past a benefit. People will often not return to a site if they have seen it once and it didn't grab there interest. The number of web sites now is a number that I can't pronounce. We are but one small krill in an ocean.
Darren
