General Discussion: Private vs Public Forum

[Pedro2486]

I have no doubt that governments are actively looking on websites anyway, so for that reason pub VS priv is not an issue - likely, they're already watching us, taking copious notes, and making reservations in various and sundry internment, er, "relocation and labour" facilities... (OK, I'll go put that tinfoil hat on now --lol-- )

I like the public avenue, as it not only opens up so much info to those new at cigars and have nowhere to turn, and opens avenues to like-minded people who for reasons of geography don't have a local cigar shop or watering hole to enjoy similar topics... On a purely business stand, going private would lessen your marketing footprint and visibility to potential customers. Put it this way - how will a newbie have a way to determine those "Gonibas", "Paunch", and "Fartigas" aren't legit without the knowledge of those who know, and as such get a truly ghastly box of sticks, attribute them to the island, and thereby give those small tastes of heaven an indelible black eye...

Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm off to smoke one of those "He told me it was really the real deal" 5 round dot row Candela wrapper Gohibas... I just can't wait...

Hahaha gold

I must say after reading all the points being made, I am siding more with the public or perhaps a hybrid model as some are suggesting.

I'm really starting to feel that this is a great place for me and really enjoy the people and the forum, even the ones who sh*t me. It really would be a shame to deny others this opportunity.

[Mr. Japan]

I made a mistake in voting ( Public ) .

I rather prefer private as we avoid all the scumbags that can be around :-) and it is possible to talk of more sensitive matters .

[Tino]

Public for me, I think going private is the end of a forum. Ken will probably know the Robert Parker wine forum, they made that private a few years ago and it's dying on its arse.

There's a football (soccer) forum that I follow, it's a public forum so anyone can view it, but before you can post you have to register and then you go into a 'newbies' forum. Once you have a certain number of posts in the newbie forum and you've proved yourself not to be a massive tosser you get promoted to the main forum and you can post normally. Could be an option here? Although I pity whoever has to moderate the newbies

[tomj]

I am a "newbie" to this site.I have not posted alot. But WOW, I enjoy reading, and learning from everyone. I like it the way it is now. Have purchased some mighty fine smokes and plan to get more. Which ever way the site goes I hope it remains the same. (I hope this makes sence hard to put into words)

[jazzboypro]

Hello all,

The initial question is a good one and a lot of good answers/opinion have been given. Going private raises 2 issues for me.

1- Do existing members be automatically members of the private forum ? If not, what will de the deciding factor to decide who gets "left behind" and who remains ? i might be wrong and i sure don't want/mean to offend anyone but this would look like elitism to me.

2- I for one came here because a member of another forum talked to me about FOH, that person is not really a friend and if FOH was a private forum based on refferals from other members i don't know if he would have vouch for me so i can be a member of FOH. I suspect that a lot of people would not be here if FOH was based on referrals.

[El Presidente]

Hello all,

The initial question is a good one and a lot of good answers/opinion have been given. Going private raises 2 issues for me.

1- Do existing members be automatically members of the private forum ? If not, what will de the deciding factor to decide who gets "left behind" and who remains ? i might be wrong and i sure don't want/mean to offend anyone but this would look like elitism to me.

2- I for one came here because a member of another forum talked to me about FOH, that person is not really a friend and if FOH was a private forum based on refferals from other members i don't know if he would have vouch for me so i can be a member of FOH. I suspect that a lot of people would not be here if FOH was based on referrals.

No real thought has been given to your first question. It is a paradox, I would estimate 90+ % of member never post but read weekly/fortnightly. The numbers show we have some 2900 contact hours per day of people who log in.

We are not about exclusion. It goes against being an Aussie to begin with. Still, all points need to be considered.

I really appreciate the input. The Mods can mull it over. No hurry here. Simply a case of canvassing the membership

[aes8]

I vote for whatever format stops someone with 42 posts that joined 3 weeks ago calling fakes based on wrapper color alone

[Ginseng]

Fixed.

I vote for whatever format stops someone with 2 posts that joined 3 weeks days ago calling fakes based on wrapper color alone the glass top box the cigars came in

Wilkey

[SMQQKIN]

I love that FOH is a public forum. I would not be here if it wasn't. The knowledge that is shared benefits all & today's newbies may be forum leaders in the future. However, that being said.. if a private forum is needed due to other factors at play that I may not be aware of so be it. Just let me know what is required to reach the inner sanctum.

[coblos]

Public for now.

Though I do fear it's not impossible that a time will come when cigar lovers of some countries will need private forums to buy, sell and trade cigars.

[Habana Mike]

In the words of one infamous cigar smoker: "I don't want to belong to any private board that would accept people like me as a member."

[Fosgate]

I have been a member on other forums and have seen the membership crash and people leave and within a year or two become a ghost town once they began to charge for membership. Now I know Rob did not propose a charge but he did propose referral. With that said I came here after a member here invited me after being attacked on another site for the mere posting of a question of where one could learn more about Cuban cigars. Since then I have referred a couple others and advised them to lurk a little bit and make some contributions to the site and just a little background how *****INT, the forum etc.

As much as I would like this to be free I know some of the costs both time and financially it is for someone to maintain a great site like this. I'm sure many of us would like to see this grow but I consider how taxing it may be on Rob and crew and would prefer he has the ability to keep delivering a great product at more than fair prices. If that means he has to reduce the flow to maintain balance, I'm all for it. I would rather see Rob keep doing this for years to come and enjoy it rather than have his business become a grind as he fights to keep up with the demand and want to exit sooner.

[perkinke]

I voted "public" for a couple of reasons. First, I would not have found this site if it had been private, I was simply searching for information to make an informed choice when buying Cubans. Second, I have an intense dislike for selective "clubs" and the like even when I'm allowed to join, it reminds me too much of the "cool kids" table in grade school lunch room or the worst aspect of the country club I worked at in high school. Third, I believe actions like that actually turn more people away from the hobby than encourages it and frankly our hobby will only survive as long as we have high levels of participation and enjoyment. Part of the reason I stay away from wineries and that industry is that I have had FAR too many dealings with wine snobs and the nastiness that too many of them engage in with those outside their little circle; I hate to see cigar-related sites go down that path, even though many have. Finally, as a customer I would never buy from a place that appeared to believe that I needed to earn the privilege of buying from them; it should always be the other way around. If the board chooses to become private I would suggest greater separation between the closed forum and the business side to avoid that kind of perception.

There are other options that could help reduce the cost of maintaining the site, such as asking long-term members with positive reputations to be moderators or at least help with the tasks or if the costs to maintain the technical side rises I think it could probably be covered through donations that maybe come with a neat little gimmick or a manageable discount.

In the end, the private/public choice is certainly up to El Pres and his crew, but I would probably close my account and walk away if the site went wholly or mostly private. Don't get me wrong, that's not meant as a threat because I'm all of one of thousands here and not the most active so no one would really notice whether I was here or not, it just doesn't suit my personality to create barriers to people joining the group.

[Colt45]

As much as I would like this to be free I know some of the costs both time and financially it is for someone to maintain a great site like this.

Finally, as a customer I would never buy from a place that appeared to believe that I needed to earn the privilege of buying from them

Always interesting to hear various perspectives. Perhaps I am naive, though I understand that they are intertwined, I've pretty much always separated FOH from Cigar Czar. Becoming an FOH member has been a prerequisite to acquire cigars, but acquiring cigars has not been mandatory in order to be an FOH member.

Perhaps there are things that some members would like to discuss "openly in private", but what is really to keep anyone from knowing what is being discussed? Going private in order to kowtow to any government pressure?...... drop your swords, mates.......

[Skyfall]

Does being public or private effect Di 's wine consumption? This usable important detail to factor in !

[paesano]

Not knowing the restrictions and terms of post counts knocking a member out would bother me. I know life, family, friends and helath keep me from posting although I am reading 4 days a week.I would like to know more about the criteria of the rules, policy and procedure before I can have more input.

Like the Clash would say, Darling you've got to let me know, should I stay or shoild I go.

One thing I noticed early on we have the same A perasonality and say what's on our mind and never mean to hurt. "I HATE my father for that" and that does not sit well with many and for that I applogise but it's what it is and a 60 year way of life and it's been a rough one for it. Not politicaly correct is better put. I was taught there is NO misunderstanding when you shoot from the hip.

I lost spell check

[vlad74]

The knowledge I get from the members here is so valuable. That said I very rarely post anything but read through posts nearly everyday. I would hate to lose the privilege of being a member based on not having much too say.

I think the same

[Wil]

i wonder how many valuable and respected members would not be with us if we had been private all along and how many we'll miss in the future.

strongly in favour of open to all.

i'm all for stricter control and harsher penalties for transgressions but i don't like the idea of barriers to those who wish to be involved.

leave it open to all but perhaps have minimum contribution levels. if you don't participate in some way (whether that be as a customer of rob's or posting on the forum or whatever) within a 6 month period or a year or whatever, then off you go.

but give everyone a chance.

Agree with this

[bugler]

I too would lean instinctively toward Public. I'm very grateful for finding the forum and wouldn't like to deny others the same experience. but if needs must..

[stargazer14]

"What I think you're aiming to do is take the registration down for FoH and make it an invite or referral only forum, but it will still be searchable and found all over the internet which will still generally be a public forum."

This was my thought also, if it was to go private for posting and certain site areas, still be public to provide newbies the wealth of information here to feed the 'hobby'.

It worked for me!

[Dino81]

I'm still fairly new here and mostly a lurker. I'm very thankful I found your site and the knowledge on it. It's a very valuable resource to me and would hate to think where I would be in the hobby if it was private when I found it. Every hobby has the "professional" forums and on the opposite side has the idiot forums. We all know which one this is. I enjoy reading and learning. I vote for public. Let newcomers get under your wing as I've been fortunate to do so. Public, IMO will only grow the hobby and your business. Were all here because we love cigars, right?

[saintsmokealot]

For better or worse if it wasn't public I wouldn't be here.

[Fumadoro]

I would vote to remain a public forum. I do not personally know anyone on this site that would be able to vouch for me to enter now, if I weren't a member already. It seems like a move to a private forum would have the potential to keep a lot of cigar freshmen out of this great resource.

[jays39]

I am an egalitarian at heart - keep the status quo.

[mychetboy]

As long as referrals can be used.. I am good to go to private. Tell me who has bought blind anything without reviews and referrals? It's not elitist nor anything of the sort in order to protect and preserve this community...now and for the future...Amen

Rob Preston