General Discussion: Private vs Public Forum

[CanuckSARTech]

WOW!

I've relatively been away for a bit. Somewhat shocked to see this post started, Rob, but I think we all know that this is something that could be coming.

My thoughts on some great posts in here....

Heart believes in Public access but my head thinks eventually it'll have to go private.

I hope not, but it could go that way.

I'm generally against elitism and cliques .... but the groups i notice operate best do so when 'memebership' is a privelage, and not a right.
Members of private organisations are generally accountable, and keep fellow members to account.
You shouldn't have people in your forum that you wouldn't have in your house.

Having said all that - this is (by far) one of the best public forums around. It doesn't have one fraction of the problems others do.

Very well said. We've had issues pop up in the past (more so in the last year and a half or so, IMO), but this moderating team definitely earns its keep (you do pay them still, right Rob?!!?!?)

...I'm sure my money would have gone elsewhere also if I couldn't get in for all the LFTH purchases.

And therein lies part of the rub. This forum, after all, is an add-on to an established business. Could either one fully survive without the other? Absolutely. No doubt in my mind about that. But the forum was integral to the business, and vice versa, when I first joined. (That's my opinion, anyways. Rob knows his own house better than any of us.)

I think if the business is secured enough, it's definitely something that could lead to a private-forum style "lock-down" on such open entry.

A "private" forum will not make the site gov't proof. That's just a silly notion.

I would prefer to see a mixed option. I.e. a publicly accessible forum of some sort, with perhaps the meat of the site limited to members only. Just because someone isn't a referral by an existing member doesn't mean they wouldn't fit right in. But I see nothing wrong with some sort of vetting process.

Cheers,

Greg


Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

VERY much agreed here. Using the thought of gov't snoops as a reason behind privatizing the forum is an absolute moot point. This thought should not sway the scales in any way, shape, or form.

Besides.....some of us evil government types are already here.....

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.

This (astonishingly, I'm again fully agreeing with Ken) is about the best option out there.

To expand on that...

How many members of the 10k or so have less than 10 posts. How many have less than 100, or even 50??

If something were perhaps wrote into the rules, and/or the forum programming/scripts....

I believe we currently have it set that you have to make 20 posts before you get "full access" - to the ShoutBox, to certain "locked" subforums (which you can guess the passwords too, by the way), etc. It should be higher - 50 or so, with only certain subforums (Newbies, Suspect Cigar Forum, Humidor Tutorial, etc.) available when you first sign up.

But the kicker? Unless notification is sent to the ownership / moderating team, members should be required to make at least 3 posts every 6 months or so, or 10 posts per year - or the accounts are automatically dropped. Simple. Put it in the rules, put it in the software, then it's no one's "fault", no one's being a mean guy, it's just simply the rules and the way it is. IMO, this one item alone would cut out a lot of chaff.

People then contribute to the forum. It's not just about signing up to enable purchases through the Cigar Underground retail site. As much as I don't want anything negative to impact Rob's business, if this is solely about the Forum, then we need to look at it individually as such.

[CanuckSARTech]

And how did you come to that opinion after 5 days and 22 posts? I'm curious…

+1

And this us why the board should go private

Ummmm....

Great post Pigster.

What a boring place it would be if we had everyone agreeing with each other. A forum where disagreement goes hand in hand with courtesy/respect is ideal.

All forums are a work in progress unless the culture of that forum derails progress. Empower those that respect, inform, illuminate, purge or ignore the remainder.

The day that one believes their own thoughts/beliefs to be superior to all others is the day they should move on. It is the old hole in the bucket of water paradigm. To judge ones perceived importance put your fist in a bucket of water....remove it and what is left is your contribution.

Contribution is measured by the help, laughter, insight that you give another with no reward sought. The rest is but an illusion.

Waxing a little poetic here, but the sentiment is bang on.

[CanuckSARTech]

For me it's been 5 years a member, I bumped into this site. Introduced myself, read up a lot. Before you know it I was buying every month. Participating in blind taste, wanted to play poker but timing was wrong. Chip in when I can.

Made acquaintances although virtually but I actually met 1 guy from foh that besides the point. I feel I know fuzz, dicko, druken monkey sengjc, niño and etc although I never met any of them. Nevertheless I feel they are my cigar buddies, I don't have many friends appreciate cigars as you guys do, if ever you in town you'll welcome to my stash.

If it was private forum I wouldn't be able to join in, had no referrals knew nothing about cigars got a couple box of cigars from Cuba didn't know what to do with it.

I do see the benefits of private being more closer knit, structured discussion but that would probably be against the ethos of the website, friends of habanos, camaraderie and something something and no tosser and wanker. It's served us well, sometimes there's transgression and it's dealt swiftly. And for me it's online camaraderie. It has been 5 years although I don't buy as much as I used to. Don't stayed glue to lftw ready to pounce mineeee!!!

But I checked once in a while just see how my buddies doing. Did padrino Cubano and mr japan got some out of this world cigar. What single malt did the boys bought, who's cooking and who's grilling. What gun is Greg shooting, and how's Keith doing with his noble job, Piggy giving a humidor science mumbo jumbo thing, I'll prob understand his first paragraph then lose him completely. Well in some distant future i hope I get to meet you guys maybe in Australia or maybe Cuba or who knows.

So for me it's friend of habanos keep it as that.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well said.

Appreciate the thought too, amigo. Still standing above ground and not on the wrong side of the chairs in court, so that must be a good thing!!!

[Maplepie]

Welcome back into the swing of things!

Did you train a scribe to keep up with the most controversial threads so you could respond when you can?

[jabster]

If it was private I wouldn't be here. If I wasn't here I wouldn't know about Robs business, it's important to keep the "friends" that way and open to all but minimum posts for the good/important stuff. If this becomes a problem then make the switch but seems ok for now.

[TheGiver]

Quality over quantity!

[CanuckSARTech]

Welcome back into the swing of things!

Did you train a scribe to keep up with the most controversial threads so you could respond when you can?

No. I wouldn't call Frank or Hubba a scribe. LOL.

Just teasing. While a few of the guys kinda keep me in the loop via e-mail or texts, it's actually fairly easy. I just usually use the "View New Content" hyperlink at the top of the page. Using that, it brings me to a list of all of the newer threads/posts since I last visited. If it's threads I've already responded in, the star logo brings me to the most recent post since I last posted in that thread. Other than that, just depends if either the thread title or the number of views catch my attention enough for me to read the thread to see what the story is. This was definitely one of those threads.

[Maplepie]

Other than that, just depends if either the thread title or the number of views catch my attention enough for me to read the thread to see what the story is. This was definitely one of those threads.

Take a look at this, Keith:

Made a minor change that may help you to see which threads are nice and now!

I say the water hole looks better, no?

(it's the litt;le things!)

[CanuckSARTech]

Take a look at this, Keith:

Made a minor change that may help you to see which threads are nice and now!

I say the water hole looks better, no?

(it's the litt;le things!)

Yeah, I noticed everything wasn't "hot" rated anymore. It does help, for those that browse that way.

For me, it's whether it's a thread I'm already watching, and then what the title / subject is. That's more of the draw for me. Yes, those two things combined with pages / views do help though. "Hot" or not isn't something I've ever used, really.

But, looks like a good change / revision. Good on ya for asking.

[amart]

I am a 'have your cake and eat it too' kind of guy. Go both i.e. public with a library worth of information, hints, tips etc and then an inner private sanctum to be referral/participation based.

This is best imo. All the info on diff brands, etc. in public but the 12:12 and anything relating to the purchase private.

[Shikar]

I like the hybrid model as it stands now.

Regards.

[malba2366]

A nice compromise would be to make discussion forums public but to make the "sales" areas private. There could be a method whereby the moderators could select contributing members for access to private areas by their post activity and the number of likes they get.