Our Forum is Growing to Fast...

I like the idea in a way but I think a invite only type forum might be a hard way to sell this place I know most of you guys know each other I just wonder how many more people would actually join.

 

I like the idea of creating a thread where new members would be able to view that thread only first and post. Then go from there after that. Then when they get get access of the forums their on a trial or limited access first be for full access to the fourms. And for the members that do post and contribute they carry on as is. And yes I agree with you this is a very good group here and I don't want to see it go south with nobody posting because of people singing up and lurking on here. On a side note keep up the great work Ernie!

 

The idea of invite only makes a lot of sense to me. If a current member in good standing can vouch for someone, it might make some of the random turds that inevitably show up less of problem here. Quality beats quantity. Let MFF have the non-fishing keyboard warriors.

 

In my experience being on many other types of forums, I have seen the 'by invite only' forum and it does have it's good and bad points. I am in favour of turning this forum into a "by invite only". Current members will be held accountable to those new members they invite. Until new members have contributed to some level (to be determined by us 'the members' - number of posts? min25?) on this forum they should be restricted from inviting new members.

 

I'm leaning more to what Parkland suggested than an invite only. I think I Catch Fish brings up a valid point. I'd like to see some other suggestions.

 

ERNIE.....Thanks for attempting to keep your forum "clean" of all the crap many of us have seen on most of the sites we have used in the past...... they all started with good intentions, but unfortunately closed up, or we vacated when the shit started to flow.
It is usually not the avid ones that stir the pot...... and usually not the frequent contributors..... most of us value the sharing of good tips, stories, and pictures..... many enjoy seeing and hearing of the success others have.....most of us understand that we all make mistakes, and things like an improper hold, or camera angle, etc shouldn't warrant a barrage of negativity.... most came to THIS site to get away from the "keyboard kowboy's" looking for a free lunch and/or to bash others in anonymity ...(specific spots, specific lure, bait, temperature, time, color underwear they should be wearing....etc, etc...)

So to ask to become an "invite only" forum is not out of the question......

Maybe your idea of "invite" or being "sponsored" by a current member in good standing (has not been warned or banned, has reached a certain status or # of posts or points (??)...would be the right way to go.......

I can imagine backlash that may come from some attempting to join, citing discriminatory, exclusiveness, etc....but this is YOUR forum...and you have generously indicated it to be "BY THE MEMBERS, FOR THE MEMBERS"

my vote is to go the route you suggested..........
Ron B

 

Invite sounds good but I just joined the other day and my invite was informal. Maybe I'm not qualified to answer yet but I think forum to large and with non contributing members/lurkers end up like other big forums do. They end up sucking and there's no sense of trust between members. A few members contributing info to lurkers doesn't make for a good forum.

 

I jumped ship to this forum when Ernie had just started it, the quality and quantity of seasoned vets on this forum is simply amazing!! I can honestly say that being a member in this forum has made me a better fisherman, with amazing threads like "Doom and Gloom", and the wealth of knowledgeable members in sub forums like the electronics sub has definitely helped me up my game ! I've visited the other forum on occasion and found that I've "outgrown " the ridiculousness I find on there now...sure makes me appreciate THIS forum alot more!! Personally, I wouldn't want to see most of the shit I see over there, transferring to this amazing forum.....if invite only would help in preventing that step backwards, I'm all for it

Thanks for this GREAT forum Ernie!!

 

Tough one , I don't think you are going to get any of those 4 listed above voluntarily making educational posts unless it benefits them personally.

Maybe have some type of "experts" "pro guide" only section where comments have to be screened first. If you want these guys posting here, say they have a spot opening for a guide trip, or a charity tourney they want to hype up or just straight up articles they may want to write about with their sponsors in it. Allow these pros to make threads about whatever under there own name, under the "experts" tab.

Say Aaron for example, maybe if he has a new video come out he can post a link and people can ask real questions about the video here rather him trying to sift threw YouTube comments about what lake he's on ? What's his favourite colour? All the questions that should be banned from here. Benefits him by having more viewers to his videos.

Benefits them by driving traffic to there websites or videos. Benefits you by having quality content on here.

 

Another thing I've seen is a voting system. CGN (Canadian gun nuts) has a ranking system for there buy and sell section. Kind of like a eBay rating. If someone has a good transaction they rank the member positive if they have a poor transaction they give the member a negative review.

This is already halfway implemented here with the "like" button. You can see who makes quality posts by most likes.
If a member joins and his first post is what lake you can catch a million fish on for dinner they obviously don't understand how it should work here, so the other members could "vote him down" and you the boss/mod could easily view low rated members read a few of their posts and make the decision yourself.

 

The above post nails it. It's Ernie's house, he invites who he wants into his home and he decides who among them sit at the dinner table or not. As soon as the forum gets too big for one person to manage, it's probably already too big. Having to appoint mods who come and go, and the inevitable politics and competing agendas behind the scenes that result. Forums can end up a shitshow in the threads and behind the scenes at the same time as we've seen elsewhere recently.

 

I willl need give this some more thought, but I think invite only is a good place to start. And thanks Ernie, fishing forums were dead to me for quite some time, but I really do appreciate what you have already built here.

 

So if it was invite only would that mean the member that invites someone be held accountable for them then? Or would the new member be held accountable for his/her self with out any discipline to the member that invited the new member? If the forum goes that way for singing up. These are questions to be asked now if anyone has any other questions or ideas please speak up as this is the time!

 

Ernie, do whatever you think it will take to attract some of the pro's or others who may participate in a quality forum unlike the MFF shit show. You seem like a fair person who has gained the respect of everyone on here. So far its been good. The focus is on fishing, not bullshit.

 

I remember you mentioning this concern a while back and I wondered if a paid subscription would filter out some of the ...fluff... but I'm not confident in that. What if you earned invites based on the number of likes you got? I'd guess that if a lot of people like someone's perspective or content, then they'd have a reasonable trust in their judgement. I am not crazy about downvoting, since I'd rather see someone just outright banned than a thread go down in a hot mess of downvote-fueled tantrum where they carry on and on.

I like the idea of inviting too, since it means that the members are more responsible for keeping the bedroom tidy. Maybe people who are invited have to make a few posts before other forum features, like posting in the buy/sell or using PMs are available to them?

 

As a new member and not very knowledgable, I guess you would consider me one of the lurkers. I read most posts and glean as much information I can from them and use it when I go out. I do want to contribute but have been reluctant to because of what I have seen on other forums with the negative and sometimes what I would consider rude responses. What I see here is a great forum with members that treat people with courtesy and respect willing to share information freely. While making the forum an " invite only" will keep this information flowing between members, how would someone like me, get invited.
The amount of knowledge the members of this forum have is immense and it would be a shame that it would not be available to someone that wants to learn about fishing.
Having said all that, it is your forum and if you feel that you have to do something to it to make it what you envision, then I whole heartedly support you.
You have created a great forum, thanks and please keep up the great work.

 

I'd be careful about putting weight behind the number of likes. It may get to the point similar to Facebook or Instagram where people get offended and unfriend people because they didn't get the requisite number of likes.

Willie5227 does bring up a valid point. While I still support the idea of an invite system, a system where one can make an application which gets sent to the admin directly for review might be a useful tool.

 

Hmm, this is as social media as I get, so my naivete is showing... Maybe invites, then what @Parklandwalleye mentioned with limited access at first. Means the forum grows slower, but on the upside it means that we've all got a stake in inviting reasonable people. Can't help but think reviewing applications would be more work for @Ernie and having to tell people "Sorry, this is not for you" and listen to their complaints or anger would be a lousy job.

 

I am not very forum savvy so I don't know if this is possible but what if new members have full access and continued access is linked to the amount of participation. If you don't contribute you gradually lose access to areas of the forum.