Should GUESTS see posts about keys, files etc

[River-Rat]

i see this post has mixed ideas GOOD I was thinking about this last night.....

What is the main thing a site like this wants? Members now as above people have had a few ideals, I seeon the site 3 things here:

Guest just reads what he wants, **$*es off and gives nothing to the site

Guest joins let`s say 2 years ago and only posts when he wants something
( this is daily as well )

guest joins, asks question, gets answer and then gives feedback and helps others

NOW

about a year ago, i ran a MYSQL code on my site to see what members have never posted in 5 years of my board opening. At present I have 2000 members, the first 1000 joined in the first year , so as you can guest been slow after this time.

OUT of 2000 members, 325 had never posted, and 567 had posts under 10

THATS 40% of my members never gave anything back into the site, I`m sure if i gave Brain or his team the code, they would be shocked....

I was thinking how about:

When joining you must post in the welcome area to unlock the board ( you can do this is permissons so others parts are hidden) You cant get into the sat or cable area for 24hrs, or a post count ( good ones ) of 10. Also do as I do, if you have not posted for 31 days your account will be removed.

I have now a script that runs every 31 days and removes members who have not posted in this time

[mikeanodd]

what you should also remember is that all forums will also have a silent majority..i.e those who read alot but post very little..this is the case on the multitude of other forums i am a member of.

[heinz74]

I also agree at the moment I am a noob and i do more reading than posting, but like previous posts have said I should not be penalised for that.fficeffice" />>>
If I can give feed back and help some one I will but at the moment I am just trying to get my head around the whole thing.>>
> >
cheers>>

[666]

Originally Posted by seamouse

i see this post has mixed ideas GOOD I was thinking about this last night.....

What is the main thing a site like this wants? Members now as above people have had a few ideals, I seeon the site 3 things here:

Guest just reads what he wants, **$*es off and gives nothing to the site

Guest joins let`s say 2 years ago and only posts when he wants something
( this is daily as well )

guest joins, asks question, gets answer and then gives feedback and helps others

NOW

about a year ago, i ran a MYSQL code on my site to see what members have never posted in 5 years of my board opening. At present I have 2000 members, the first 1000 joined in the first year , so as you can guest been slow after this time.

OUT of 2000 members, 325 had never posted, and 567 had posts under 10

THATS 40% of my members never gave anything back into the site, I`m sure if i gave Brain or his team the code, they would be shocked....

I was thinking how about:

When joining you must post in the welcome area to unlock the board ( you can do this is permissons so others parts are hidden) You cant get into the sat or cable area for 24hrs, or a post count ( good ones ) of 10. Also do as I do, if you have not posted for 31 days your account will be removed.

I have now a script that runs every 31 days and removes members who have not posted in this time

good points here, on unlockers i seen people havent posted nothing in 2 years, then boxs off and they ask for a fix, they get boot straight away.

[Confused Stu]

I would be very wary of deleting users without posts for a month. This is a technical forum and, just like most people, I spent a good long time when I joined reading before I got to the point where I was able to post constructively and help people. While I can certainly understand the hope of everyone joining in the discussions on here, I think we need to face the fact that with the subjects we deal with it's going to be 10% of the people doing most of the helping and posting with the other 90% chipping in the occassional nugget as and when they can.

Every forum I've joined has problems with n00b's now and again (as opposed to newbies or new members - they're valuable and welcome, n00bs only contribute annoyance). The only way to completely remove the n00b problem is to change Techwatch from a forum into an exclusive club where existing active members are welcome and new people or occasional posters are excluded, which I think would be a sad loss to the internet of one of the best and friendliest forums I've ever seen.

I vote we keep Techwatch pretty much as it is. The week or so of complete hell for everyone on here around encryption change time is well worth it, in my humble opinion, for the other 51 weeks of sheer brilliance on this board.

[heinz74]

Good call

[Roco]

Allot dont have any other reason to post again after they get what they want,i dont see the problem with that. I mean i only joined the forum to get my eurovox going,if i hadn't of found a interest(& allot wont) in all this then i wouldnt have posted again ,all i wanted at the time was my channels going..

[River-Rat]

well like i said, have to look into it lol i send a email out at 31 days like we miss you

[Robbo]

I joined this forum just to download some attachments and guides. I then bu99erred off and didn't come back for 2 months, when I made my first post.

That is the way forums and people are. Members should be able to come and go as they please.

[madtrev5]

i agree i dont think you should limit the membership to a time period if they was to come and go as they please that is the choice i like it here passes the time of day away and also tring to learn a little as well that y i spend so much time in here (sad or what lol)