Locking some boards

Is locking several boards something worth considering? Maybe :-/ even to go so far as to lock all but "Welcome" "General" "Companies" "Reviews" and "Safety" to all but members. But that might make this more like a laser club than a laser forum. Anyone have other thoughts on it? especially the one who counts, C0ld as it's your forum, where do you see/want LPF going in the future? I'm sure you have some great dreams of where we'll end up. Are they anything you would like to share?

I almost didn't post this as I love this place, and didn't want it to sound at all like I was complaining. I've never even seen another forum as great as this one, and as they say "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" But as I was reading Things' post regarding forum discounts, it made me curious as to what your thoughts are for the future of LFP.

Thanks,

hello matt!

thanks for posting about this idea.. i may be the forum administrator, but this forum is really about the members. after all, this forum would not be anything without you guys & gals!

in terms of the future of lpf.. lpf is a big part of my life.. it makes me happy! my fiance- ostine- and i , spend a lot of time working on it, and we love it! there may be drama at times, and sometimes tough times, but thats just part of running a forum and you gotta role with it.

lpf is in a way like a "job" for me -- an ideal job. it is something i love working on, and i am even able to earn some money from it via ads

when i started this forum , i picked yabb because of its history of excellent security. yabb may not have as many features as some other forums, but i will do everything possible to modify it to improve it in the future.

i hope that lasers continue to grow in popularity, and no one does anything wreckless to make them illegal or frowned upon.



about the idea of locking some boards -- it is a very interesting idea. there are advantages and disadvantages. i am leaning towards not doing this because i think there will always be some people that are too lazy to register, and who will then miss out on the forum. i know that in the past i have been to lazy to register for forums, and probably have missed out on some great info b/c of this.

i have it set so it is very easy to register on this forum ,though. no email confirmation is needed or anything like that.

we could possibly test locking some boards, i would like to get a lot more opinions on it though

talk soon matt
regards

-avery

Thanks C0ld,
Personally I agree with Things and Laq that we should strongly consider having a VIP or MemberOnly board or forum section especially for BS&T, Deals, and GBs. But again, that's just my view on it.
Just something so that there is more incentive to register, perhaps even a voluntary contribution option to be put towards goodies for raffle. The overall goal of course being to draw more members who will be active on the forum, without driving any away.

I don't really see any advantage to locking anything. I get turned off when I have to register for a forum to see what is there. And for anyone wanting to offer anything, they need to register before they can post. I think the "flow" of the forum is really good right now and I would leave it the way it is.

As far as a section for VIP members or whatever, what or who determines who would qualify to be a VIP? I see this as being a turn off as well. Sorry to disagree with you A-P_I. ;D

I think every member should be entitled to all facilities on the forum VIP status at some cost will put some people off. I'm sure not all people could afford to keep coughing up money to view an extra board. So no more daft locking of threads and no VIP stuff as this is not equal to all members.......

a_pyro_is said:

Is locking several boards something worth considering? Maybe :-/ even to go so far as to lock all but "Welcome" "General" "Companies" "Reviews" and "Safety" to all but members. But that might make this more like a laser club than a laser forum. Anyone have other thoughts on it? especially the one who counts, C0ld as it's your forum, where do you see/want LPF going in the future? I'm sure you have some great dreams of where we'll end up. Are they anything you would like to share?

I almost didn't post this as I love this place, and didn't want it to sound at all like I was complaining. I've never even seen another forum as great as this one, and as they say "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" But as I was reading Things' post regarding forum discounts, it made me curious as to what your thoughts are for the future of LFP.

Thanks,

Click to expand...

This would be a horrendus Idea, as many people join because they see some group buys, or they like somehting that is in one of the boards you want locked. I personally joined because I saw some awesome Group Buys. Locking boards would:
1. Slow down Group buy counts, and
2. limit the number of new members.

Timelord said:

I think every member should be entitled to all facilities on the forum VIP status at some cost will put some people off. I'm sure not all people could afford to keep coughing up money to view an extra board. So no more daft locking of threads and no VIP stuff as this is not equal to all members.......

Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant "voluntary contribution" to be read as "donation"
And I agree that all members should have access to the all the info available on the forum. But exactly that, the members should have the access. But as I've been thinking it through, I realized it wouldn't really do any good.

If someone is shopping around, even if not a member here, they should be able to see deals & discounts.
If someone wants to sell something here, they have to sign up anyway. And if I see someone with only one post trying to sell something in BS&T, I'm going to be on high alert anyway.
If someone wants in on a GB, all the better as it will keep the cost down for everyone. Besides, it's up to the GB host to make sure he or she is protected, money first, then ship.

So all around a bad call, but I'm glad it was brought up for discussion. But again, for the record, I recant my earlier statement as I made it without thinking it through completely.

what i meant by my post, is that the company discounts are ment to be for the forum, BUT any regular, non registered person, can just come over to the forum, and use our code?!?! what is the point of a "forum discount" if any random person can use it?? so what i was suggesting, and i think is the similar case here, is that if we just "hide" the board, so only registered members can see it, that would prevent it?

Things,
I would bet that over 90% of the people using the forum discounts are either already members of this forum, or will register once they order and/or receive their product. Most people have questions before and after the sale, and this will give them a reason to register for the forum.

things said:

what i meant by my post, is that the company discounts are ment to be for the forum, BUT any regular, non registered person, can just come over to the forum, and use our code?!?! what is the point of a "forum discount" if any random person can use it?? so what i was suggesting, and i think is the similar case here, is that if we just "hide" the board, so only registered members can see it, that would prevent it?

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dude seriosly, I would have never been here (then again mabe many of you dont want me here anyway LOL) if it wasnt for a discount/GB i saw, and this made me say, hmmmm, this sounds cool, so what If I may get spam its worth it! and then I found that this is a trusted and loving community, and since I did not get any spam I am very happy. I may sound like a n00b to you, but hey, this is my opinion

meh whatever, i don't wanna start anything here, its up to c0ld.

things said:

meh whatever, i don't wanna start anything here, its up to c0ld.

Click to expand...

Who said anything about starting anything... ;D It's all good, you are entitled to your opinion just as others are entitled to theirs. Opinions and discussions are always a good thing even if it doesn't always go your way, or my way or whoever's way.

Gazoo said:

[quote author=things link=1194038979/0#10 date=1194583729]meh whatever, i don't wanna start anything here, its up to c0ld.

Click to expand...

Who said anything about starting anything... ;D It's all good, you are entitled to your opinion just as others are entitled to theirs. Opinions and discussions are always a good thing even if it doesn't always go your way, or my way or whoever's way.  [/quote]

agreed

Yep, just good honest open discussions.

Well for the admin it will be a PITA to have a separate forum without the proper software. I have built many sites that had a private paid forum. and the issues are many... password sharing, IP logging, managing funds, the interface, and on and on.
Almost all of them have failed after some time.
I highly suggest against it especially using the current software.

Now a Raffle POOL might work a little better, and even contests. I have seen more positives come from these things than any private forum combined.

I have a few scripts for games like Bingo and scratch offs if something of that nature is of any interest.

There are a TON of ways to do this other than a private forum.

I think it's good the way it is. a members only board wold possibly be an incentive to register for some people, but it may also put people off.
As for locking the GB board to nonmembers, I think this would lose us a significant inflow of new members, who join because of our GBs. I myself joined because of SenKat's red diode GB.

The LPF group buys have become one of our major sources of members. Locking them would lose this.

I agree locking the forum discounts to anyone but members may be a good idea, but most people do want to ask questions. Possibly we could just put a thing in the forum discounts thread saying, nonmembers please join to use these codes? oh wait its my thread, i can do that only if people think its the right way to go?

A members board could be fun, but I do think it would lose us something. We have gained a reputation as the only totally nonbiased and open forum dedicated to the topic of lasers, and any type of discrimination or limiting (such as a members only board) would lose this IMO.