Thank you so much everyone! I think its a really great idea! I've been approved for the forum, now to just start getting it set up and structured most effectively. I'm so excited! Of course a little nervous but all in all I think its a great idea too and I'm really glad its being well-received!
I should state that this is not intended to be a traditional private forum with the purpose of hosting socials. It is entirely centered around what many memebers on the board have voices their wishes in having: location, fbsm and short notice availability info.
The catch is that you have to maintain a certain standard of online behavior in order to have access to it. Not to say that people aren't going to get assholish from time to time but the steveinwood-types will get bounced quickly if they can't manage to maintain some common decency. The main rule in the forum is to treat others how you would like to be treated.
I aim to develop a somewhat self-governing mechanism. If you break the rules as a member there, provider or hobbyist, on the board or off it, you will get bounced. My hope is that it evolves into a private forum with certain access benefits that immediately and directly payoff for its members in the form of advertising.
I think with the right incentive, people will choose to treat other members respectfully in the private area, despite how they treat others in the open forum. There is a built-in cheques and balances system, hence the title of "The People's Choice".
Depending on how successful it is, extra help to moderate it may eventually be needed so please keep that in mind if it sounds like something you would be interested in down the road.
I'll keep the construction details updated. Please feel free to suggest location areas that you feel would be most effective (I'd like to keep the metroplex separated into 5-6 areas since they will be stickied to the top of the forum). The fbsm areas and short notice will each have separate stickies, one for each. All other the eads and discussions will evolve on their own. Really wanting to see how things settle with the least amount of rules at first so please bear with me.
In response to pfmtony's concern, this is something I have wanted to create for the community for quite some time.
The only benefit to me is that it might end up being a valuable resource to many others and functions as intended - I like making people happy and I hope this type of private forum does just that!
Thanks again everyone!!!