New Private Forum Proposal

[SD2011]

I'm not sure I could always be a grownup in certain discussions because I'm a tad warped...

But in all seriousness I do think it's a great idea

[Kendall4U]

Fabulous idea THN. I like the way you think

[shlub]

Are you a tire kicker if you've already rode several times?

[TinMan]

Pfmtony, I think her idea is to "rent space" here on Eccie. The owners allow members to create private forums (for a fee, of course). It's probably a relatively cheap and easy way to create a mini-community without having to deal with the hassle and expense of a true start-up website.

[crashkopf]

Outstanding idea !

I love the way you think.

May I post pictures of my cock too ? That way, all the female tire kickers might be persuaded to make a decision.

Just sayin... Or should I say, just fantasizing !

[chibbwluvr]

As someone who doesn't always have a lot of lead time in terms of free time, a forum like this that has a location and availability concept would be awesome.

Good luck, I hope you can pull it off!

[OldGrump]

Originally Posted by TinMan

Pfmtony, I think her idea is to "rent space" here on Eccie. The owners allow members to create private forums (for a fee, of course). It's probably a relatively cheap and easy way to create a mini-community without having to deal with the hassle and expense of a true start-up website.

A website with an open source forum software can be set up for less than $100 / year. You just need a good technical person to manage it and the necessary security. If ECCIE has a private forum feature for a fee, that would be preferable. They do a great job of keeping the site up and running. I only recall one DOS (denial of service, not the old OS) attack since it opened and it was short lived. I'm impressed.

THN, that is a great suggestion. As others have stated, I have backed off on posting because so many threads are full of drivel and attempts to impress faceless cyber-readers.

My hobbying has also slowed to a crawl (me on my knees begging my doctors to fix what is wrong) so a nice civil forum would be welcome. While my performance has waned, my interest is still alive and kicking ass.

Good luck getting it going.

[Txh64]

THN, you know that Tinman's short lived short notice thread was a big hit with me. It was great until overrun by those who didn't care to follow the rules. It sounds like you have put in some time considering this. I really like the location part. The Metroplex is too big sometimes for short notice research.

[Guest092216]

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!!!

[falconbueller]

Sounds interesting! Especially the location, FBSM and short notice. I've traditionally been more lurking than participating mostly because of the drama. IF that forum exists and is civil, I'd consider being more active.

[bored@home]

Congratulations!!!
I am pressed for time and only skimmed so please forgive if it was already covered but do you or will you eventually have a membership fee or dues?
Unless the area has been granted gratis I would think the fees to recoupe cost should be considered.
I admire the giving back to the community approach but something this potentially "valuable" should not be a financial suck to you over the long haul.
Look at Wikipedia for example..

Anyway, something to consider, love the idea and best of luck.

[Sleepy363]

Would it be free of the site pop-ups that try to make their way onto my screen before being denied by adblock?

The short notice is something that should be allowed here already but was overmoderated when it was tried. It would work much better in a private area.

[Sweed McCoy]

Awesome. Just what I need. Good Work THN

[Guest092216]

Originally Posted by falconbueller

Sounds interesting! Especially the location, FBSM and short notice. I've traditionally been more lurking than participating mostly because of the drama. IF that forum exists and is civil, I'd consider being more active.

Thanks falconbueller! I hope this saves you guys a lot of time and headache! )

Originally Posted by bored@home

Congratulations!!!
I am pressed for time and only skimmed so please forgive if it was already covered but do you or will you eventually have a membership fee or dues?
Unless the area has been granted gratis I would think the fees to recoupe cost should be considered.
I admire the giving back to the community approach but something this potentially "valuable" should not be a financial suck to you over the long haul.
Look at Wikipedia for example..

Anyway, something to consider, love the idea and best of luck.

Thanks bored@home! Great questions! My main focus at this point is getting it up and running and making it a success! After that, I imagine there will be some general interest in keeping it active so perhaps like-minded ladies and gents will offer to help in that regard. I do not agree with trying to profit off the forum.

Originally Posted by Sleepy363

Would it be free of the site pop-ups that try to make their way onto my screen before being denied by adblock?

The short notice is something that should be allowed here already but was overmoderated when it was tried. It would work much better in a private area.

I'm not sure how site pop-ups work in the private areas. I'm sure we will find out very shortly after it goes live. I'm not sure there would anything I could do about it either.

I agree about the short notice availability thread issues in the past which is one of the primary motivators behind this forum along with location and fbsm.

Originally Posted by Sweed McCoy

Awesome. Just what I need. Good Work THN

Thanks, Sweet McCoy! Looking forward to making it a reality!

[phildo]

Originally Posted by thathottnurse

Personally, I think it's possible to have discussions about the hobby without piling on insult after insult after insult. Maybe I'm alone on that one.

Maybe not alone, but incredibly naïve. That isn't an insult. Every internet venue is going to require constant maintenance, be under constant observation by one or a group of people who will arbitrarily enforce "good conduct" because difference of opinion will always be misconstrued in a black and white world. I was once a mod for a forum where passionate opinions ran much deeper than they do about sex or pansy butt heads, and the only way in was to be a vetted industry professional that had to acknowledge the rules AND there was a one strike and you're on vacation policy. Still, people would get wound up and spew like a drunk in Gilley's on Friday night. over some belief they held valuable or the belief of another they found lacking. You find Utopia, draw any of us old cynics a map, I wanna go there.

The only real way would be to run it as a mutual admiration fan club where a bunch of like minded people kissed each others ass for being wonderful members of the same self adulation society reinforcing their specialness, which is pretty much how society runs anyway, peer retention boxes and all that.

That being said, good luck!