Please vote: Should GWAPA Open Most of Forum to Non-Members?

[Aaron]

I voted no too. I like the fact that I know everyone who posts on here.

If people want open forums Aquatic Plant Central and Planted Tank are huge sites dedicated to the hobby.

[SCMurphy]

the compulsive part of me says "yes, open it". the more concious part of me says, noooooooooo, we are going to get overflown with people!! i read good reasons to keep it closed, but i hear complains from friends asking "why pay, if i can google" whichever the decition, im with it and hopefully it will work, if it doesn't it can always be reversed

Tell them, just because you can Google it doesn't mean you can understand it. I could Google "how to build a space shuttle" but I'm not going to be any closer to building one.

(waiting to see who picks up on the rocket science reference)

[chris_todd]

I had a feeling this might foster some strong feelings on both sides, and that's exactly why the board wanted to put it to a member vote, rather than just unilaterally moving forward.

I would like to thank you for that! I understand that leading any organization of more than three people cannot effectively be done by committee, but hobbyist organization leadership needs to at least consult their membership and solicit ideas before making decisions.

Chris, there's definitely a balance to be struck in everything. As for consulting with CCA/PVAS, I have definitely spent a fair amount of time talking with Pat Kelly on this and other topics, and I think the three clubs benefit by learning from the others experiences.

I figured you probably had, and that's a good thing. While our three clubs may have different focus areas, we all face similar structural and organizational issues, so having the open communication and idea sharing between the three clubs is excellent.

Cristy, thanks for your insight into managing spam on the PVAS forum.

[ddavila06]

Tell them, just because you can Google it doesn't mean you can understand it. I could Google "how to build a space shuttle" but I'm not going to be any closer to building one.

(waiting to see who picks up on the rocket science reference)

always do i myself check 3-4 places whenever i google, lost of opinios but is hard to find facts...

[FrannyB]

Leave it closed. Much nicer and friendlier as it is. Having a place for the elitists to congregate is a good thing, eh?

[Jeff120]

There are plenty of other ways to grow the club, I think opening the forum will only cause more trouble then what its worth, or what would be gained. Workshops probably the best, and getting some posters in stores is another good way. So other then that the only reason to open it up is because that is what CCA/PVAS does? And we now know, thanks to Cristy, that if PVAS could, their forum would also be closed to club members only.

[Cristy Keister]

I think if you opened the forum then decided later to close it you'd face much more criticism, and really piss off those that you have to kick out. Make a decision and stick with it.

[PaulS]

I voted no too. I like our forum just the way it is now.
Paul

[Ltrepeter2000]

Is there a way to ensure that we get a decision from the majority of the club? If we are at 90 members and less than half vote here(trying not to disclose how many have voted so far), how does the board intend to review the decision?

[krisw]

Rob, since this is an issue surrounding the use of the forum, I think a vote by forum users is appropriate. I'm leaving this vote open for 2 weeks to ensure that there's plenty of time for members to read through and vote. While we ended with 90 members, we are not yet back up to that number. (We're at 68 members today)

Francine/other CCA members, I'm curious from a user perspective. Do you find that CCA's forum is not friendly/nice due to non-members being involved?

Jeff, the reasoning is not just because CCA/PVAS do it. For as long as I've managed the gwapa@gwapa.org account, it's been the #1 question I receive from folks interested in planted aquariums. Usually, the course of action is that they come on, register, and find that they can't access anything but 2 forum areas. They dig up my email, complain and ask me to "enable" their account. I then have to write the awkward response of explaining why we won't allow them unless they pay for a membership. I've had several current GWAPA members tell me the bad taste they've had in their mouths from this experience, even if they do join. It's viewed as elitists and a money grab, whether we intend it to be or not.

The only thing I'm looking to change with this vote is that those users who contact me (or another moderator), will then get a non-member account on the forum. All others, will only have read-only access, so you won't even know they're on the forum. Maybe I didn't explain that clearly enough.