Member's only>> what do you all think?

J

JD Spydo

Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Messages
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Hello Fellow Forum members and all you esteemed moderators :) I hope I am posting this in the proper slot. If I got it wrong then please immediately accept my apologies and redirect me to the right place. Just yesterday I posted a positive testimony for a good knife tradeing friend on "GOOD,BAD & UGLY" slot for a guy who I deem as a very good member and knife trader of this great Forum. I had a real bozo put some trashy spam crap on that thread I started solely for the purpose of giving positive testimony for my friend. It really made the thread look like crap to where no one would even want to know what good things I had to say about my trading pal ( Wali).

I know that life is not perfect and that houseflies and cockroaches just happen to show up from time to time. But as a "Dues Paying" member of this Forum I feel like I've got a right to ask you all this>> WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK ABOUT THE IDEA OF MAKING THIS FORUM A "MEMBERS ONLY" TYPE OF DEAL??>> and I mean that every member pays dues to be on here. Now I am not suggesting that everyone take out a Platinum Membership like I elected to do but at least take out some kind of token $15 a year fee or some way of making it a membership Forum to help keep the creeps out of here. Or at least minimize them.

The reason I am suggesting that is that maybe that would be a way of ridding our Forum of a lot of low life vermin like the cockroach that rudely invaded my thread with some sort of depraved spam like he put there. I kind of want to know what you all think. Now I realize that times are hard and that there are a lot of good family men and women who are struggling to make ends meet and so forth. And I would hate to keep some genuinely good guy or gal who is a true knife afficionado from being a part of this. I would personally even be willing to add more to my personal membership fee if it would help keep the snakes out. And if I'm wrong in my thinking I welcome your reasons why you think I am wrong and would love to hear yours. Because I am putting my money where my mouth is and I truly want to support this Forum and keep it going for as long as possible. GOD BLess you all. JD Spydo
 
Some of the worst bozo offenders have had platinum memberships. It wouldn't make a bit of difference.

Phil
 
First off, this will probably be moved...to where? Who knows…Community?
Making dues mandatory would be a two edge sword IMO, it would winnow out many of the trolls and spammers and that would be a good thing. But by the same token we have a number of members here that just drop in looking for information the first time and stay as a member of the knife community as their interest the sharp pointy things grow and a many of them do purchase memberships.
Requiring dues would reduce the number of lurkers and drop ins. I think that free registration brings in many folks that would not be here otherwise.



Steve
 
I do not think its a good idea. When you decided to subscribe to the internet as a way of communicating, sharing information and making new friends, you should have evaluated the risks associated with free speech and internet privacy against the benefits of a forum such as this one and, made your decision accordingly.

You need to learn to disregard vitriolic posts and spam just as you do when you get it in your email box. Trolls don't often stay and, when disregarded they usually move on. When they do hang around, we have forum moderators that take appropriate action. I see no need to try and make this some exclusive club. I am interested in reading many opinions, even those that only stop by once in a blue moon. These members are not likely to pay a monthly fee just to post once in a blue moon - and I would not either.
 
I agree that it would be nice if everyone was here for the right reasons and trolls and spammers would not interfere with our time here on the forum, but I believe that "paying members only" forums are bad. If it wasn't for the influx of new people on a fourm (and a pay only forum would not get many new members) then I believe that discussions would stagnate and it would be a much less interesting place to hang out. Also, how are people supposed to find out if they want to become a member if they can't look around first? If it was paying members only, I would not have joined in the first place.

As far as spammers and trolls go, I think the mods here do a great job taking care of things, and the problems are taken care of quickly in almost all cases I have seen.

I would like to see more paying members though. I bought a platinum membership because, to me, $50 is a small price to pay for the hours of enjoyment and entertainment I get from this forum.

Just my $.02
Mike
 
NO way man. I frequent the bali forums and a lot of people that need help or advice come here for it, if they had to pay they may never find that help and get opinions of well qualified flippers and knife collectors. Most people usually stay when they find this place also. so we really shouldnt charge people. Just ignore the a$$holes that do stupid sh1t.
 
When this has come up in the past, a major objection had been international members. For some of them, $15US is a lot of money... and sending that $15US to America could cost them $25US in fees.
 
On the other hand they could offer a much lower membership fee. But it might be enough to keep out spammers and trolls.
 
Hi JD,
While your suggestion certainly has some potential upside to it, I imagine you'll find that the majority of members here feel like the occasional troll or spammer is an acceptable price to pay for an open membership policy that has been instrumental in growing both the BFC site, and, on a larger scale, the hobby itself.

But be that as it may, Spark is the ultimate arbiter in all such matters, and the Service and Support forum is the best venue for bringing this one to his attention.
 
I think it would end up causing far more good members to leave, and I don't think that it would be worth it just to get rid of a few idiots. The fact is, just because someone pays a membership fee doesn't mean that he/she can't be an idiot as well.

Though I would like to see more people buck up for a membership, I don't agree with it being mandatory.
 
Well according the responses I have had thus far I can see that this was not the panacea solution that I thought it could potentially be. I guess maybe I launched this thread more out of anger than anything else. I did mean well>> really I did.

OK I will let this thread go out on it's own and I won't feed it anymore. I guess maybe I am thinking in a mode of believing that most people are decent and respectful people and 95% of the guys/gals I've met here on BF are indeed that. I have met some great people and have even done a couple of trades with guys who did not even have a membership with no problem at all. I have never been just blatantly ripped off by any of the Forum members or lurkers.

This bozo really angered me but I shouldn't have let it get the best of me. Sometimes there are just no easy solutions :( . Thanks for the sobering input guys :)
 
Gollnick said:
When this has come up in the past, a major objection had been international members. For some of them, $15US is a lot of money... and sending that $15US to America could cost them $25US in fees.
Click to expand...

I think you're confusing price issues with Credit Card validation issues. I doubt American members have a larger propensity towards paying for membership, than International members do.
 
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