About this room

[Jinx]

 Great to have this section, but why is it hidden from the general public, like "the dogpile"

 I can undersatnd not wanting non members to see bickering and mudslinging, but why hide an investment section?  Putting it on the public board might encourage someone to make their first post if it's something that interests them, you never know.

[Manny]

I must confess that was my idea.

I am thinking we should have some rooms that members can only see so we can mention them on the homepage. For example, "sign in and become a member to see our member Buy & Sell room, FSU investments and business opportunities and XYZ rooms"

That way anyone who is interested in the general topic will make an account.

But it also works the other way. If someone reads something in a public room, and is interested, they may sign up.

I am open to ideas and how folks thing things may work better.

[Markje]

How about we make this room read-only for guests. That might help persuade them and we won't get crap from anonymous users.

[Jinx]

I must confess that was my idea.

I am thinking we should have some rooms that members can only see so we can mention them on the homepage. For example, "sign in and become a member to see our member Buy & Sell room, FSU investments and business opportunities and XYZ rooms"

That way anyone who is interested in the general topic will make an account.

But it also works the other way. If someone reads something in a public room, and is interested, they may sign up.

I am open to ideas and how folks thing things may work better.

 I get what you're aiming at Manny, but from my point of view I think seeing topics when they are not members, seeing something that peeks their interests is what encourages people to post.

 I never used to post, but then one day I saw that someone had started a topic about a city I had visited in Russia and I began to write about my experiences, and that spread into other topics.

[Manny]

How about we make this room read-only for guests. That might help persuade them and we won't get crap from anonymous users.

All rooms are read only for guests already except Dogpile, Buy & Sell & Feedback. (And this room)

Anonymous users cant post already, they must sign up to post.

[Chris]

It can work both ways actually. If you list it, it needs to be listed on this home page, not necessarily the forum home page as most people bookmark the log in page.

However, I also think Jinx has a point, if it is hidden from view to guests then some will never find it no matter how many sign posts you give them.

Sometimes showing your wares does entice people to join and post, afterall that is what the main board open to guests reading the threads is all about.

So what do we do, show it to guests or not  I think personally I would show it to guests and if it becomes a problem close it off again. It is not like the Dogpile where all our dirty laundry is aired, so I cannot see any harm in it.

[Manny]

I get what you're aiming at Manny, but from my point of view I think seeing topics when they are not members, seeing something that peeks their interests is what encourages people to post.

 I never used to post, but then one day I saw that someone had started a topic about a city I had visited in Russia and I began to write about my experiences, and that spread into other topics.

Thats why I joined RWF years ago - a guy asked about Togliatti, I had been  there the week before, so I joined to answer him as others were giving him tosh.

[Manny]

So I made this room visible to guests, we will see if it brings any new members in.