Private Members Only Forum

[Dexter's Shed]

I can see the difference now, between this suggestion and mine, I think I was asking for a woodland owners only section, rather than registered users section, as we could still have these "wild campers" who have registered, read the secret posts

[SimonFisher]

... I think it is possible to restrict access until after a certain number of posts which should be enough to give folk an idea of someones intentions.

I think we're talking about a forum that's accessible (read and post) to anyone who is a registered user rather than one that's only accessible to a subset of all registered users who have demonstrated good intent. The latter would place additional burden on the board administrator(s) to monitor newly registered users, see what they post in all the other forums, then give them access to the new (private) one. As Rich has said, he may need to be a bit more careful when he's admitting new registrations.

[Dexter's Shed]

... I think it is possible to restrict access until after a certain number of posts which should be enough to give folk an idea of someones intentions.

I think we're talking about a forum that's accessible (read and post) to anyone who is a registered user rather than one that's only accessible to a subset of all registered users who have demonstrated good intent. The latter would place additional burden on the board administrator(s) to monitor newly registered users, see what they post in all the other forums, then give them access to the new (private) one. As Rich has said, he may need to be a bit more careful when he's admitting new registrations.

or simply asking new members to list their woodland in their introduction post, those that list it would get access, those who don't (non owners) wouldn't, it wouldn't be much different from how moderators normally get an extra unseen page where they can talk privately to each other, having been a mod on other forums, they include this type of page,

[Dexter's Shed]

Dexter, didn't see the suggestion myself as it would have got my backing.
.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1877&p=11543#p11543

[SimonFisher]

... or simply asking new members to list their woodland in their introduction post, those that list it would get access, those who don't (non owners) wouldn't ...

Hang on, that's a different criteria again! The original poster asked for a forum that couldn't be seen by guests - that's not the same as one only available to woodland owners. There will be many members of SWOG that don't own woodlands. From the SWOG home page: -

SWOG is open to anyone interested in the management or simply the enjoyment of woodland.

[Dexter's Shed]

... or simply asking new members to list their woodland in their introduction post, those that list it would get access, those who don't (non owners) wouldn't ...

Hang on, that's a different criteria again! The original poster asked for a forum that couldn't be seen by guests - that's not the same as one only available to woodland owners. There will be many members of SWOG that don't own woodlands. From the SWOG home page: -

SWOG is open to anyone interested in the management or simply the enjoyment of woodland.

were not saying it isn't, but surely, the opening post was made because members were worried that posting certain facts on an open forum, might be seen by the wrong type of person, we take it for granted the other woodland owners would not prowl the internet looking for such posts, so they could go and pinch stuff?? but that's not to say that " those types" of people that do see their weekly job as taking bits that are not theirs, don't join forums, make up a false ID about themselves, looking for easy pickings does it

I'm just adding my two penny worth, makes no difference to me what the outcome is, I post plenty of video's and take my chances

[smojo]

I hadn't give it any thought about which would be most useful. If we think about this logically, it would seem that the main reason for having a private section is to maintain anonymity to protect the details of our the woodland locations, certain activities such as BBQs or open days to other owners, the buying of equipment, financial discussions e.g. sale of products or income from timber etc. Non-owner members don't need that protection so what other reasons for privacy would they want? If anyone wanted to put out invites to include non owners it would be their own choice to put it in the public section but they could maintain privacy by requesting PMs for replies which is probably what most do anyhow.

There's a grey area - those who are seriously considering buying like Boxerman (and like I was until recently) who are very keen to make contacts and learn as much as possible. Better known members like that who are non owners yet and have been posting for a while could put in a request for access after a trial period and the moderator could check their posts to assess their credentials.

On some forums you can set a poll to vote on. Is it possible to do that and see what the majority of people would prefer - a woodland owners only private section or a members only one? Like any other forum there are plenty of members who are inactive so giving a blanket access to it for all registered members might not prove all that useful.

[boxerman]

**** edited by Moderator to correct quoting ****

... I think it is possible to restrict access until after a certain number of posts which should be enough to give folk an idea of someones intentions.

I think we're talking about a forum that's accessible (read and post) to anyone who is a registered user rather than one that's only accessible to a subset of all registered users who have demonstrated good intent. The latter would place additional burden on the board administrator(s) to monitor newly registered users, see what they post in all the other forums, then give them access to the new (private) one. As Rich has said, he may need to be a bit more careful when he's admitting new registrations.

I wasn't trying to suggest that is the best way to go but just pointing out that that option may be there if enough owners were seriously concerned concerned about folk registering specifically to access such info - one or two did express such concerns.

or simply asking new members to list their woodland in their introduction post, those that list it would get access, those who don't (non owners) wouldn't, it wouldn't be much different from how moderators normally get an extra unseen page where they can talk privately to each other, having been a mod on other forums, they include this type of page,

There would be a massive difference in workload involved for the Admin to produce that compared to the original base suggestion. To implement the original suggestion would likely take Rich about an hour to create a hidden forum and playing with viewing permissions to get it right. To set it up any other way would involve creating a new member group and then manually adding every accepted candidate to that group - to do that every forum member would have to be asked in some way if they actually have a wood or are just a future owner and the time involved could end up being unmanageable for those running the place. I can well understand your view on this and, as one who fits into smojo's 'grey area', I wouldn't be offended at being excluded from such a forum but I would be a little disappointed as the two things I need right now are the opportunities to learn the whys and wherefores and to visit one or two woods to see how it works in practice.

Smojo - the forum software can run polls but it appears not to be active. In my experience of running forums though they rarely achieve much as you're lucky to get 5% of active members voting..... and, of course, there is no way to restrict who can and who can't vote so even those who don't own a wood would be able to vote which probably defeats the objective..

[Zathras]

Just to clarify my original request;
It was for a single forum which is not viewable or searchable without logging in as a website member.
This would be to prevent non-members seeing the content and ensure posts do not show up on google etc.

It might be nice to also have a 'confirmed' owners only forum too, where the ownership of a woodland has been confirmed (at least to some extent, nothing too onerous). But this is a different request and there is an obvious additional overhead required, so understand this is a big 'ask' for possibly a small benefit.

[Zathras]

Any more thoughts on a general forum that is only accessible by website members?

ie. one which requires you to be logged in to see it so won't show up on google searches or drive-by viewings...