Re: [GSAS-Member] A forum

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Wed, 5 Mar 2008, Laurel Larsen wrote:

> but I find forums to be a little more cohesive not only than the
> mailing list, but also the archive, it's easier to share photos

That is true about the photos.  The same scheme that keeps this list 
spam-free also is (for better or worse) what keeps us photo-free.

However, it does make me think... we could open it up to allow small photo 
attachments (jpeg only, say 200k total per e-mail?).  It means that those 
e-mails would be larger when photos are attached.  Those subscribed to the 
digest would not get the photos, but they would be available in the 
archive.  If anyone has an opinion one way or another, e-mail me 
privately... it would be easy to do this on a trial basis and turn it back 
off if it got out of hand.


> registration could be filtered allowing only members to register(with
> their member number).

This is a bit more tricky, because it requires synchronizing of the 
database with the forum, or someone to moderate subscribe requests, etc. 
Much like public radio, we don't actually keep non-members off this list, 
theory being that it may encourage them to come to a meeting or an 
auction, or even (gasp) join!


> I understand that most forums require moderation, but there is none on 
> the mailing list and I have yet to see crazy arguments, rants or death 
> threats.

It's not so much the discussions getting out of hand as the opportunistic 
spam bots and other completely unrelated junk that shows up.  It's really 
nice that this list has essentially had no spam on it for going on nine 
years now.  Over on the AGA forum, until we added a customized 'plant 
quiz' to the registration (something I had to custom-code), we were 
getting 2-5 messages a day posted for Cell phone accessories, prescription 
drugs, and other inappropriate topics.  And they're all posted by robots, 
so they never stop.

> It's merely an idea that
> I thought I'd throw out there since many other regional clubs have
> forums.  :)

Definitely -- don't stop with the ideas!

   - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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