[jar_o_flies]

Fine folks of 968Forums

Having recently joined, and recently learned a few things about permissions and levels, I'd thought I'd share a few thoughts:

1) First, thanks to the admins for responding quickly and accurately to my initial questions - as well as for updating Tutorial text to reflect current restrictions/permissions more clearly.

2) Thanks for maintaining a first rate site in support of the vehicles you obviously feel passionately about, which gives the community a collective place to store/share/collect information and experience.

3) As for improvement, I would argue for allowing the "Search" function to be available even at "Lurker" status or at a minimum post "Introduction". My logic for such a desire is largely based on the fact that when I am interested in acquiring a new vehicle - a non-daily driver - one of the first things I do while in research mode is seek out the "support base" that exists online - that's you guys. The last thing I want to do is purchase a ride that is terribly difficult to find information on, parts for, or others with which to share ideas/mods/developments. While not having the search functionality engaged does not eliminate my ability to get a feel for the community at large at a given forum, it certainly makes it a bit more difficult.

I'm sure there is good rationale behind the current restrictions, but at the end of the day I think it does more of a disservice to the group as a whole.

Hopefully, soon, I can communicate that I have acquired a 968 - I certainly find the car appealing, I do like the site, and I do like the active participation. When/if I do reduce my available garage space by exactly the footprint of a 968, I'll likely post such news of acquistion, thereby increasing my thread count by (1), and perhaps be able to "search" and download pics (in particular the 16V turbo, dang it!).

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it....

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[94SilverCab]

Since you now have a post count of three (because two shall be too few...) your world has opened to more advanced abilities.

My experience with other forums is that search feature is only available for registered users...not that we can't be different, but it seems pro forma.

That said, we hope that you enjoy the experience and that you will soon be an 968 owner as well as a member of the finest 968 Forum on Earth.

Regards,

Jay

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[968forums]

this has been discussed - we are not interested in lurkers - we want new friends - we realize that this may put some people off, but we value friends and participants more than those who would just take from the site and move on - this site is supported and funded by its members, and unlike other sites who have sold out to the big advertising dollars, will always be that way - it is those people to whom we cater

the idea is to have people poke around first, see what is here, get familiar, figure out how the site works, and THEN go about detailed searching and such - we feel that membership is more important than making easy access to free information

the things we have to do to stay clear of spammers and miscreants is ridiculous, and there has been no simple solution

the search mechanism becomes available upon your second post - the reason it takes the second post, and not the first is a site software limitation - it counts the first post in the introduction section, regardless of whether or not it has been approved - we use that post as a filter of sorts - this limitation presents a problem in that spammers would then have access without our ability to filter them out if we let it happen automatically - even with all the things we have put in place, we have had spammers join and post spam twice already in the month since the changes - if we can figure out a way to get around that, we will - we want people to have access as soon as possible - the only option at this time would be to manually promote the members, which means somebody having to monitor this site every hour, go into the admin controls, and change the member level by hand - this would be a very time consuming process

we will be talking with tech support to try to figure it out though - this is a work in progress for sure

sorry for the inconvenience - we hope you enjoy the site and the members

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[baz]

I have on a regular basis lurked around this forum for a number of years (never with evil intent I might add) and watched with interest the changes in membership, leadership and policy.

I confess that in recent times I felt the forum had gone overboard with its controls and indeed seem to have an element of elitism developing, however having been forced to sit back and review recent events I now fully appreciate the strength and value of this forum lies in its intergity of purpose which should extend to its membership.

In truth the entry requirements required to gain full access to this forum pale into insignificance with respect to the rewards (free of charge) this forum offers the 968 enthusiast.

This forum has added measurably to my ability to recognise and enjoy the full potential of the 968 and for that I thank it.

I would recommend to potential members and other lurkers, not to bog down in the initial start up but simply hasten forward to gain the benifits this forum offers in appreciating and perserving the 968.

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[PorscheDude]

Once a "lurker" jumps in with both feet and sarts to ask questions, answers soon follow.
Then one goes to active particapent a feels more like part of the group.

There is no other place in the world that has this much friendship, commardre, knowledge, or parts network for the 968.

Besides the love of the car, I have made some very good friends here with whom I speak with on regular basis. These friendships have gone way beyond Porsches.

I am active a few forums, and this the place that has become home.
Few other places offer this kind of a close knit community.

I feel the "saftey" measures used by the mods is a great feature.

To all the "newbies" welcome and settle in. Please be active becausr there are no stupid questions and we all become wiser togeather!

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