Need some opinions on an area that is for members only

    Just one last statement on this thread.....

    I don't remember a single time that an owner or a moderator asked for advice concerning anything making up the content or direction of the site on the " Darkside"

    Anyone who questions the integrity of the owner of this site will incur my wrath ... Period! This site is unique in that it has been created by an owner/enthusiast for owners/enthusiasts.

    The countless hours that I have spent contributing on the "Darkside" and this site is but a thimble full compared to What @rabtech has done from the beginning! He is not in the "forum business' and has always been there when we needed him. I believe he is simply trying to get simple input from where the members stand on issues or changes on his mind regarding the site...... Or as he has put it.... OUR SITE!
    Refreshing isn't it?

    Not everyone is going to have the same opinion on issues and that is a good thing. But an owner asking us for input concerning the direction of the site is something you just don't see. I would treat that with the utmost respect.

    Painter


    You are not only extremely talented at your craft, but chock full of wisdom. One more unseen benefit of Rabtech's hard work is the caliber of people who are attracted and dedicated to this forum.


    Thank you
    Mitch

    The more people I meet

    The more I love my Dog!

    My 2 cents... On other 'boards, I've often been able to find my pics and posts via Google. This was not my intent. Maybe a members-only tech section will keep the robots out.

    The only thing I wish this site had was a way to SUPER like a post.


    @Painter could not have said it any better.
    I got your back my friend while you have Rab's.


    This family folks. Period!!

    Proud Member of SOG!!!!!!!

    2015 SL (Yellow) Traded becuase it kept melting

    2018 SLR LE with DDM SuperCharger!!! I guess the gray ones are faster...

    So you all can tell by the number of posts that I have, I am a huge lurker. I love to read each thread, just don't comment as much as I should, I suppose. @rabtech You have created a great site.


    How about a sticky explaining the benefits of becoming a member or something that pops up when the cookies say they are a new arrival?


    Why did I sign up when I could just lurk and read? Could be I wanted everyone to remember me from the dark site, No... had about the same number of posts over there as I do here. My main reasons: 1st of all, I love it to track my ability to hit the unread post button, because it knows who I am. I like the ability to look at the members, to see who they are, area where they live, what their subject matter expertise may be etc, etc. Now one would assume, you have to be a member to view the members. Perhaps I'm wrong, since the first thing I did was join the site when I arrived.


    You must be member to leave a comment, correct? Hey, its a simple, no cost, not time consuming, leave a fake name and make up an email address that he won't sell to every vendor process if that is what you wanna do.


    Turn the paranoid button off, Rab means no harm yall!


    ps I say the Rab means no harm, not because I personally know Rab, but because I've read hundreds of his posts that have been nothing but helpful and always for the greater good of the Slingshot community.


    Tom

    Alpha Supercharger is still spinning fine... it gets rode hard, every time.

    Edited once, last by Texas T: spelling error ().

    Thanks everyone. I knew that it may be sensitive subject. But I also knew that it probably needed to be thrown on the table and discussed.


    The friendly happy side of me says let's just share everything with everyone. And the other side of my head says let's make people at least go to the effort to sign up to see the tech part.


    I kind of like the (hide the pictures) suggestions. I have been to many forums that have that sort of protection in place.


    I also like the (notice) appearing when your just a guest idea. The notice would say that they need to become a member to see the actual Tech section.


    I like every single reply to this thread. I didn't take offence to any of the suggestions. And I absolutely understand why some would think " for profit" when they read "members only". I have said it before and ill say it again. The site makes money from vendors that advertise and from the sale of T-shirts, Stickers, and anything else that will appear under the STORE tab.


    And I am way to fat (big boned) to let any of the comments get under my skin. No worries at all. :cool:


    Let me think on this and I'll see what I can come up with that is a balance of the ideas you all gave me.

    Hey Rab


    why not leave it up to the creator of the thread, add a box to be check View by members only or View by all.
    That would take the heat off administration and put it on the creator of the thread.
    Not knowing anything about how this stuff works I am not sure if that is doable


    Just a thought

    The more people I meet

    The more I love my Dog!

    I bought mine is December of 2014 and as an early owner I know how much I have benefitted from the knowledge and friendships gained through the forum(s). The reluctance of Polaris to remedy some of the quality control issues, or to even reveal them, to me makes it imperative that the knowledge base we all share be wide open to all. Great ideas become great products, and the more people we have speaking with one voice can only benefit us all. I don't know what user name Polaris uses here but I know damn well they are listening to what we have to say, despite the fact that at times I think their hearing is worse than mine.

    Quote from TheRock

    @rabtech, looks like I'm going to be the minority here, but I'll give my opinion anyway. I like the idea that as a member I'd have some super cool access that nonmembers and lurkers wouldn't. But in the end some folks just like to lurk, but really don't have anything to contribute and in the world of the internet and free information... that's okay. Though, for the record I do feel that if you are going to benefit from the site, you should also be contributing. Anyhow, in the end, all it would probably do is cause a bunch of folks to sign up just so they could get the info but they wouldn't be active members. So we'd have a bunch of members but some of them wouldn't be active at all. We may have some of those already, but that number would grow. In the end, it's my opinion that we'd be sacrificing quality for quantity.

    Maybe it's me...I really don't understand...This is a well organized site, no one is asking for any money. If you want to be able to see select content you must sign in...No one is asking each member to produce content or be a tech wiz, just join if you want full access. This will not chase away lurkers or dilute quality, it will just make anyone who wants to see all sign up...My 2 cents.

    on the other hand.. I just purchased a laptop for steve from msi, a company who incidentally has a forum full of info relating to the laptop.
    I joined it just because i couldnt see ANY of the info, and I was looking for a certain topic/answer to solve one problem.. I have not been back to that forum, nor would I ever contribute, nor would I just participate.....
    Bottom line is, if others that dont want to join but cant help but be curious/nosey as to whats going on here, they will join long enough to find out what they wanted and be done.
    Already seen one of our MEMBERS talk trash on the other forum. Hopefully you deleted him...
    If you move the tech stuff, then Id post a "Join the forum to see this section". So they know that indeed there is knowledge being shared here. I think whatever you decide, is fine by me... it would be nice to have a "members only" that was truly members only.... but I just dont think you would avoid the non participant members.

    All statements, posts, and general discussions made on this forum by me purposely reflect my opinions and personal experiences. 8)

    BTW, sorry to be the wet dishrag :| but I appreciate the nsfw section being by request access only. Just out of respect for women that may have body image issues. I think that may have been one reason why the women were so scarce on the other site.

    All statements, posts, and general discussions made on this forum by me purposely reflect my opinions and personal experiences. 8)

    Quote from Guardian_Angel

    BTW, sorry to be the wet dishrag :| but I appreciate the nsfw section being by request access only. Just out of respect for women that may have body image issues. I think that may have been one reason why the women were so scarce on the other site.

    You know we men are like kids in a candy store when it comes to women - even though we are on a diet we like to read the menu :00008040:

    Display Spoiler

    I might not be right but I can sure sound like it

    Quote from Bill Martin

    I think @Ruptured Duck is right - some are still sore from the unlubricated colonoscopy from the dark side ;(

    Our members should know what Rab is about and has done if they are on this forum even a little bit. The Spud is right! Anytime it seems making a purchase on the web a person has to sign up. I don't think it is asking to much or that it is out of line to be a member of the forum to use the forum. It isn't costing anyone a cent but is more appealing for vendors who pay for advertising. The more people on could be their future customers and they're looking for serious buyers.

    Quote from gearhead

    My 2 cents... On other 'boards, I've often been able to find my pics and posts via Google. This was not my intent. Maybe a members-only tech section will keep the robots out.

    The only thing I wonder is similar to what gearhead said except not about robots about real people.
    If I am not a member here and I google "How to remove slingshot panels" and lets say Painters thread is in a members only part of the forum, would this site even show up in that google search? If so then a members only wouldn't hurt anything (except the people that hate signing up for websites), if not then that members only section may have kept some great additions whom would have signed up had this google search shown what they were looking for.
    Hopefully what I said above makes sense lol.

    Quote from MidcitiesNinja

    The only thing I wonder is similar to what gearhead said except not about robots about real people.If I am not a member here and I google "How to remove slingshot panels" and lets say Painters thread is in a members only part of the forum, would this site even show up in that google search? If so then a members only wouldn't hurt anything (except the people that hate signing up for websites), if not then that members only section may have kept some great additions whom would have signed up had this google search shown what they were looking for.
    Hopefully what I said above makes sense lol.

    Yes, that would be controlled in the way I have the pages setup to be spidered by the search engines. It is actually pretty easy to designate what content that I want the search engines to pick up on... When they click the link it would take them to the page but it would ask them to join to see it...


    However if you ever wanted to know how sites pick the content that search engines use here is a good read...


    http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html