Events and Planning Discussion Board for Members

[Bob L]

I think the board works just fine the way it is. The more discussion, the better, and I worry that having to register would result in losing valuable members of the community (not necessarily members of CDSOA). I'm a member, but I understand reasons why others may chose not be.

my 2 cents...

Bob

[Dick Barthel]

My two cents:

I think our overriding goal must be to continue the Cape Dory legacy. Brotherhood, sailing knowledge, entertainment, etc. are collateral benefits.

I think keeping the forum in its many facets open to all comers is the best way to ensure a steady supply of future members. Exclusivity is a sure path to extinction.

Dick

[jefff]

Sorry Pete, but I don't think it would add much to the board and may discourage current non-members from joining. Currently membership keeps the board running, provides nice discounts and allows voting at general meetings. I do value the comments of non-members and think we need to encourage members and non-members alike to attend events since they provide a good recruitment grounds for membership. My biggest problem with the board would only be some of the personal attacks in the past but also realize they probably can't be avoided. My 2 1/2 cents

Jeff Funston, Member #510

[Oswego John]

FWIW,

About, or maybe a little over, 50% of those who attended the Great Lakes sail in/drive in earlier this month were CDSOA nonmembers.

Something to think about.
O J

[Andy Denmark]

It seems some are confusing CDSOA membership and registration on the CD bulletin board.

CDSOA membership costs $40 and is not/should not be a requirement to post on the CD Bulletin Board. This is how things are right now and no one is advocating changing it.

CD Board registration is FREE and requires only providing basic information; name (or psuedonymn) & valid email address. Even your username and password are confidential and are simply for verification so no one else can access your information. The remainder of the information is optional. Even your email address is confidential to anyone but the webmasters. It takes mere seconds to fill out the registration info.

Every other BBS I access requires a name and valid email address to post. The idea, as I see it, is by requiring this simple information spammers and ranters will not wish to reveal themselves and may be discouraged from posting.

Such an arrangement does not close the Bulletin Board to anyone. It simply means that in order to POST anything one must only be registered with the Bulletin Board. CDSOA membership is entirely optional. To only read the postings requires nothing. Look at all the Inktomi and MSN hits -- they are obviously read-only.

It does seem appropriate to have another section of the Bulletin Board that is available only to CDSOA members but no one who has posted on this thread is advocating making the entire Bulletin Board for CDSOA members only.

I fail to understand why requiring such a simple step as registration on the Bulletin Board to post is so troubling.
________
Vaporizer Affiliate Program

[RHB]

Way to go, Andy --

The only salient issue here is whether to create a special members-only area for event business and such, and I can’t fathom a reasonable objection to that. If there are items on that private forum that could function as a recruitment tool for the CDSOA, then the board tsars can flip them over to the free side as they choose. Additionally, the private area can serve as a protected space for internal business if desired, and that’s a nice thing to keep away from public eyes (or might be, who knows). So, as a new CD owner and soon-to-be CDSOA member, I vote a simple yes… I think it’s a no-brainer.

And indeed, I can’t see why you’d want to change anything else about this board’s access policies --- including the spam hole. To my mind, the benefits of a freely accessible resource like this (to members and non-members alike) far outweigh the occasional irritations of spam or suchlike. Heck, this board was the primary catalyst for my own boat ownership, and for the decision to work on my boat with my own plebeian hands (and gain a deeper appreciation of this whole experience thereby) … and isn’t that precisely what this is all for?

Having said that… I wager the CDSOA could certainly make things a bit easier, for joining the group AND navigating the board. An online member signup page would be simplicity itself to implement, and would remove just a wee impediment to joining (for those who eschew snail mail, Acrobat, etc., and there are certainly many of them out there). Board-wise, it’d be great to archive articles according to subject, rather than forcing folks to type in keyword searches and hope that they hit the right thread (I’ve done this many times of late, and it’s frustrating). It’d also be nice to devote a separate board page to all of the boat sale / buy notices, which do clutter the works a bit (even appearing in unrelated threads).

Side note --- boards are cheap to run and host. If this one is taking an appreciable chunk out of our member fees, then we should address that issue separately. In any case, I don't think that board support costs should be forwarded as a material reason for joining the CDSOA. Whatever this board costs to maintain (and it had better be low, given its technical capabilities), I surmise it brings in more revenue in new memberships than it spends. Or should. I've run many boards in my professional guise (joy joy), and there truly shouldn't be a lot of outflow associated with this one.

But it's still the best single sailing resource I've found, too. It works.

- RHB

[Joe Myerson]

I agree with RHB about the quality of the information available on this bulletin board, and I (think) I am a member of the CDSOA (though I haven't received a card for this year, and I guess I'll have to go through a year's worth of check registers to be sure that I've paid up).

Membership is valuable--I just had a wonderful time at last weekend's Buzzards Bay Float-in, for example. But I cast my vote emphatically for keeping the bulletin board open to all. The questions and contributions of a larger group of sailors is one of the factors that makes it so useful.

Just my 2-c's worth.

--Joe Myerson

[bill2]

Since I'm not a member I don't know if I'm allowed an opinion but here goes anyway.

I have a public library near my house. I go in and read the books, magazines, talk to people, maybe even nap. It only costs me the travel expense there and back. ( FWIW it's in the neighboring state so my taxes don't pay its costs )


Now along comes the internet with tons of data. You know what. I look at it as a big library with advertising ( note webmasters a source of revenue if not to the point of saturation ). But now we need to be members whether paid or otherwise to partake in secret groups. Why ?

I admit that I've looked at and advertised a boat on this board - but I also contribute answers when others ask questions I thought I knew the answer to. Who knows - for all we know I could be the next C Alberg or D Casey ( not likely but what about the next guy ) ?

So if you want a name and email address ( is that all or will you come back for more later ) I can give them to you but the public library doesn't ask me for that ( unless I want to take something home ). So maybe I'll just drop out - and spend more time at the library.

And who really believes that a spammer isn't going to use a fake name and address if he really wants info about this board/members or even invest the 40 bucks to get prescreened potential customers. So you've turned me off and the spammers will still get their data.

This board has good quality info based on the strength of members and nonmembers. I like a free exchange of ideas with people that frequent the board. And in the future I may even log in as guest or anonymous so you don't know that my house is empty when I'm sailing / cruising and I probably won't get spam either.

So my opinion would be to have a separate section for events if you like but don't create secrets or secret groups .

[bottomscraper]

We are also members and I think it is a great value but I would prefer to see all boards open. Information about events may encourage others to join and participate. A separate section for event planning might be a good thing but it should still be available for everyone.

[RMeigel]

I understand the difference between CDSOA membership and a board registration requirement.

The public library scenario raises an interesting question. Recently, BobL accessed this board while cruising and when he posted it came across as "Guest" because he was posting from a foreign (read -"library") computer. If the board required registration with "valid" email address, would he or any other CD cruiser be unable to post while cruising unless from a personal, identified laptop?

Robin

[mahalocd36]

Hi Pete,

To address your original proposal, I think the general consensus is
that it's not a bad idea, the point of contention seems to be:

Why members only?
Simple, there is an increase in spam (junk) [and off topic] postings in the general site. Having an event site limited to Members--would (I hope) keep the extra noise to a minium. I also feel it would benefit all by having a working place where we (as members) could post information about an upcoming trip, places to stop (or not), etc., all under the umbrella of an Event entry. It might also allow for folks to feel more comfortable posting contact information. We still can cross post to the general site the "Announcement", if need be.

This went off the tangent of what's a member? (CDSOA member or board registrant).

I am both, a CDSOA member and board member. The problem I see with restricting the events page is - frankly I don't see anything positive to be gained by it. We have attended a lot of the NE fleet events since buying Mahalo 3 years ago. Most of the time I am disappointed by the attendance - given all the CDs in the northeast only a very small percentage go to any event. I think we need to work on increasing participation in the events, not decreasing it. I think it's great that couple from the Chesapeake is willing to post their whereabouts in the hopes of getting other CDers to show up. Once you start restricting that area of the site, the club will become cliquey and it'll just be the same few people show up at events all the time, and make new people reluctant to join. It was great to see some new faces at the Rendezvous in Jamestown and the Buzzards Bay float-in and meet new people. However it's such a small percentage of CDers in the area!

I do think having it in a separate area is a good idea.