Need Your Opinion

[Bethers]

OK, I know that many people are lurkers before they post - but the idea of this forum is for us all to be a part of it. I'd like to make a condition of joining be that the person post an intro within a certain time frame of joining - maybe as little as a couple days. I mean, we do the effort to get everyone approved almost immediately- so joining should mean also posting. If they don't post, I'd like to send a pm and ask them to please do so or their membership will be terminated. I'd also like to have a period where if someone is inactive we do the same thing - but that should be a lonnnnnnnnnnnng period in case someone is on the road and not easily able to post - so 6 months? Longer?

Let me know what you think - but I don't like the idea of people we don't know joining and being able to see information that should be for active members only if they really don't intend to be active. But I also don't want to scare people off. However, they can always come read the posts without being a member, just would lose the parts of the forum that is for members only.

OK - all opinions and ideas welcome here.

[Carolinagal]

Beth, I agree that anyone who joins, should post. I have seen so many in the members list, that I have never found a post at all from. This day and age, where you need to protect your identity, and yourself, its kind of scary and I for one, don't want to give much info as to where I am located, where I am going, what route etc. Which makes it bad for those you might like to meet up with. You're wiser then I am on what could and should be done, so I am for any decisions that are made in this matter. If they don't post, why did they join? When you join, you participate, don't you?

Carol

[Getupngo]

Help me ... what information is available to members that lurkers cannot access? The private room, chat room ... (although the chat room is hard to "lurk" in). Is our personal information available only to members?

[islandmomma]

I disagree. I think that many ppl need to be lurkers first. They have been 'burned' or whatever on other sites... Let them read. How does that hurt anyone?

jan

[SeeyaGal]

It hurts when a lurker reads and uses info against you....

[carold]

I'm just curious. How can you prevent a guest from entering and reading posts? I know I "lurked" for quite a while before joining another forum. Not agreeing or disagreeing at this point. carold

[relaxing101]

Don't shoot, don't shoot! It is just me - Bonnie (relaxing101)! And please don't drop me! I read all of your posts religously every morning. Is that the same as lurking? I have posted in the past but have not had the opportunity to go out RVing in many months since I had to move my 90 year old mother in with me to get her out of the cold North weather and to be able to take care of her.

I start my day every morning reading about all of your travels and experiences and making plans that someday I will be able to get back out there and see this big wonderful country of ours. I was very excited the other day when I saw that Donna (dcricket), Pooker and Sharon had joined us. I so much enjoy all the adventures and the pictures are awesome. They start my day with smiles and joy most of the time but I also share the sorrow and pain as well!

Maybe instead of dropping a 'non-poster', we just need to contact them and make sure they are okay and still interested in remaining a member. I know that my day would not be the same if I lost the ability to check in on all of you every morning and being able to enjoy your travels and adventures.

Bonnie

[avalen]

I think when they join they should do their introduction within about a week, and
then if they are inactive for about 6 months, contact them and see if they want
to stay a member, its quite possible they lost their bookmark, ya just never know.
I'm also curious as to what boards non-members can see as compared to what we
all can see. Seems to me the times I've read the board and didn't log in I saw everything.

[Cedar518]

I agree with you Beth. if someone wants to join this forum and applies to do that,... it's fair to think they have looked over the public part of the forum enough already. if they join and you approve, then they have a responsibility to post their intro. That's only courtesy. There are some that joined when this forum first started and still haven't posted once. Even if traveling most people have internet connections fairly often.

For those that have posted intro but have gone inactive, I think six months is very generous before you remind them you will be deleting their membership. And I also think it should be active, not one post every six months just to meet that requirement. I just checked our members list and see 19 with -0- posts, and four with -1- post. With a total of 95 members that's 20% that never posted an intro. If you add the four that only posted once it brings it to 24% refusing to post intro/inactive.

Yes, some of us have been "burned" in other forums as Jan/Islandmomma said. I think that's all the more reason to tighten the requirements here. Like I said, if they have applied to join they have already browsed all the forum topics to their heart's content,... no need to "lurk" further.

We are nearly six months old on this forum and the activity here definitely out-paces other forums. We have been completely open and friendly here. We share our fun and our sorrows and our goofs,...no one here stands in judgement on anyone else. Our forum is set up and managed well by Beth and we are allowed to be ourselves, to post our photos, web links, blog links and artwork. We are wide open. So if someone hasn't posted in months, they have either forgotten us (aren't iterested) or don't WANT to participate.

Long answer,.... But as I started out,.... YES, Beth i agree!

[Carolinagal]

I'm not objecting to lurkers, they can lurk all they want, and then if they would like to join, thats their option. But I think Beth was referring to people who join, if you look in the list of members you will see many, I have never even heard of, they have access to all the info we put in our profile. Why did they join, if they don't want to participate, I wonder?
You do not have to join this group, you can just read all our posts for years. I don't mind that, I do object to their having access to my info., for what reason?

Carol

Bonnie, I'm not going to shoot Guess you and I posted at the same time, anyway, you don't have to be traveling or even own an r.v. to be a member here, just sometimes, say hi. I really like this forum, and starting my day with it, is a highlight for me. I don't always post either, just read. Beth, did say the non-posting people would be contacted, Just because they have a zero on how many posts they've done, don't think she meant she would just delete them.

It would be nice to just know or have some idea, that it really is a gal that has joined, who shares our interest, and if you join something, don't you participate, you say Hi, once in awhile don't you?

Cedar said it way better then I did. I will see if this will go now, so many have jumped in here, but I think this is a serious situation.

[retiredhappy]

I don't see how anyone can "hurt" us by lurking. Some people are just shy or don't think they have anything to say if they're not traveling. I've actually posted the city I live in when not on the road. I just can't imagine anyone bothering to track me down for any reason other than a visit. If some "bad" person out there wants a "victim" for whatever, I'm sure there are women a lot more accessible than those of us scattered all over the country. Now don't get me wrong, I'm very careful of my safety but I just don't think its much of a problem. I would like new people to post a little about themselves and the general area they're in so if they're near me I could maybe visit. Maybe after a year of no postings we could send them an email saying they're being deleted for nonuse. I'm sure we've been checked out by other forums but personally I don't care. Let them see how much we have over here and what a great bunch of ladies we have. I did at one time, send some of the non-posters an email or PM telling them to jump into the water - some responded and some didn't.

[LegalLady]

I think the requirement to post an intro is a great idea and I think it encourages people to make a post when they otherwise might not.

[Cedar518]

Bonnie,... thanks for your thoughts! It would be grand to hear from you more often. I don't full time, and being in the far north of NY I can't camp in the winter as I'm still working (again! ) and my camper is behind a snow bank!. but I jump in here every day because as you said, ... the companionship. You are a great addition to our group, let's hear from you whether camping or not!

[Barbzeee]

Hey All ! I know, I know, this is my weekend off ..but had to pop in and post in this column... This is an important issue to all of us !

I agree with Beth, Cedar and Carolinagal.. If you've lurked and we've done spurred your interest to join..then why not post...if you're not sure how too..heck you know from how long you've been lurking we all will help ya ! Intros are important..even though some of us know each other from another forum ..others may not have been a member.... and as far as posting often..heck once a week would be nice iffn' ya can't then once a month...like a nice vistor...but it also makes each of us members feel that you want to be a part of a terrific group of decent people..Sista's..to be exact..

For those that don't want to post..for reasons beyond our knowledge...let Beth know...or if not..then maybe we are not for YOU!..

I also agree if by 6mos they haven't posted..send a quick note..asking if there's anything we can do to help ..are you ok...????? and if no reply.. delete membership and let them re apply...no biggy...but with stipulations...

Also suggestion here !!!! Perhaps we have a MIA column..if those are gonna be away for a while and won't be able to post..put your name in that column and then we will know you are ok...just missing in action for awhile...how's that ?????

Perhaps Beth, in your application ..you might request that this is part of an agreement to join our forum...been awhile since I've seen our requirements...best go look again huh ??? LOL

Ok, that's my penny's worth...

Now as for me...I'm going grocery shopping and guess what... I finally got my soft ware that's taken me months to get to work right this morning..Woooo hooo....

I take my leave...

God Bless All

Zeee


PS Made Chocolate Espresso cake this morning..oooooooooh it's a gooder...

[Liz]

Well I know I enjoyed lurking on the other forum for almost a year before having the courage to join, but once I joined I participated. As long as newcomers have the opportunity to lurk before joining, then once joined they should at the very least post to the intro section within a week. After that, I'm not sure a requirement to post at a certain interval is a good idea...things happen, people are traveling (or not), sickness etc., but after six months of no posting, then yes, we should check on them and if no reply, do as Barbzeee suggests...delete and allow them to rejoin if they want. Hopefully we'd check on them before 6 months if they are frequent posters and suddenly stop, but don't cancel their membership for at least 6 months.