Pruning the Membership List

[BlnkNameCruiser]

Take out the greedy name hogs who took good names and never use them.

I love this board. I post in a new town I will travel to and by the time I arrive a nice fellow monger has told me where to go and how much it will cost and I get lucky every time...

Your site kicks ass.

blanknamecruiser

[JMG]

Jackson --

I think pruning the membership list makes a lot of sense. If you don't ever do it, the amount of deadwood (no pun intended) will continue to rise, and your job maintaining the database will grow ever larger.

And your methods seem reasonable as well -- you've always been a fair but firm (with respect ot posting rules, etc.) moderator of this forum, and I know that I and most of the members here appreciate that. Your efforts make for a nice virtual community for all of us here.

Good job!

jmg

[Bruno68]

I have no objection or concern with the plan you propose

If anything, I think you are bending over backwards TOO much. Anyone who would actually be upset that they lost a username that they have nevery actually used is being way to sensitive.

[BlnkNameCruiser]

Jackson,

1. This is the best run forum I have seen.

2. Prune the inactive. Forget the 30 day test post joke. That will offer no benefit to the forum as a whole.

3. I cannot tell you how effective this forum is for me. Anywhere I go, I leave a note for a member to give me tips, I arrive in the city, check the reply, and go get laid.

4. You are not being to harsh by pruning inactive wannabee's who are too chicken to post and too greedy to give up their cool names.

blanknamecruiser

[Bulai69]

Your plan is a good one

[SeniorCitizen]

I'm all for the clean-up, but the approach means that there will be another inevitable build-up and at some point you will have to go through the same exercise. There are basically two types of users to the board.

1. Active users who want to share experiences, advice, cautions, locations and, often, just plain fun (this is a fun hobby).

2. Passive users who want information, updates or just want to share the fun.

I'd make the membership list continuous pruning-publish or perish.

You are correct in noting that pruning the membership list is an ongoing activity, and I expect to make this a part of the Forum's operating policies.

[Bizzie]

Jackson,

Is it possible for you to require some sort of tag/flag to the posts, for example:

A request for info must be marked with "?" or a review/experiece with another mark or reports about hotels can be marked with hotel icon etc.

This will make searching for info so much easier, and will cut down on number of posts requesting info only. And the old mongers won't be annoyed and flame every newbie that signs up and asks questions.

How about a section for newbies for each country (or at leat the 'busy' countries) which can be maintained by an experienced volunteer.

I can tell you that when I started in the hobby recently, trying to gather meaningful information was a pain in the ass. Reading hundreds of pages on the computer affected my eye sight enough that I had to get new glasses :-)).

[John Aldrich]

Jackson, its a great effort that you are making and the idea is also good.

[Jaw4You]

Makes sense, as we should free up names, space and make the forum more accurate for everyone.

[MRLA]

Sir Jackson,

Yep! It's me, MRLA. I know it has been awhile, and you know because of my work I have to be careful about posting. But let me say this, YOU ARE THE MAN! What you have done for mongers with this board is Fantastic! I know you are trying to be FAIR, but you MUST do what is best for you. This job you have is huge, and not a easy task.

All my best, and again thank's for all the good time's.

Hope to see you soon pal.

Monger On,

MRLA

Just my 2 pesos!

Hey Mr LA,

The girls at Madahos still keep asking me when you will return to BA. The chocolate syrup story has become a legend. I always tell it when I introduce Patricia, much to her constant embarrassment.

Jackson

[Pwhipped]

Yes, Clean it up, this is for users, not lurkers. My dream only. PW

[Menteng]

I agree for 100%.

[Jim2]

I feel that your thoughts are well taken and yes, a cleaning of the membership is much needed. Whichever way you decide to go, I am for it. Deadwood can hurt the infrastructure. You are doing a fantastic job and I am lost without the reports.

[Drumtech]

I think your idea is perfectly fair.

[Boxcc]

Jackson,

It sounds like you have a great plan of action. Of course, nobody likes change, so there is bound to be some grumbling, but I think the things you are planning to do are fair to everyone. And, I hate it for the people that have registered but have not posted in over a year. If they wanted to preserve their handle, they should have been more active members. So, for them to write you with hostility saying that 'their handle has been in the family for generations' is a load of crap. IMHO, they don't have the right to carry that handle if they aren't going to use it. Besides, it would be as if they had tried to register a user name but couldn't because someone else beat them to it. What do they do in that case?

I try to use the same handle in everything that I sign up for, it's just easier to remember. But, sometimes people have beat me to the boxcc handle. So, I have to alter it a little. I don't see where anyone can have too much heartburn over that.

Oh, as a side note, does my handle past muster? Will I have to change it for this forum? Just curious.

Thanks for all you do,
Box

You handle is a pronounceable word, so the only change I woud ask is to captialize the first letter so the name is in proper case. BTW, the log-in process is not case sensitive, so even if a user name is in proper case, you can still log on by entering it in all lower case.