I now avoid turcic.com

[sebring]

I just visited turcic.com and most of the forums I wanted to view are now "access denied". Yes I am a registered user, but apparently I haven't posted enough to make KING Alexander happy. He has apparently adopted a very stupid facist policy aimed at "forcing" participation. If you don't post, even if you have nothing useful to share, you will not be allowed to view isilo/handstory links.

The following is the message you receive.

"Alexander
Administrator


Registered: Oct 2002
Posts: 1088 Access Restriction (05-20-2003 until 12-31-2009)

Our community is about six months old now.
In this time, we have grown to over 1000 registered members. This is the good news.

And now for the bad news. We are still lacking the kind of user interaction our team was hoping for. We understand that many of you only come here to fetch the latest mobile links. And this is perfectly acceptable.

However, we think it is not too much to ask for if we can all try to be a little bit more interactive. If you don't have a new link to share - no problem. There are other categories available where you can talk about anything you want (well, at least anything that could be in any way interesting to us). You can talk about your opinions. Or share the latest PDA news with us (software, hardware, etc). Or, talk about a book that you can recommend. You see, there are plenty of opportunities for you to talk to us

As an incentive for you to start your own posts, we restricted access to the new links (not your own) and also to attachment downloads. Anyone who participates will receive an user upgrade with no restrictions. Please don't hate us for this. We are not asking for millions of new postings. Because we nice. Just show yourself here and we promise you will be upgraded!

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact one of our team members.

The Turcic.com Team"

I have never hesitated to post, when I have something I wish to share, but I will not be compelled to post just to satisfy some idiot that seeks pages of drivel.

[Unregistered]

seems like a poor policy. end up w/ people posting a bunch of garbage rather than judiciously posting
- hherbzilla

[Kaitou]

That is quite pathetic. I was around when he was starting his site, and it was quite a good resource, but I absolutely abhor forced participation. I run a few forums, over a thousand members on each, and would never even consider doing something like that, and have always looked down on it.
I may only check his site every other month or so, so I won't participate as much as needed to have access, and I already have to participate at another site forums, because I need their info, in addition to my own sites.
That said, it is his site, and as underhanded as the practice is, he can do whatever he wishes, but he certanly lost more then just your traffic, but mine as well.

[n2ifp]

I agree it's stupid, I only visited his site a couple of times. There was nothing there that particulary interested me any way.

[gvtexas]

As an admin and moderator at turcic.com, I feel I should set the record straight here on a few things:

1. The restriction has not resulted in garbage postings; on the contrary, the activity level has increased dramatically.

2. The sections restricted are only the new links, the Web Channel Collection download section, and the HandStory clips. The other 20+ sections are open.

3. We have granted access to anyone who has asked to have access, regardless of # posts. Even someone with *1* post has been admited.

Everyone is welcome to their opinion of course, and it's each ones choice whether to participate or not if they feel the value of the content is there or not.

Cheers,
Gary

[Kaitou]

But the only sections a casual visitor would access would be the new links and web chan collection, that was the whole purpose of the site originaly.

[na2rboy]

/agree with Sebring. I won't go back to visit a site that has those policies of exclusion. I lurked at Cliesource (and Visorcentral before that) for a while before I felt comfortable enough to post. Being forced to either a) post or b) not see the main sections of content will just stop turcic.com from growing.

[Unregistered]

Gary, r people less rude and whiny on those boards??

[sebring]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Gary, r people less rude and whiny on those boards??

You wouldn't like turcic.com either, they won't let you hide behind "unregistered".:D

[Griff]

I have to agree with the negative comments over the policy. If anything a policy such as that leads me not to share what I find. It's way to restricted and really must be an administrative nightmare to deal with. As a forums owner myself I cannot imagine having to keep track of what people are posting in relation to their access level.

I really don't understand the concern. The only thing I can think of is that he doesn't want his bandwidth being used by people who come just to browse. IMO it's stupid to open a website to the public if you don't plan on allowing full access.

I'd support a fee based registration, or even banner ads if it meant the forums were open for viewing.

[Unregistered]

"You wouldn't like turcic.com either, they won't let you hide behind "unregistered".

Thanks for the example of why the question was posted originally.

[rob_squared]

Good point.

Though I prefer people to register anyways.

[cbulock]

I would have to agree that I think this policy is sort of a bad idea. I'm sure it has turned a number of newbies away from the site. But, I guess I can say that it does seem like a lot more content has been posted recently, so maybe it is working. But, it's certainly not the best approach.

[mattyparanoid]

Add me to the list of "not going there anymore"

This reminds me of the old George Carlin line "if he won't come to school, we won't let him!"

I like to lurk, posting when I feel appropriate, not because I feel pressured to...

IMO it is a really stupid policy and has turned me off to the forums at turcic.com, despite the fact that I was initailly very interested and browsed there several times.

Once I got the warning about account status and posting, I stopped going.

Say what you will, gvtexas about it improving your board, it is apparent to me (and some here as well) that your board is not for me...

matty

[turcic.com]

Well, since so many of you are upset about the policy and don't think it is a good way to foster more user participation - I ask specifically you: How would you have done it better?

The interesting thing is that people are quick in posting when they have something negative to say. But as long as things are suitable for them, they just do the free ride and take what they want.

You must try to understand me. I am not trying to save bandwidth. But I am also not trying to force people into something they don't want (as sebring tried to explain). As Gary said, if somebody doesn't feel OK with the policy, he only has to say so (not even give reasons), and we grant him access anyway. This has worked very well so far - out of 10 people 2 or 3 ask for immediate access and we don't see a problem with that. In the outcome, however, we have a general increase in user participation since the other 7-8 of 10 users don't mind the new policy.

[turcic.com]

Originally posted by sebring
...I haven't posted enough to make KING Alexander happy... a very stupid facist policy aimed at "forcing" participation... I will not be compelled to post just to satisfy some idiot that seeks pages of drivel. sebring, was it necessary to become personal? As a matter of fact, I find it pretty weak that you never bothered to talk to me about this matter first. I am always open for constructive criticism; on the other hand, personal attacks I usually ignore.

[cbulock]

Originally posted by turcic.com
Well, since so many of you are upset about the policy and don't think it is a good way to foster more user participation - I ask specifically you: How would you have done it better?

I'm not really sure if there is something different that I would have done, but I would have probably left the forums open. It might have taken longer to get the forums to be more active, but it's a more friendlier approach. Seems like many websites that remain really open (like this one) are more attractive to people who will eventually become loyal members. I just remember to many websites in the past that have made some drastic change to try and satisy some need while at the same time pushing users away, and it doesn't take long before those websites became ghost towns. I think you're doing a good job running turcic.com and the forums definitely seem as useful as ever, so I guess this method is working. I don't run any forums, so I guess you probably know more about this than I!:)

[turcic.com]

I agree with cbulock and most of the others. In general, I also favor open forums and total freedom for the user to post what he wants and when he wants. In the turcic.com case, things were a little different though, which I like to explain.

When I started the forum in winter last year, I planned to make it a small place for people who enjoy reading web page with their PDA. I wasn't aware of how many people would actually be interested in such a place (anecdote: I used to feel more than silly when I used my PDA to read the news on the train).

Unexpectedly, a lot of people joined the forum in a very short time. So I assumed there was a common interest. As a result, I invested more of my free time in bringing more and better content to the forum. I switched to a better and faster web server. I upgraded the forum software twice. And I asked other, very capable people, like Gary, to become part of the team. In all that time, I never planned to make any money out from this project nor to put any "restrictions" in place. My plan was to create a friendly and active community.

Unfortunately, the more people joined, the more obstruse the ratio members to postings became. My team and I covered over 90% of all postings. Today I don't accept statements like "there was nothing useful we could have posted" because often people only asked very basic questions and surely someone else from the >1000 members could have helped us answering these questions. Instead, those >1000 members only joined to get the latest mobile web pages and ignored all the other member postings. This is not what I call either friendly nor active.

So there were only two choices left. Either call it a day and close the forum (at one point I was very close in doing so) or try to give members some kind of "incentive" to be more involved. This is how sebring's so-called "facist" policy came into place. Intentionally, I never put it into numbers of how many postings were required to access all parts of the forum. Instead, we watched closely who was at least showing the incentive to be more helpful, and immediately gave that person full access. And anyone who didn't feel like being enforced to do something and said so also got access.

Considering that the turcic.com forum is a private project and privately funded, and that most people were still happy in the aftermath of the forum changes, I don't see how the current policy (which could be changed again at any time in the future) should hurt anybody's feeling. Nor do I see why anyone should be personally offended and in return try to offend my person.

Alexander

[*YellowRose*]

*sigh*

Well . . . I, for one, was not disturbed by the change . . . because I do post there a bit . . . and, because I think it's an excellent resource, I will continue to recommend it - especially to newbies or people having issues with iSilo. The knowledge there amazes me.

Alexander ~ keep up the terrific work...:)

[Talula]

But what about that new person? I have never heard of Turic.com and now I feel like I shouldn't bother visiting because I won't be able to use the full site unless I can be helpful. How can I be helpful if I'm such a newbie that I have nothing to add yet?

[Unregistered]

Ask questions?

[Kaitou]

I would have done, what I am doing on my forums, and left them open. Unregistered users can browse, but can't post, but there are no forum restrictions, no hoops for people to jump through, because they want to look something up.

I've worked on forums, and forum systems for well over two years now (I'm part of the overall admin team on ikonboard, and that includes development) and I've released many forum hacks. Downloading them has never been restricted to anything,nor have the discussionforums on them ever requiered more then registration.

With your forum, the only reason I would visit would be to check if a particular link has been found, or maybe, if I found a link, and wanted to post it up. However, I don't have time to post in other, unrelated sections, just because I need to search the posts of links, or make a post, which is the main reason for my responce.
I currently belong to well over seven forums, where I am at least partially active, and thats a lot of stuff to look at daily.

And yes, many more people register, than participate. That is the nature of things, both on the web, and in life, but honestly, from a webmaster's standpoint, there is nothing wrong with that.
An inactive user is either a line in a MySQL database, or a line in a DBM file. Thats barely 1k of space.
In exchange you have their email, which you can use to send a newsletter, you have an estimation of traffic, which can be used to obtain banner-ad revenue, and of course a point of pride from how many people see your forum as a valid resource, and took the time to register there.

[Kaitou]

Just to add, Cliesource here has 24,560 registered members, as I make this post. I'd estimate that only around 2,000 are active on a regular basis, just from observing the forums, and how many posts they tend to get. Thats not a very high percentage, but for forums, quite a normal, and even a good one.

[hherbzilla]

Originally posted by Unregistered
Ask questions? I wouldn't call asking questions being "helpful."

I'm still confused by the logic. It's not about bandwidth, it's not about making money, etc... If you just wanted more participation, FORCING it doesn't seem like the best choice. However, you indicated it's working, so maybe you'll get your wish.

[pusfarm]

Originally posted by turcic.com
The interesting thing is that people are quick in posting when they have something negative to say. But as long as things are suitable for them, they just do the free ride and take what they want. What a load of crap!  Sure, some people will do that, but I would bet that most people would be "quick to post" if and when they have something useful to contribute.

[sebring]

Originally posted by turcic.com
sebring, was it necessary to become personal? As a matter of fact, I find it pretty weak that you never bothered to talk to me about this matter first. I am always open for constructive criticism; on the other hand, personal attacks I usually ignore.

Alexander, I'm sorry you took it as a personal attack. I was simply trying to illustrate how the policy appears to an outsider. "Either behave in a manner that pleases Alexander or you will have to ask nicely to view the material you likely came to see".

The "idiot" part was a little over the top. I was admittedly frustrated at the time.

In my opinion, your lack of participation was because the site started as a site with a very limited scope. It was about iSilo and web links for iSilo. You later expanded it to include Handstory, which was essentially the same topic, since the same links work for both products. You seem to have expanded the scope of you site to include many more topics, which is, in my opinion, the reason you have experienced an increase in activity, not this misguided policy.

As evidenced by my nearly 1900 posts on this site, I have no hesitation about posting, when I find a topic that interests me or a question that I believe I can answer, or if I have a question myself. I will not post just because someone else thinks I should be posting. Many of us are active participants in one or more sites already and have other lives to live. I already spend a significant amount of time here at Cliesource and don't need another forum to consume another significant portion of my time. Therefore, any time I spent on your forum would take away from my participation here at Cliesource. I might also add that significant participation in both sites would be largely redundant, since both sites cover many of the same topics.

My point is, the only reason I would go to your site would be for the links. I may post there if I saw a topic that interested me, while I was there, but, since the links are no longer available, I have no reason to go to your site, and therefore will not be posting there.

I appreciate the effort you have put into compiling you library of web links, but:( :(

[hherbzilla]

This discussion reminds me of what we called "the gunners" when I was in b-school: the people that always had something to say... but rarely was it helpful or informative. You know the type: wants to be a teacher's (or manager's) pet. Likes the sound of their own voice. I would worry that this policy encourages this type of behavior. Then again, I never go to turcic, so don't really care. :)

[gvtexas]

Originally posted by Talula
But what about that new person? I have never heard of Turic.com and now I feel like I shouldn't bother visiting because I won't be able to use the full site unless I can be helpful. How can I be helpful if I'm such a newbie that I have nothing to add yet?
It seems to be typical human nature when denied access to part of something, that suddenly visiting the site is deemed worthless because of that small restriction. Again, only 3 of the 25+ sections are restricted, and that is only for a brief time.

How can you be helpful? There's a lot on the site that isn't directly tied to the iSilo channels...we are opening the forums to PocketPC discusssions...upcoming mobile technoligies...reading on mobile devices...ebooks...tutorials and help on most anything computer-related, etc. Heck, there's even a current thread running on the new Harry Potter book (don't read the thread unless you've read the book or want the surprises spoiled for you!). It's no longer a site just about Alex's Web Channel Collection for iSilo.

[gvtexas]

Originally posted by pusfarm
What a load of crap!  Sure, some people will do that, but I would bet that most people would be "quick to post" if and when they have something useful to contribute.

No, the truth is that the vast majority of visitors in the past at turcic.com have come, downloaded the channels, and left. And this was before the current request to post before access. The free ride syndrome is a real thing.

[Unregistered]

"I haven't posted enough to make KING Alexander happy... a very stupid facist policy aimed at "forcing" participation... I will not be compelled to post just to satisfy some idiot that seeks pages of drivel."

Not a personal attack? Posting a whine and hez on another forum? Give me a break.

John

[Flash-57]

> ... as long as things are suitable for them, they just
> do the free ride and take what they want.

> Unfortunately, the more people joined, the more
> obstruse the ratio members to postings became.

Well, that's the nature of the Internet. The largest majority of people NEED help. Only a select few are qualified to offer the help.

If you are seeing a ratio of 9-to-1 lurkers-to-posters, you're in way better shape than the rest of the Internet. It's closer to 90-to-1 everywhere else.

[Alejandrico]

well, it took me a while to read all this comments
What turcic.com did seems to me as a suicide
What is turcic.com for anyway? is it like avantgo?
Ussually I would go to the site and check it, but since it looks like as a new user I won't be able to see the main sections I would just waste my time

[Talula]

Originally posted by gvtexas

It seems to be typical human nature when denied access to part of something, that suddenly visiting the site is deemed worthless because of that small restriction. Again, only 3 of the 25+ sections are restricted, and that is only for a brief time.

How can you be helpful? There's a lot on the site that isn't directly tied to the iSilo channels...we are opening the forums to PocketPC discusssions...upcoming mobile technoligies...reading on mobile devices...ebooks...tutorials and help on most anything computer-related, etc. Heck, there's even a current thread running on the new Harry Potter book (don't read the thread unless you've read the book or want the surprises spoiled for you!). It's no longer a site just about Alex's Web Channel Collection for iSilo.

I'm looking for a website specifically designed for iSilo and Handstory clips and channels. As others have stated, I already belong to other forums where I discuss more or less everything you mentioned above. I would like to discuss iSilo and how itworks (I've never been able to figure that out) and well has how to get/create the best clips and channels. But, since I'm not interested is discussing (again) those other topics, I'm banned.

[Griff]

To turcic, what I'd do:

Open everything back up. You will find you attract more people to an open site...sure it takes time, but it will happen.

Move the collection to it's own download page that does not require registration. Throw up a few banner ads on that page and allow people to download it to their hearts content.

Post the file at Handango and PalmohmygodisitslowGear with a $2.95 fee. Make it commercial and get some money from the folks that don't realize your site exists. I'll bet many people searching for ISilo, HandStory, AvantGo, Plucker, etc. would come accross your file and pay for the download. Heck, I'd probably even pay for it regardless if I found it for free on your site.

Stop worrying about post counts. Posts from unique members does not equal success. If you find you have 1,000 different people visiting your forums each month you are just as successful as if you have 50 unique posters.

If you are tired of the admin game, transfer the site to someone who'd be willing to take it over. There are many people out there, including me who enjoys running forums for the learning experience and the social aspect of seeing a community grow.

To GVTexas:

You mention all the other great forums at turcic, how is anyone to know that those forums won't be locked down under the same policy if you don't see postings in them?

IMO, closed forums are a very bad way of running things on the Internet.

[srodsimpson]

As far as I knew, a forum was 'a place to exchange ideas, share information, and ask/answer questions. If it's an open forum, then there should be no stipulations, otherwise that makes it a restricted or private forum.

If your forum is in support of a product, then wouldn't you want people to be free to just look at information if they wanted to. Seems that that would be a positive step towards them someday contributing. For those that just want to "recieve" and not give, well, they bought the product just like everyone else who is "sharing" their web clips, etc.
IMHO, by putting restrictions on open sharing, you may be turning away customers?

...just a couple of thoughts after "lurking" in thei thread to get a good understanding of what is being discussed.

...Rod

[gvtexas]

I would like to discuss iSilo and how itworks (I've never been able to figure that out) and well has how to get/create the best clips and channels. But, since I'm not interested is discussing (again) those other topics, I'm banned.

Talula:

There are exactly *two* users on turcic that are banned (and those chose to use the site for spam). No one else is "banned" from the site. Restricted access pending a few posts is hardly "banning," and lifting the restriction is as easy as asking for it.

Secondly, one of the largest sections on the site dealing with using iSilo is not restricted, so you're free to discuss how it works, why it doesn't, etc.

Anyone:

This discussion has been interesting, but I think a mountain is appearing where a molehill once existed. Nobody likes to be suddenly stopped from doing something they've been unrestricted from in the past, but the restriction is a) very short, and b) removed on request. If anyone thinks it's not worth the time to post a few messages and participate, then don't. But don't make this out to be a national crisis or act like it's a huge injustice. If someone takes the time and trouble to build a forum and offer what amounts to a huge investment of personal time to create the channels and offer them *at no cost*, and then asks for some participation in return, it's a pretty small thing to be asking. If you don't think it's worth the effort, then don't go there. But don't carry on like someone stole your dog, ran off with your wife, and shot holes in your pickup truck's tires. Those are serious events...this ain't.

[jmg_NX21]

*puzzled by this discussion*

Free to browse and also FREE to go elsewhere.

AND as you have said, ALL it may take for access is an email?
-_-

[sebring]

Originally posted by gvtexas


Talula:

There are exactly *two* users on turcic that are banned (and those chose to use the site for spam). No one else is "banned" from the site. Restricted access pending a few posts is hardly "banning," and lifting the restriction is as easy as asking for it.

Secondly, one of the largest sections on the site dealing with using iSilo is not restricted, so you're free to discuss how it works, why it doesn't, etc.

Anyone:

This discussion has been interesting, but I think a mountain is appearing where a molehill once existed. Nobody likes to be suddenly stopped from doing something they've been unrestricted from in the past, but the restriction is a) very short, and b) removed on request. If anyone thinks it's not worth the time to post a few messages and participate, then don't. But don't make this out to be a national crisis or act like it's a huge injustice. If someone takes the time and trouble to build a forum and offer what amounts to a huge investment of personal time to create the channels and offer them *at no cost*, and then asks for some participation in return, it's a pretty small thing to be asking. If you don't think it's worth the effort, then don't go there. But don't carry on like someone stole your dog, ran off with your wife, and shot holes in your pickup truck's tires. Those are serious events...this ain't.

Hey you're getting low now. Leave my dog and pickup truck out of this, but you can have my wife for no equity, just pick up the payments.:D

[gvtexas]

Leave my dog and pickup truck out of this, but you can have my wife for no equity, just pick up the payments.

What good is a wife without a dog and pickup? How would I go anywhere on the nights I get locked out and who would I talk to? Besides, those "payments" last forever...at least the truck's paid for after 48 months or so...

(JUST kidding!!! :D )

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by gvtexas
But don't carry on like someone stole your dog, ran off with your wife, and shot holes in your pickup truck's tires. Those are serious events...this ain't. LOL!!!! Sure can tell you're from Texas. :D

[turcic.com]

Thanks to Kaitou, sebring and Griff for bringing up some valuable and helpful information.

@Kaitou: Although I dislike banners, they might be useful in future to finance the project. Soon I will upgrade to the new vBulletin 3.0 software and along with that will give turcic.com a facelift (portal etc). Will see how banners fit in there. I also agree with you that CS has a pretty decent members:postings ratio, something I am still jealous about.

@sebring: I think you are totally right with the scope-problem. I started turcic.com focusing merely on mobile web sites and iSilo. The problem with such a limited scope is that there is not much to talk about once things are said (you can say the forum was an overkill). There is some truth in your words when you say that it is not the new policy but the introduction of a wider field of topics that increased user participation. Yet I feel that both, the new policy along with the new field of topics (which made it easy for newbies to participate) led to that increase. In your personal case I understand that you don't want to participate in topics that overlap with ClieSource (because of redundation). My forum team and I have discussed for hours what we could add to our forum that not only opens new interesting topics, but is also unique and not necessarily overlapping with other forums. So beside adding support for iSilo and Handstory, we also opened for instance an eBook section, which was asked by many people here at CS. Hint: If you have anything else that you are still missing elsewhere and that fits into our categories, please tell us!!

@Griff: I will definitely sleep over the issue of the new policy tonight and consider better alternatives. Please know that we didn't close the "New Links" section because people didn't post there, but because it was for many users the only reason to visit the board - to browse through the new links section and disappear again.

[xyeta]

Ok, time for me to join in...

Sebring, your first post was inflamatory and uncalled for (regardless of your ire at the time). However, your later apology is admirable. Way to make a bad thing better... I respect that.

Turcic, I enjoy your site and have referred many to it. I would like to continue to use it to its fullest, and since you have stated that you will release the lockdown upon request, could you please post instructions for making such a request?

Thanks!

[gvtexas]

Sebring....your later apology is admirable. Way to make a bad thing better... I respect that.
Yeah, but he's trying to peddle his wife...dunno about that...although he does protect his dog and truck, so can't be all bad... ;)


...and since you have stated that you will release the lockdown upon request, could you please post instructions for making such a request?
Umm...that's been stated three or four times in this thread already. (Hint: just ask...like in a PM or message on the forum.) Kinda defeats the purpose of our intended incentive to post if we also publicly state "ignore all that, just ask to be unrestricted." Point of the process was to encourage participation without being a draconian measure without mercy...i.e., be kind to those who took great offense at the policy (and who asked nicely without beating us over the head about it first!). :D

Cheers,
Gary

[PDA gadgetfreak]

I'm not really sure how I feel about this issue. Yes I'd like to have open access to the entire site and not be forced to post to have full access. But I also realize that Alexander and his moderators have put their heart and soul into the site, not to mention his money. We all want free sites with no strings but the reality of trying to put together a forum like turic.com has got to be a daunting task (and privately funded at that). I know his effort to increase the postings is a tough job and can sometimes force you to make unpopular decisions. As I become more comfortable with the software I will probably take another look at his site.

I do want to thank Alexander. I was trying out different software recently and reading the boards here at CS. Alexander posted a response to one of my comments and gave me some compelling reasons for trying iSilo. I tried the demo and quickly paid for the registered version.

[Griff]

But don't make this out to be a national crisis or act like it's a huge injustice. If someone takes the time and trouble to build a forum and offer what amounts to a huge investment of personal time to create the channels and offer them *at no cost*, and then asks for some participation in return, it's a pretty small thing to be asking. If you don't think it's worth the effort, then don't go there.

Time and trouble to create a forum? It takes all of about 30 minutes to pop a new forum out these days. Many webhosting companies already give you the software preinstalled and make it really easy to throw something up.

It's the nature of the Internet, sites come and go pretty quickly. People setup forums all the time and then as their interest to this new hobby fades they take down their forums.

If you setup the forum for any reason other than to have fun with it, or start a business, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. It is not legitimate to expect people to participate if you don't build something really great and foster an environment of communication.

I might post over there, not sure. The fact that I can't get into the forums I am interested to see what is being discussed means I can't really reply to anything. How can I participate in conversation if I can't SEE the conversation.

Thank you to Alexander for sleeping on the issue, hopefully you got some good ideas from what otherwise might have been a nasty thread.

[tanker_bob]

Originally posted by xyeta
Turcic, I enjoy your site and have referred many to it. I would like to continue to use it to its fullest, and since you have stated that you will release the lockdown upon request, could you please post instructions for making such a request?

Thanks!
I sent Alexander a PM last night he promptly reinstated my access, just as he said he would. There is also a discusison on this topic there.

A large part of my dismay is that I just recommended his site to some new users, and now I look like an idiot because they won't have access to the links and probably won't bother to learn why. Hazard of the business, I suppose, but it makes me much less likely to recommend the site again.

[xyeta]

Originally posted by tanker_bob

I sent Alexander a PM last night he promptly reinstated my access, just as he said he would. There is also a discusison on this topic there.

A large part of my dismay is that I just recommended his site to some new users, and now I look like an idiot because they won't have access to the links and probably won't bother to learn why. Hazard of the business, I suppose, but it makes me much less likely to recommend the site again.

I just got a PM from Alexander and he upgraded my status as well.

I appreciate your second paragraph above. I send people there too, and I hope they are able to find the info they are looking for and feel welcomed. <<sigh>>

<sarcasm>At least I have access, and that's all that matters</sarcasm>:rolleyes:

Ps. this is post #46, so if you have something to say, better step up befored this thread is locked down! :(

[Griff]

Alexander sent me a message as well after I had posted a couple opinions there...I now have full access as well.

[rldunn]

Originally posted by xyeta
Ps. this is post #46, so if you have something to say, better step up befored this thread is locked down! :( Only Off-topic has the 50 post lock-down limit.

[xyeta]

Originally posted by rldunn
Only Off-topic has the 50 post lock-down limit.

<<xyeta to himself: duh!>>

Thx, rldunn.... I learned something today! (can I go back to bed now?)

[johnsoax]

Here is what I posted a month ago at Turic.com (Hope Alexander doesn't mind)

"Frankly, I don't like the policy. I use Plucker and a Handera 330. The only channels that I use are Three handheld webpages (palminfocenter, PDAavenue, and Writing on your palm), and the weather channel. My contributions will probably be few and far between. When the weather channel quit working, I contacted them and then lived without it for a while. I had a couple of exchanges with the weather channel and then tried a few other webpages (weather underground and accuweather). I like accuweather much better, but it quit working too. I then remembered this website. I came here to see about a weather alternative. I used the search and found the thread about the weather channel, contributed my communication with the weather channel, and then tried to click on the link that Alexander offered. I see the "you are not registered screen", I'm a bit confused as I was registered. So I search for why I can't get it. When I found out I was very upset as I see this page as a reference for the whole handheld community and really don't have time to join another community. I already belong to many online communities, (even a moderator at one) and multiple commitments in the "real world" that I just don't have time to build into another community. I've since calmed down, but I just wanted to let you know, that this policy probably will drive many people away."

I got a nice PM from Alexander explaining why they did it and telling me that they gave me access and to contribute when I could. I appreciated that and have contributed in a few places. I've also added a few pages to my plucker that I now run on a NX60.

[kstuart]

I'm still not sure what the problem is that required this bizarre "solution" of the restriction.

What does Alexander get from having more posts on his site? Do his advertisers pay more depending on the quantity of posts in the Forums?

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by kstuart
I'm still not sure what the problem is that required this bizarre "solution" of the restriction.

What does Alexander get from having more posts on his site? Do his advertisers pay more depending on the quantity of posts in the Forums? *yawn* why winding up this petty heel-nippings discussion again? Go back to post 1 and read everything that has been said. If I recall right, he even said that his site was a zero-business project, without any advertisements or affiliate programs.

[DigitalDeath]

If all it takes is a PM to upgrade the account then why bother with the restrictions? Sounds like it makes more work for the admin and drives people away than solves any problems.

To be honest I have not heard of the site until reading this thread. But after reading the thread and seeing the attitude of the admin I am not interested in visiting the site.
It is said that even bad publicity is good publicity, but not in this case.

[turcic.com]

Originally posted by DigitalDeath
If all it takes is a PM to upgrade the account then why bother with the restrictions? Sounds like it makes more work for the admin and drives people away than solves any problems.Well some people are just workaholic so why should you mind the additional work for the admins?

But after reading the thread and seeing the attitude of the admin I am not interested in visiting the site.
It is said that even bad publicity is good publicity, but not in this case. What is wrong with my attitude? What attitude are you referring to? Did I offend anyone, perhaps you?

If it is of any importance to you, please go back and reread exactly what I said in this thread. You will notice that I listen very carefully to constructive criticism and that I am reevaluating possible alternatives.

Alex