J
How about having it so that all the forum threads are open to public (dunno if they are as Im a member 8)), including the workshop manual one (i may be able to provide a mirror if needed), for the manual to be downloaded you could always request a donation of £1, people will pay it or look elsewhere for a free one, if they pay then it helps fund this forum. Theres no point having a mod/admin verify the account, use one of those spam letter code things instead, cos if they register and wait to get verified, then they may well have found the answer in that time anyway. All new users are limited to reading all the threads but only being able to start a thread in the newbie and project section for their first 5 posts, and they must be relelvant posts, not just constant bumps until they reach 5 posts, afterwhich, they can apply to be unleashed onto the forum.
The reasons for this…
If people can read all the threads and harvest the information without joining, then they can, if all they wanted was the info and not to chat, then they wont sign up on a bogus account just to have access to said info. I admittedly often find myself doing this just to find the answer to something i need to know but its locked to users only, in a forum or website that I have no interest or wish to ever return to.
As for the workshop manual, if you turn that into a registered user only file, then thats what youll get, reg'ed users, downloading the file, then never posting. Or posting junk posts until they can unlock it.
If they are forced to post in the newbie and project log only then it will mean that everyone is able to become familiar with them and their car, so people know who they are talking to and about what car is in question, since the first post from someone having a problem is, my car has XXX problem.... to which the subsequant reply is, what car do you have? They should still post what car their talking about, but atleast it then means you can look at their project log for furthe info and pics.
Im also a fan of a £5 registration fee, not cos I like spending money, but cos it means the forum is free to view, but you have to pay if you want to participate or ask for help, which means that the bills get paid by users, who are ultimately the ones that should pay, why should the forum owner be the one paying for stuff when its other people than benefit from its existance, I did see the donation page already and a whole lot of people sent double what ive suggested as a registration fee, which I think shows that the £5 is therefore very do-able if you are serious, or you need help from a forum with people who are specialised in this particular vehicle. For me, thats a very good deal.
My own stuff...
I never posted in the Newbie section as when I joined it was empty, so figured nobody bothered and no one would read it anyway.
I havent started a project log because I havent done anything yet, except clean, polish and hang an air freshner, but that changes in about 20 minutes, if I can saw a pipe in half with my £1 hacksaw i bought today at Poundland!
