Donating members off topic forum Visibility but not Access to non-donating members

[Mumbles]

Just for clarification you are ONLY asking to have the thread TITLES viewable not the content? Is this correct?

That is how I read and interpreted it. The thread list could be visible to non members, but dead links unless members. No text content viewable to non members. Seems this protects the content from searches but allows non donating members to see what's on the menu.

[gmcttr]

Just for clarification you are ONLY asking to have the thread TITLES viewable not the content? Is this correct?

That's been my understanding watching this thread. Just the titles showing so they were aware of what was available.

[Ratdog]

Sorry, but I don't understand...typo?

What I mean is; if folks could browse the threads and see the posts, there would be less incentive to "donate" as compared to having to pay to participate in the threads. It would mean "paying to post" only because you could see all the info, which is what many folks do.

Never even considered Attroll's point of managing the info getting to the search engines that is non-hammock related and sourced from HF.net.
An excellent point I think.

[VictoriaGuy]

Just for clarification you are ONLY asking to have the thread TITLES viewable not the content? Is this correct?

Yes, this is what folks have been suggesting for months - in the posts I've read, anyway.
Apparently the owners here (attroll? 'Just another hanger') don't understand this....

It will stay that way. I am just trying to clarifying the reason it is that way. Thank you

The reason the Donating Members threads are not available for everyone to see is because they are for Donating Members only, hence the name. The other reason is because they would also be searchable by the web site search engines. If they were available to the web site search engines then all the topics in the Donating Members section that have nothing to do with Hammock Camping would be put in the internet for people to search through.

Our goal is to keep the web site Hammock related. To do this we kept the main part of the web site Hammock related for people looking to search and talk about Hammocks Camping in them. For those that want to talk about other things we have extended that so that they can if they are a Donating Member. We did not do this to try to get money. We did it to allow Donating Members to talk about things outside the main discussions of Hammock Camping in the forums. We did this to allow the main part of the forums to stay Hammock related only.

Well,it is not just about money, really.....if folks 'can't see what they are missing' then they won't choose to participate in those other (By Donation) forum areas and we will all be the poorer for missing their knowledge and input.

[attroll]

I don't want to turn this into a long drawn out discussion. I do get what your saying and I am explaining why we came to this decision as to why things are set up the way they are. It basically all boils down to the same thing. We want to keep the Main focus on the web site, in the main forums to stay Hammock related. There are a lot of other forums in the internet where you can talk about your favorite car, survival skills, backpacking, biking and any other subject. That is where you should go if you want to discuss things other than Hammock Camping without being a Donating Member on our web site.

What would be the purpose to only show all users the thread titles from the Donating Members forums that are only suppose to be visible by the Donating Members?

If you think we should do it to try to get more users to donate, it's not happen because it's not needed. Our goal is not the taunt people into donating. Donations are nice and can always be used but we have never pushed donating.

The Donating Members joined the group with one of the understandings being, that they could discus and post non-hammock discussions and keep it out of the main forums.

I already explained the search engine issue with the internet. We want to keep the main part of the web site Hammock Camping related only. If we allow the internet search engines access to these forums or even the thread titles, they would index off the titles that have nothing to do with Hammock Camping. We do not want the search engines bringing people to us that are looking to deal with a Ford Mustang.

[Zilla]

I don't want to turn this into a long drawn out discussion. I do get what your saying and I am explaining why we came to this decision as to why things are set up the way they are. It basically all boils down to the same thing. We want to keep the Main focus on the web site, in the main forums to stay Hammock related. There are a lot of other forums in the internet where you can talk about your favorite car, survival skills, backpacking, biking and any other subject. That is where you should go if you want to discuss things other than Hammock Camping without being a Donating Member on our web site.

What would be the purpose to only show all users the thread titles from the Donating Members forums that are only suppose to be visible by the Donating Members?

If you think we should do it to try to get more users to donate, it's not happen because it's not needed. Our goal is not the taunt people into donating. Donations are nice and can always be used but we have never pushed donating.

The Donating Members joined the group with one of the understandings being, that they could discus and post non-hammock discussions and keep it out of the main forums.

I already explained the search engine issue with the internet. We want to keep the main part of the web site Hammock Camping related only. If we allow the internet search engines access to these forums or even the thread titles, they would index off the titles that have nothing to do with Hammock Camping. We do not want the search engines bringing people to us that are looking to deal with a Ford Mustang.

I get that, I understand your way of thinking on this alot better now and AGREE, case closed for me! thanks Attroll

[Nighthauk]

I am glad we flushed that all out.

[Redoleary]

Just for clarification you are ONLY asking to have the thread TITLES viewable not the content? Is this correct?

Correct. A non donating member could see that there is a thread about a knife (for example) however when they clicked on it they would get a message saying for donating members only.

[Redoleary]

I don't want to turn this into a long drawn out discussion. I do get what your saying and I am explaining why we came to this decision as to why things are set up the way they are. It basically all boils down to the same thing. We want to keep the Main focus on the web site, in the main forums to stay Hammock related. There are a lot of other forums in the internet where you can talk about your favorite car, survival skills, backpacking, biking and any other subject. That is where you should go if you want to discuss things other than Hammock Camping without being a Donating Member on our web site.

What would be the purpose to only show all users the thread titles from the Donating Members forums that are only suppose to be visible by the Donating Members?

If you think we should do it to try to get more users to donate, it's not happen because it's not needed. Our goal is not the taunt people into donating. Donations are nice and can always be used but we have never pushed donating.

I'm not looking at it as a way to entice more donating members, but a very clear visual as to what belongs in the off topic section. If on the forum page you could see all the forums in the DM sections you would hopefully be able to stop yourself from asking a question about an alcohol stove in the non-DM section because you can see there is in fact a proper place for it however it is in the donating member section.

It's been my experience that when I google something and I click on a like to a forum thread (on other forums) and when I try to open it the forum still recognizes that I'm not a member and will not allow me access. So you are correct search engines can find the info but the user still cannot access it.

I think where we have a difference of opinion is in the reasoning behind a DM. For you I imagine that you feel a person should donate because they like the content, for others the reason they donate is for the additional content afforded only to the DMs.

I respect your decision and appreciate the time and effort you put into the forum. Thank you.

[attroll]

I am sorry we can't keep everyone happy. But we try our best.