Not So SECRET!!!!!!!!!

For the record, I love the idea of a private forum.

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Really? A lot of people here are talking about how great the private forum is so they must have actually seen the private forum... yet they're posting here, talking about how lame this forum is all of a sudden.

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I want a non-members only forum. That just might be the only way to see the true origin of the asshattery.

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What I want to know is, if you hate the people on CoasterBuzz so bad why do you stay?

And now I'll ask you, where did anyone say they hate anyone on Coasterbuzz? Show me proof that someone feels that way and I'll have no problem addressing your question. Until you can do that, you're putting words in peoples' mouths.

Talk about asshattery...

*** Edited 11/6/2007 3:34:09 PM UTC by Rob Ascough***

Fine. Three people making post after post after post about something they don't care about. Better? :)

About 90% of the current topics don't interest me, and so I choose to ignore them. Why can't you do the same if you *hate* this one so much?

Maybe people enjoy a little asshattery now and then... ;)

I don't care about the private forum but I do care when people are putting words in my mouth and the mouths of others. No one said the idea of a private forum was bad and no one said there was hatred among the Coasterbuzz community.

^ Asshattery runs rampant here. Everyone enjoys it a little now and then and if anyone refuses to admit that, they're either in denial... or an idiot.

*** Edited 11/6/2007 3:48:28 PM UTC by Rob Ascough***

A little, sure. But it's nice that if any asshattery goes on in the private forum, it is just that...a little.

I just find it humorous that thousands of people have seemingly had few problems over the past 8 or 9 years and now it's suddenly an issue... even with people guilty of asshattery. It's kind of like when your favorite team's best player signs with another team and he's suddenly a bum and was never wanted anyway.

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eightdotthree said:
What I want to know is, if you hate the people on CoasterBuzz so bad why do you stay?

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Lesser of evils. :)

*** Edited 11/6/2007 4:10:13 PM UTC by Jeffrey Seifert***

I am totally contributing to the noise in this thread.

To preface this, I'd like to say that a) I'm not a club member, and b) I'm a newbie around here, so this is more observation-based than experience-based... I'm not trying to get in the middle of long-time rivalries around here but I'd like to throw my .02 into the discussion anyways.

I've run more than a few boards in my day, none on the subject of coasters, but the subject matter seems not to be of matter when it comes to the drama that undoubtedly ensues, LOL. In my experience, EVERY message board has secret/hidden/exclusive/whatever forums. On the largest board I ran, for example, we had the main (general) forum, a few archival forums, and the standard off-topic/fiction/etc forums, available for all to view. But then we had forums -- usually several -- that had restricted access.

One was always the admin forum, for the board staff to discuss board issues... usually mundane things, like, "close topic x when it gets to 100 replies," or, "I deleted the post about the UFO moon landing and emailed SaraBeth about why it was against the rules." (A made-up example, JFTR.)

Additionally, we'd have a forum or two about projects. Sometimes it was for folks planning a meetup of some sort, sometimes working on a website, sometimes a forum reorganization. We also had 'dummy' forums in which to test new color schemes, etc.

And yes -- sometimes we DID have 'preferred' member forums. It was usually for a reason, though -- often to filter out 'noise' as the case is here but sometimes to allow groups with like-minded opinions on something to gather and discuss without trolling from those with opposing viewpoints. Sometimes they dealt with matters that we couldn't (or wouldn't) discuss on the public boards.

As far as why not emailed, IMO: frankly, it's often (or at least was for us) a convenience issue. You don't have to remember who each is involved every time, first of all -- you add them to the forum once, and it's done. It's just an extention of an already-existing place. (I've done separate boards in addition to separate forums, and separate forums is just way, way easier.) Additionally, whereas email is a 'general' for all facets of your life, you can come to the board in the specific mindset of "I'm going to talk coasters now" (or whatever,) get down to business, and be done. It's less of a gear-shift thing. At least, that's how it always was for me.

Anyways, what I guess I'm trying to say here, is it's not uncommon for message boards to have restricted-access forums. There are those who are acting like Jeff et al have committed this horrible crime, and that's just not true. Please don't label me as a shill for Jeff; to be totally frank, with all of the for/against around here, I'm still trying to decide what I think of him. (No offense intended Jeff, BTW, so I hope you don't take any, LOL.) I've never spoken to the guy in my life. But I HAVE been in the position as the admin of the board of trying to please everyone, and let me say, it just does not happen.

I will say, I think the big difference between the boards I've run and the CB forums is -- as BW pointed out in the original post -- that when you come to the website, the topics on the front page appear as 'secret.' In my experience, the restricted forums have always been completely invisible to anyone without access. It seems to fall into the category of "what you don't know won't hurt you." It does cause hurt feelings, etc, when topic after topic is listed visibly as unavaible to many users. However -- Jeff has already addressed that, is aware of it, and is working on a solution with the next upgrade.

Anyways... I think that's all I have to say for now. Just wanted to add my perspective, that 'secret' forums are not exclusive to this board and are certainly not worth all of the fuss put forth.

Oh, and BTW... I love 'asshattery'. I'm going to steal it. "Asshat" is the official name of my ex-landlord/neighbor... because he is just that. LOL.

I have been a club member for a while (right now trying to scrape together the $ for this year) and I've never been to a coaster event, don't particularly enjoy the ad-free or track record features, and don't even konw what other perks I get/got (color scheme? Yes!). Don't know whether I'll enjoy the paid forum or not but plan on renewing.

Why? Because I want to support the site that I enjoy.

...which happened to be the reason behind my becoming a member when the club was first launched years and years ago. After realizing a few things (I'll leave it at that), I couldn't in good faith continue to support the club.

My friend Duncan uses the term asshat a lot. Usually to describe himself after doing something stupid.

This thread to me is kind of an example of the conspiracy theory style of thread that comes up a lot. If you don't get that than you a member of the conspiracy theorists group.

Anyways, cheers. I am off to Knotts, DIsney, the Mojave and Palm deserts!

I've been an on again, off again club member, lately more on than off. I've attended perhaps three club events in the past five or six years.

But the members-only forum will probably factor highly in my decision to renew again. So there's my $20 talking. Maybe $30.

-'Playa

I'm not going to judge anyone's decision to spend money on a club, no matter how frivilous it seems to me. Consequently, I am going to judge people that are under the gross misconception that the people that have decided not to spend their money on the club are the only ones making noise around here. It's ignorant to even suggest that unless you've been deafened by your own noise.

Your post suggests that those of us who are members are implying that all non-members are making noise. I've also mentioned, in this thread, that there is some noise in the private forums, and there are non-club members who don't make noise.

The fewer people there are in any given location = less noise...in most cases at least. This is currently true in the private forum.

Judge away, if you feel you must.

I just don't understand why CoasterBizz needs to be so complicated. As asked before, how would a club member decide on which forum to start his new topic? It doesn't sound to me like an easy answer because one would be limiting the discussion if they posted it into the exclusive forums.

Take, for instance, a topic about the operations of P-Fliers at IOA. I worked the ride for about 9 months, which is not something everyone knows, so if the question was posted in the exclusive forums, my input would not be able to be added, and certain questions may never be answered.

So why in the world would a separate forum be helpful to the site? Two separate coasterBizz communities are now being formed, dividing those who are willing to pay from those who are not. (sounds a lot like Q-Bot to me, and like it or not, I am against that kind of customer treatment).

I honestly would rather see the elimination of all free access to CoasterBizz if this is how it's going to be. The site is worth it. If that ever happened, I just might consider buying.

Two points in this post I will reiterate, Separate forums for non-club members sounds to complicated and not helpful to the discussion on the site, and CoasterBizz is worth $20, but if free is offered, than people will take it.

Damn guys! This is like a MadTV sketch! I think I'll just go read my ACE news ;)

big hugs and sloppy kisses to all!

It's completely easy to answer, for me. I've already answered it. Network Effect vs. Community.

If this were a democracy, and it isn't, I'd vote for eliminating free posting privileges. As I've mentioned, the pay-only sites I belong to are surprisingly low on the asshattery scale, despite being smaller microcosms of communities where the "free" boards are over-run.