Why no "protected " area of forum .

[sev112]

Dear mods, Mike et al

Reading some threads lately, and particular today's hypothetical thread, sometimes I wonder why this whole forum hasn't been shut down before. Amongst our collective group of forummers we are bloomin good at shooting ourselves in the foot. Some of these are embarrassing, or worse.

On a skiing forum I frequent, as an example, they have a Members area , which means that web searches don't take you there, thereby giving the website owners a level of protection regarding what the "outside world" see of us .

Has this ever been considered for us? I guess there are pros and cons, but it might act as a little bit of a filter for some of our less great "hypothetical" threads .

 

[brendy]

Iirc this was discussed before and it was decided that the main forum would see less traffic as some would solely post in a locked section. The forum is first and foremost a golf forum. Everything after that is secondary.

 

[DappaDonDave]

Iirc this was discussed before and it was decided that the main forum would see less traffic as some would solely post in a locked section. The forum is first and foremost a golf forum. Everything after that is secondary.

and advertising is likely sold upon the pageviews/visits so reducing these numbers doesn't make business sense.

HOWEVER...it being a golf forum, having a paid members section would fit both the OP's request for privacy and the forums obligation to sticking to golf mentality.

Threads could be mentioned in the "normal" area and peasants wouldn't understand the reference.

 

[brendy]

I doubt many would pay to be honest and if they did it would need to encompass more than just being allowed to curse.
I am on a local car forum and it has one such free private area, it gets posted in maybe once a month.

and advertising is likely sold upon the pageviews/visits so reducing these numbers doesn't make business sense.

HOWEVER...it being a golf forum, having a paid members section would fit both the OP's request for privacy and the forums obligation to sticking to golf mentality.

Threads could be mentioned in the "normal" area and peasants wouldn't understand the reference.

 

[North Mimms]

I'm on a professional forum which is also of interest to a lot of non-professionals.
They have a restricted area which gets a lot of traffic- here we an moan about clients and also discuss wholesale prices rather than market prices etc.
However, it is a totally different demographic

 

[One Planer]

I'm on a professional forum which is also of interest to a lot of non-professionals.
They have a restricted area which gets a lot of traffic- here we an moan about clients and also discuss wholesale prices rather than market prices etc.
However, it is a totally different demographic

I think this is the point Brendy was trying to make.

For a point of discussion. How about a section just for paid subscribers to the magazine?

Like the electronic edition of the magazine, an 'enhanced' section of the forum?

Not so much for forum golf topics, but topics about articles in the magazine. Q&A for GM staff, ideas for the mag. Things like that?