I thought I would open up this discussion to let you all know what's changing in the forum for 2010. Even though I had originally planned to migrate over to a better server in 2010 at roughly 5x the previous cost of the server, I ended up doing this last month (Nov 2009). We still have to tweak a few settings but hopefully things will be more stable.
We now have 1,400 members signed up but as with many other forums only a couple of hundred at best participate actively in discussions and helping each other out, which is not a problem in that this is normal behaviour for most of us on a forum. However, as things are a little different here given the type of forum and the fact that most of us are locally based, after a small discussion with some of our most active members, I have decided to restrict the forum a little.
In a nutshell the forum has become a central reference point for fishing in Malta and that is fantastic and could only have been done with the type of content and discussions that you guys have come up with. From an admin perspective, and along with The Gaffer we have been working very hard promoting the forum with sponsors, meetings with the Ministry and working to get the best for our members.
We have noticed a trend where people seem to be just taking from the forum and NOT giving very much back so if they want to continue to do that, they will at least need to sign up as a paid Premium member. A new online member will have two days to freely browse all areas of the forum and then he will be placed in a restricted group, pending sign up as a Premium Member, with a very low annual membership fee of €8
In 2010 we will hopefully continue to grow and continue to build upon what we achieved in 2009, with bigger competitions and more participation. Have yourselves a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Skip
All the best to all the members especially those actively contributing.
Agree with your decision nick.
ALL the very best to all the staff and members of this comunity .
wishing in collaboration from all in helping the administration achiving its goals and targets.
since MFF our daily fishing source of discussions and help.
Thank you nick and co.
Prosit Nicky ;)
Agree 100% ;)
Amen to that brother
Good Move Skip...
agreed nic.... good move..... all the best guys, cu on the 28th Dec
agree 100% happy christmas to all
very good man ;) wishing all an awesome christmas and best of luck for new year
Fair enough. Happy xmas and a prosperous new year to all menbers and their family.
I agree with you all. I consider the forum like the blood bank, we need to give and take.
Happy fishing holidays to all of you and your family
It is only 8 euros my friend to become a premium member. This is whats happening in this forum. Eveyone comes in to learn and does not give some feedback to the forum. By becoming at least a premium member you will be able to view all boards
Quote from: mulett75 on December 21, 2009, 17:53:28 CET
I agree with you all. I consider the forum like the blood bank, we need to give and take.
This x100 mate!! otherwise this would just be a bulletin board...and with everyone taking a very poor one at that !
Merry xmas to all and see you on the 28th
considering all the stuff we buy for fishing, surely 8 euro (67 euro cents per month) (Lm3.43) is not going to place anyone under the poverty line........ even euro 20 to be VIP is very reasonable considering the tons of work involved for skip and the backing moderator team......
a few days ago i paid 20 euros for a vip member. anything else i should do to conclude the membership? thanks
send a pm to skip, but i'm sure he's tacking care of it already.....
Sorry guys been without my PC as laying down parquet in office and bedroom. Now that it's done have temp resetup PC to be able to answer mails etc and have access to docs.
(James, just emailed you the memberform now)
Thanks all for your support.
thank you robby and skip. i was in no hurry whatsoever,i just wanted to know if anything else was needed.maybe in the near future we can talk about me giving a helping hand as i have some free time on my hand. thanks once again!
So here are some changes that I've just completed:
1) Guests can no longer read all the topics and see all the boards.
On some they can, on other they can only see the board index and the topic index.
If they see something that interests them, then they can sign up as a regular online member, which will give them 2 days of being able to read everything, and then we'll move them into a restricted category.
2) Gallery is now restricted to Premium/VIP Members only
3) I will in the next day or two be removing Post Based Groups as these no longer serve a purpose. Post based groups are the ones that has Basic Contributor, Seasoned, Veteran etc etc.
The main changes for full partcipation will come in to effect on 1st Jan or when I get back from my New Year's celebrations!
Skip. Jien ili nsegwi ftit il-forums taghkom u titghallem hafna minnhom izda rregistrajt ghall-ewwel darba lbierah ghax ridt xi parir. Issa rrid inhallas xi haga u xi rrid naghmel ezatt?
Hi Malvizzu, for the moment no restrictions will affect you until 1st Jan 2010.
You will still be able to ask questions and make posts on the forum for free, but only on certain boards. My intention is not to make people have pay to use/read the forum, but as contribution is low and only certain key members provide the majority of the content, if someone wants full access to read and learn from all areas, then they will need to be a Premium Member. If they don't want full access they can still enjoy the forum but with limited functionality.
Regular Members will only be able to see the boards and topics indexes that they have access to, and in those they can post questions and replies, create new topics etc for free.
You can use the Paypal button here on the right of Windfinder to sign up as a Premium Member:
http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php
Read about the membership benefits here:
http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php/board,58.0.html
See an explanation about the membership fee and use the manual form if needed here:
http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php/topic,2473.0.html
If anyone signs up using Paypal, I will email them the electronic member registration form.
Skip, can I like to suggest that membership can be paid during our reunion on the 28th?
Certainly, they can download and fill in the form and bring it along with them on the 28th.
Skip I am a bit confused. If I pay directly online through PayPal, why do I have to fill the form and send it? Is it for the membership card purpose?
yes malvizzu....... for your particulars and stuff.... ps, welcome!
Yes that's correct, the online payment takes care of getting the membership fee to us, and we move you straight away to the Premium or VIP category.
The memberform is so we can have all your details in order to produce the membercard where we need ID card number etc which is used to identify you to the sponsors.
Thanks skip. Will make payment in due time.