In the interests of full disclosure...
Jun 11, 2013 9:40:56 GMT -6
couponix, hsmomof6, and 9 more like this
Post by skincarekathy- (admin) on Jun 11, 2013 9:40:56 GMT -6
This may be a bit rambly. You all get to read it because you are here first LOL
As of today, this board is completely locked. Utterly. I have attempted in every way possible and from every device possible that I can think of to access any content as a guest and I cannot. That said:
For any forum to survive, new contributing members must be attracted. That can't happen unless the forum is at least minimally opened up to search engine indexing. My plan is to at some point open up the main on-topic board structure to indexing. This would be similar to the way the search results used to happen with the old CW. When you searched for "Jewel deals" for example, Google would return the relevant CW "Jewel deals" page, with a default message as the description (in Google). When you clicked the link, you could view the content as a guest. I would like better security than that, so my thought is to make only the on-topic board names indexable to search engines. Then, when someone searches for "Jewel Deals," ideally Google will return a link to our "Jewel deals" forum with a default description message. When the link is clicked, they would be taken to our front page, which would show what you see now, except only the on-topic store and coupon areas. If they click anything on the front page, they will be directed to register to view content.
Doing that would at least let the world know we are here posting deals and seeking contributing members. I was a non-member back in the day (we all were) and I'm now a contributing member, and I would not have been if I could not have found the old CW site. The thought of never having found CW makes me sad. I would like other people to be able to find us, eventually.
What you need to know:
1) "Coupon Trading/Feedback" will be moved to its own area and will not be indexable on search engines.
2) When the front page becomes indexable, people who click through will be able to see what you see, with the exception of the off-topic/private board areas. They will be able to see the most recent post description on the right, just as you can, and they will be able to see your username if you made that post.
3) The login IDs of known/contributing members (right now that is all of you) will be assigned to a user group who will be allowed to access the off topic & trading areas. At some point I will institute a process of allowing new members access to the off topic/trading areas. New members who are known or have a legitimate reference can be allowed immediate access. New members who are actually new and unknown to us will have a time-bar disallowing them from the off topic & trading areas until they have contributed for a while. Maybe 30 days, maybe by some other method. I visit another (unrelated) forum, and they have what I think is a good method for this. New members who wish to read/post in off topic areas must ask the moderation team to be permitted, their posting history is at that point reviewed for quality, then they are either allowed or disallowed into the off topic areas. In this way our OT areas can remain at least functionally secure/private, yet kept alive and vibrant with the input of new members (which we all once were).
4) I do not plan to do this any time soon. I plan to review this thought process in about 2 weeks, after I see what kind of community we might possibly be building.
As a last note, I will tell you that search engine indexing also plays a vital role in an eventual planned migration off this free platform. At the point that I can understand our bandwidth/hosting needs, and what that will cost, minimal, unobtrusive, on-topic advertising (a la Coupons.com widgets, etc) will be used to pay for the expenses of the site. I do not seek and will not accept member contributions or membership fees. If you do not wish to see any ads, you can easily block them with a browser extension like AdBlock. In fact, AdBlock is why I do not see the banner ads I know are on this very forum. The best things in life are free
Please let me know your thoughts, concerns and questions here. I am open to all input on this subject, and I will answer all questions honestly.
As of today, this board is completely locked. Utterly. I have attempted in every way possible and from every device possible that I can think of to access any content as a guest and I cannot. That said:
For any forum to survive, new contributing members must be attracted. That can't happen unless the forum is at least minimally opened up to search engine indexing. My plan is to at some point open up the main on-topic board structure to indexing. This would be similar to the way the search results used to happen with the old CW. When you searched for "Jewel deals" for example, Google would return the relevant CW "Jewel deals" page, with a default message as the description (in Google). When you clicked the link, you could view the content as a guest. I would like better security than that, so my thought is to make only the on-topic board names indexable to search engines. Then, when someone searches for "Jewel Deals," ideally Google will return a link to our "Jewel deals" forum with a default description message. When the link is clicked, they would be taken to our front page, which would show what you see now, except only the on-topic store and coupon areas. If they click anything on the front page, they will be directed to register to view content.
Doing that would at least let the world know we are here posting deals and seeking contributing members. I was a non-member back in the day (we all were) and I'm now a contributing member, and I would not have been if I could not have found the old CW site. The thought of never having found CW makes me sad. I would like other people to be able to find us, eventually.
What you need to know:
1) "Coupon Trading/Feedback" will be moved to its own area and will not be indexable on search engines.
2) When the front page becomes indexable, people who click through will be able to see what you see, with the exception of the off-topic/private board areas. They will be able to see the most recent post description on the right, just as you can, and they will be able to see your username if you made that post.
3) The login IDs of known/contributing members (right now that is all of you) will be assigned to a user group who will be allowed to access the off topic & trading areas. At some point I will institute a process of allowing new members access to the off topic/trading areas. New members who are known or have a legitimate reference can be allowed immediate access. New members who are actually new and unknown to us will have a time-bar disallowing them from the off topic & trading areas until they have contributed for a while. Maybe 30 days, maybe by some other method. I visit another (unrelated) forum, and they have what I think is a good method for this. New members who wish to read/post in off topic areas must ask the moderation team to be permitted, their posting history is at that point reviewed for quality, then they are either allowed or disallowed into the off topic areas. In this way our OT areas can remain at least functionally secure/private, yet kept alive and vibrant with the input of new members (which we all once were).
4) I do not plan to do this any time soon. I plan to review this thought process in about 2 weeks, after I see what kind of community we might possibly be building.
As a last note, I will tell you that search engine indexing also plays a vital role in an eventual planned migration off this free platform. At the point that I can understand our bandwidth/hosting needs, and what that will cost, minimal, unobtrusive, on-topic advertising (a la Coupons.com widgets, etc) will be used to pay for the expenses of the site. I do not seek and will not accept member contributions or membership fees. If you do not wish to see any ads, you can easily block them with a browser extension like AdBlock. In fact, AdBlock is why I do not see the banner ads I know are on this very forum. The best things in life are free
Please let me know your thoughts, concerns and questions here. I am open to all input on this subject, and I will answer all questions honestly.
