Locking this forum is not a smart move IMHO.

[RitaG]

Its very sad to see that after all the hard work Simon and others did in promoting this site as an open, welcoming and educational forum that it is now closed off to browsers who for one reason or another choose not to post but in a sense 'lurk' and sponge up the info that is freely available. These are the future members as they gain the confidence they need after they find the answers they came for. Closing this forum is not encouraging people to contribute and in my experience, will spell the demise of this site.

Closing the site off to members only is only fostering, to put it so adequately by another previous forumer "a practice of exclusion" and is hardly necessary for a forum of this calibre. There is no plausible reason, not even the tired old one trotted out by some webmasters that 'we are only doing this to keep the members safe". Garden Web tried that and look where the 'Roses in Oz forum' is today. A sad and empty vessel!

As someone who works full time and has a busy life, at times I just like to sit in the background and browse, especially in the few odd breaks I have at work and unless I feel I have something worthwhile to contribute, I don't. I don't see the value in just posting for the sake of it and never have no matter which forum I have belonged to.

I would encourage both David (M) and John (Neptune) to review this decision, if not, I'm afraid the new & enthusiastic rose lovers will be the victim. If it stays closed off then its good bye from me and I wish you all the best, Rita.

[jordan71]

that is rather sad , hopefully it wont get to that Rita ... its such a shame cause this site is full off people who educate others , and provide lot of positive feedback

[neptune]

jordan she is talking about how it is now....

[jordan71]

oh sorry neptune i wasnt aware that it was locked to non members

[neptune]

it is not locked as the word means.....it just means you have to register......we are not closed at all...

[jordan71]

okay thanks

[Guest]

I have to agree with Rita on this one. When you buy a book, you flick through it , look at the index for content before you buy it, just looking at the cover is very unappealing and not inviting. Sorry fella's

ps Dave have a look at the RHA , you have access to almost every thing , except you cannot post unless logged in.

[The Lazy Rosarian]

Ok, I guess from my point of view it goes to the members. I have just lost a bloody long reply to this thread. So to hell with it. Why it was "closed" some members were concerned about "their" privacy.
The thread that started the concerns is this one.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

WHO is putting their hand up to run this forum so it continues. There was not many that would help Simon, lots of members want it but do nothing but read and post.
I apologise if I have offened anyone.
Regards David.

PM or Email me, and I will give you the reins.

[Happy roses]

I was first looking for a place that I could learn about roses in a climate that is my own. There are many sites in other countries that wasn't useful to me. At first I browsed, than as time went on I wanted to ask questions, that people took the time out to answer. One thing I am aware of anything you are prepared to put on the internet will be 'out there'. So it is up to individuals choice how much they want to contribute.

If people are so concern about privacy, as was suggested, perhaps a certain area to login only?

It would be a shame to close this down because we can't agree which way it should be run....I for one have learn't alot from this forum.

[Carole]

Warren,
The forum was always open, it was great people could look, browse, join if they wished to.
Everything was wonderful.
But then came the thread.
"Wouldnt it be great."
Members put on VERY personal things and they showed photo's.
David put on things that I wouldn't have.
If you remember Simon he put NOTHING on it.
Anyone could have looked at those posts and at least now only reg people can.
Quite a few people contacted David when he took over the forum to say that they liked to talk to friends but they didn't want any Tom,Dick or Harry to see personal stuff. I can understand that.
We can never be 100% secure or even 50% but at least there is a contact to the people if they have to register.
So if you boil it down, the reason that outsiders are unable to look is the
"Wouldn't it be great thread"

[Happy roses]

As is my point, if you are going to put personal stuff on the internet = people looking. I didn't because of that, it wasn't to be disrespectful, but because I wasn't really comfortable with it. Doesn't mean that others couldn't if they wished to...

[Carole]

Me to, No way,
But some people and I repeat some people didn't want all and sundry looking at thier posts. Only the members that they considered as friends.

[Happy roses]

Then my suggestion is a area for members only so they can post whatever they wish to their hearts content, and leave the more general content open? Not being technical minded, I could imagine this is possible?
That way everyone gets a choice

[The Lazy Rosarian]

Good night all, that means the 2 of the registerd members.

[Carole]

Yes that would be Ideal,

[neptune]

Its very sad to see that after all the hard work Simon and others did in promoting this site as an open, welcoming and educational forum that it is now closed off to browsers who for one reason or another choose not to post but in a sense 'lurk' and sponge up the info that is freely available. These are the future members as they gain the confidence they need after they find the answers they came for. Closing this forum is not encouraging people to contribute and in my experience, will spell the demise of this site.

I think this post has been written a bit prematurely as it has been closed to spammers for only a couple of weeks and in that time I have stopped checking guest at this moment. There were 722 that were spammers and a potential 7 people who may/may not have joined. There were 380 bots from different search engines checking in as well. I was going to keep checking for a month and then post an overview from the time of the admin change, but this post brought it forward. Now these numbers have been recorded while I have been on here and not while I have been sleeping etc.

Closing the site off to members only is only fostering, to put it so adequately by another previous forumer "a practice of exclusion" and is hardly necessary for a forum of this calibre. There is no plausible reason, not even the tired old one trotted out by some webmasters that 'we are only doing this to keep the members safe". Garden Web tried that and look where the 'Roses in Oz forum' is today. A sad and empty vessel!

Just this month alone we have had 11 new members register.......Feb – 3 , Jan – 9 , Dec – 7....... The idea is not closing off the forum or making it an exclusion....that is not the idea behind what has been done.... We havent closed the forum, merely asked people to log on. It is still open for everyone to register, not selective in whom can join and not.

As someone who works full time and has a busy life, at times I just like to sit in the background and browse, especially in the few odd breaks I have at work and unless I feel I have something worthwhile to contribute, I don't. I don't see the value in just posting for the sake of it and never have no matter which forum I have belonged to.

Instead of sitting in the background, why not show yourself and let other interested people know that this forum has interested members who log on. You don’t have to log on to post, but you are showing that your part of this family. Remember ..... forums grow by the membership growing..... with a forum like this and being predominately about roses, there is only so much you can say that hasn’t being said or written before. Keeping it fresh is one of the hardest things any forum can do and even harder, when it is basically one subject...... I take my hat off to those members who are our backstay and have been here for a long time. I would have no idea where this forum would be without them and I would hate to lose them.
My thoughts are that instead of saying that this idea is bad......how about putting suggestions forward on how to keep it fresh and getting new members to join.... think positive and help the admin to help the members to keep this forum going

[Carole]

Rita,
What do you mean about Simon and others . It was Simon and then Simon and David. Simon was closing the forum within a couple of days. No questions that was it. David had E Mails and phone calls from members to ask if there was any way he could keep the forum going. Apart from roses people wanted to keep in touch, friendships,companionships call it what you will, the enjoyment of taliking about roses. Take your mind off of your troubles.

You started a thread asking people to post about themselves and that is what members worried about and that is why it is now, what you call a closed forum.
You must also have worried about this as you have removed your picture and that of your dog from the forum.
Having done that I can only presume that you now like the forum being selective.

[Rose-Anna]

From what I understand its never been a question of "locking" the forum or closing it to outsiders, merely that you have to register and log in to view, just like you have to do on so many other sites out there today, like Facebook, Twitter, most other forums and other ones just to name a few.

Everyone is still welcome, everyone can register and join, all that has changed is that you have to log on or tick the box "keep me logged in" to read what has happened since you were here last. Not a big deal to me at least....

[The Lazy Rosarian]

I thought I would post again so this did not get to the bottom of the portal page, this paste below is from my earlier post,

Ok, I guess from my point of view it goes to the members. I have just lost a bloody long reply to this thread. So to hell with it. Why it was "closed" some members were concerned about "their" privacy.
The thread that started the concerns is this one.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

WHO is putting their hand up to run this forum so it continues. There was not many that would help Simon, lots of members want it but do nothing but read and post.
I apologise if I have offened anyone.
Regards David.

PM or Email me, and I will give you the reins.

[The Lazy Rosarian]

Just had a look at an old email and thought I would share so us the members can remember,

Hello, my name is Roseman, AKA David Mears, from the Rosetalk Australia site. I have been a member of this forum pretty much from its inception. I have helped Simon Voorwinde, the founder of this site, when needed. Simon has called it a day....many, many thanks to Simon for having the foresight to start it...and he has been kind enough to leave it to us, the members, if we want to keep it going. So I have taken it upon myself, with help from lots of you, to keep it running if you, the members, wish.

This forum, in my opinion, has been an important source of information about roses (and dogs, fish, soil, irises and whatever on occasion, besides providing a shoulder to cry on if needed). I have been contacted by many others who would like it to keep running and I would also like your input so it can succeed. The more action on this site right now, the better, so we can keep the forum alive.

I would very much appreciate your reply to this email, to assess whether WE can make a go of it. But, above all, go to Rosetalk and post. Answer a question. Start a topic. Get talking.

Hoping to hear back from you shortly.

Regards

David (Roseman)
Email: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Phone: (02) 6372 2020

[The Estate]

Well I am less likely to post to post photos etc... as I dont want every tom dick and harry looking, maybe in the social areas forums they can be locked and general rose banter unlocked for lurkers. This is easy to do as you would know David ?

Maybe start a poll and let the embers decide ?

Looking at the home page I would lock all bar the Rose Talk Forums

[Happy roses]

A place for rose lovers to talk about roses!

Isn't that the point of this? Not politics and complaints...
As what I said earlier and The Estate is saying the same thing, perhaps it's something to consider, we can't make everyone happy, but could come to an agreement of sorts...I do think that in the end Roseman should have the final say and he is running this forum...and like he said, who else would do it?

[The Estate]

I have no hesitation is offering to help out, but I think Neptune and David have it under control now

[Happy roses]

It's all good in the end

[Balinbear]

Maybe I'm a bit old fashioned but I don't give a rats that other people know what I look like and I hope that they may enjoy the photos of my plants. I try not to upset too many people so I don't think I will have a real issue with it all.

Saying that however, if bots etc are continuously attacking the site then yes it does need to be locked with access to members only. As Rose Anna said it is easy enough to register as a member so real people can do this without any problems.

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