It's a serious question, SFN is a live and unleashed web site, it is open, searchable and unquestionably public. It is for that reason that the majority of you will have found us here in our little public corner of the internet. Perhaps you searched for something that an SFN member has written about or one of our discussions popped up on your Facebook or Twitter feed. Lots of people share our content on other social media sites too, have a look at Pinterest for example.
If SFN was a private site, i.e. only visible to signed in members, how would we attract newcomers? There are, of course, ways to do this. But those ways don't come cheap. For example, you like an article written by an SFN member and you decide to share it on your Facebook page, your friends see it, visit SFN, generate some traffic for us, maybe even share it themselves. Good quality content can spread in this way, viral as they say. This kind of behavior keeps the place fresh and vibrant. Without it we would need to advertise, and advertise heavily.
Having said that, the SFN community belongs to you, and if the general consensus is for a closed space then we can look at ways to make they happen. There are clear benefits to this type of setup, but there are also obvious downsides. Not least of which is how does SFN survive as a business. Private means less traffic, less traffic means less attractive to advertisers. You see where I'm going with this I'm sure.
Your voice is important, but don't just tell me how you want your community to be, tell me how you suggest we do it.
As suggested and requested by some I have added a donate button to the main page. Those of you who would like to make a contribution to the running costs of SFN can now do say via the 'Donate' button on the right.
Please dont change anything!!! The support and care this site generates for people who dont know each other is beyond price. I am not a techiie but if people are aware their posts are public property they can pay attention and not post things they dont want passed on????? As some one else has said, if you are pleasing most of the people most of the time, and helping some of the people some of the time , that is marvelous!!!Thank you n both for all the hard work and effort you put in and which we tend to take for granted!
The other forum (poultrykeeper) has taken down it's Donate banner recently ... only puts it up from time to time with a message asking members to contribute to the costs.
Thanks Sandy, I appreciate your feedback and agree with you, would you be able to post a link to a couple of those forums so I can see how they have implemented the donate facility please?
I'd opt for keeping SFN as an open network, the easier it is for people to visit, read posts, contribute, etc., then the more people will share and traffic will increase. I belong to several varied fora, some of which ask for a donation to cover the costs of running the website and keeping the forum open and I'm happy to contribute. The value I receive from being able to pick other's brains and read their wisdom, experiences, etc., is certainly money well spent. So perhaps a 'Donate Now to keep the forum open' button might be an option?
Now there's a cracking thought Ian. How's about as well as MOM we have a DOM ( Dipstick the Month) where members could vote for the person they want sidelined for a few days. Not too many mind you 'cos I like it here ;-)
Is there a naughty stair or corner on here as per Face Book? Is so we could be heading for it. My wife sort of likes it when I have a few days ban as she can get me to jobs around the place, the downside is she sees me more than she would like. There is just no way to keep women happy I am afraid.