67 replies to this topic

[ShadowLink64]

Hello everyone,

Over the last few days, staff has received a lot of input about considering closing registrations to guests. We have absolutely no problems with this, as long as it's the general consensus of the members.

So we are asking you a simple question (see above). There are obviously pros and cons to closed registrations, but Neocodex isn't exactly new to the idea of closed registrations as we've closed them twice in the past.

Closed registrations did not have a significant impact on activity in the past; in fact we were able to keep registrations closed for extended periods of time (from October to July in 2004, and from December to June in 2005) to focus more on the community we presently have and on ourselves rather than the expansion of the site.

We'll leave this poll open for a little while before taking results next week (between November 19th and 22nd depending on how many votes we receive). Obviously we can't wait for every member to put their vote in as not all the members on the site are active.

[Cory]

I honestly don't see any reason to closing them. The reason last time was to get things cleaned up around the boards. They have been cleaned and now its the mods job to keep it that way.

We need new members. Yes most of our new members right now are spammers and or leechers but with closed registrations we don't even give them a chance.

[ShadowLink64]

Yes, close them permanently (Couldn't find it on the list so I didn't vote).

Well, we'd like to reserve the right to open up the registrations any time in the future which is why we never really made it a choice on the list. The next best choice would be to close them temporarily, though we'd probably open them up around the same time as before depending on board conditions.

A board can't really stay closed forever and we'd prefer the choice to always be there to open up in case.

[beach3boy]

I honestly don't see any reason to closing them. The reason last time was to get things cleaned up around the boards. They have been cleaned and now its the mods job to keep it that way.

We need new members. Yes most of our new members right now are spammers and or leechers but with closed registrations we don't even give them a chance.

But if we had an invite system, we could still get new members, and current members could vouch there not just leecehrs.

[Mitch]

We've had some active people leave and activity has gone down, are you sure this would be a right time do close regs? I vote no.

[Plew]

I vote yes but how long is this close?

[Archon]

I vote for close, just because its fun to be a closed society.

[Cory]

So many people vote yes, but none gave a good reason to close. Why is this?

There is not a single good reason to close. The boards need some work, but so does EVERY other site on the web. Closeing registrations will only lower are activity, after we get over the "everyone running around talking about us being closed" fact.

Is it fun to be a closed society that no one talks in?

Edited by Marine, 15 November 2006 - 07:44 PM.

[Gargar]

I've been here through both closed and open, and i think its a great idea to open for a long time then close for awhile, easier to get to know all the new members and make the bords look even better to the people who aren't registered. So i vote yes closen 'em up and use the invite mod.

[ShadowLink64]

Sure, we can keep invites open during closed registration. I'll add that to the poll.

[Noitidart]

Clooosed I want to get our stuff out then suprise the world

[Raui]

I agree with the majority of the people. Close them so we can focus on the current community needs before we branch out to suit the needs for other people.

[Nick]

I'm honestly just getting sick of new member spam.

[Shin]

I think that closing them temporarily would be beneficial to the entire forum, because we can get stuff sorted out and really know who's on this forum instead of bashing the new members. I definitely don't think that closing them permanently would do any good.

[padora]

Well, I really think you should close them and start using the private invitation system. I could understand that you might feel a little disorganized and may want to close the registration to get things straight, But if you really pay attention it's not that bad Although it's not the greatest...Codex is old enough to basically close it's doors and only open to people who are invited.

[Tetiel]

Close? Why? To appease people who can't even ignore a few spam posts? If that's so then I most definately absolutely positively vote no. If staff, however feel that they need to close it to get the new moderating system in order, I am all for it. By closing you are risking losing some potentially valuble members and no, the invite system really doesn't help with that. Did any of you know Casilla before she came? I don't think you did. I think she's one of the best members we had on this site and no one would have invited her and we would have lost her. People like her make up for ALL the members who don't post and are here to leech. That is enough for me to really like the open regs. There is so much potential that you don't even know about.

[levon]

I beleive a invite system is way better and would prove to work..... Just what I think!

[Cory]

I beleive a invite system is way better and would prove to work..... Just what I think!

And why do you think that?

[Sean]

I wouldn't mind having registrations closed

[levon]

A invite system would mean active members. You invite and people who invite the most members could gain rewards and have a referal count for somthing. This way we would work hard to get active members. And if they stay on forums it will give us extra bonus. We could have contests or somthing. Just a good idea I thought of..

[Gargar]

Close? Why? To appease people who can't even ignore a few spam posts? If that's so then I most definately absolutely positively vote no. If staff, however feel that they need to close it to get the new moderating system in order, I am all for it. By closing you are risking losing some potentially valuble members and no, the invite system really doesn't help with that. Did any of you know Casilla before she came? I don't think you did. I think she's one of the best members we had on this site and no one would have invited her and we would have lost her. People like her make up for ALL the members who don't post and are here to leech. That is enough for me to really like the open regs. There is so much potential that you don't even know about.

Where has she been latly?
Theres alot of, for the most part, unknowen members here already with alot of potential. Like i've said i've been here through several open to closed registration transitions. I think it's good to close every now and then to knit everything including members tight.

[Cory]

A invite system would mean active members. You invite and people who invite the most members could gain rewards and have a referal count for somthing. This way we would work hard to get active members. And if they stay on forums it will give us extra bonus. We could have contests or somthing. Just a good idea I thought of..

We already have contest. You should check out the contest section. A invite system is no better than open registration. With open registration everyone we want to invite can come and everyone who just wants to check it out can come. We are extremely limiting the amount of members we get if we close registration. Yes the spam will stop, but there are other ways to stop that.

Edited by Marine, 15 November 2006 - 08:53 PM.

[ShadowLink64]

Make your own judgment about the activity. Theoretically, you expect decreased activity but practically we see the opposite or we see it remaining pretty stable. I personally see no real decrease, but instead a steady increase during periods of closed registrations.

(NOTE: November 2006 is not yet done, so that's why it looks so low. Projected total for November 2006 is 18510, which would beat October 2006).


We lost a lot of posts in the summer of 2005 (number is around 100,000 posts though the board index shows the correct amount because we didn't make it recount posts) because our database crashed (and we had that weekend-long downtime). I'm still trying to get my hands on some old backups to get it back.

Even if the information is missing, I remember July 2005 being really really busy (when we re-opened registrations).

My personal rationalization for supporting closed registrations (with an invite system) is that it gives staff the space necessary to effectively evaluate the services our site offers, and organize it in such a way so that we are providing the service effectively. Lately we've been caught up in a bunch of nonsense and there's nothing we'd love more than to target attention to the needy parts of the board. A con would be lessened registration and theoretically, decreased activity. However, past data shows to me that the level of activity we receive during periods of closed registration is indeed enough for keeping this site operational. A closed state would allow us not to focus on expansion and competition, but would instead shift our collective focus to the community and to ensuring our current services are up to par as well as get to know our current members. The closed periods, to me, are a period of balance where we can sit back and have an idea as to where we are headed.

[levon]

meh, I dunno. I just think it made my old forum I use to sup mod.. www.zelaron.com . But yeah. I don't care ill stay active either way. Up to the bosses.

[Warlord]

considering the number of classic users that have quit, closing off reg would be a bad idea