Forum for Members Only

[coombz]

It was really useful for me to be able to post in the Help & Training forums and get some training advice before I ever activated an online account

[ReVo]

 I am a paying customer using the BBS and I would like those who for whatever reason are not currently subscribing to the game to be able to keep in touch with those who are. This wish makes no sense to me considering the lack of "HTC SUCKS ACES HIGH SUCKS WAKE UP SHEEPLE AND QUIT PAYING THEM FOR THIS CRAP!" posts I was able to find which is the only rational argument I could decipher from any of this. 

-1
 

[5PointOh]

-100%. This is a rather poor idea, there is zero benefit to HTC or the community.

[gyrene81]

Also, it would be too bad if someone considering subscribing had to commit to it before they could ask questions or interact with current or former players via the BBS.

not to agree with Traveler but, any of you guys objecting, can you point to the 5 most recent forum posts from someone who wasn't a subscriber asking questions that resulted in that person becoming a subscribing member?

and sorry but the tired bellybutton excuse of former suscribers keeping in touch on the forums might wash if they only posted in the o'club...

[ReVo]

not to agree with Traveler but, any of you guys objecting, can you point to the 5 most recent forum posts from someone who wasn't a subscriber asking questions that resulted in that person becoming a subscribing member?

and sorry but the tired bellybutton excuse of former suscribers keeping in touch on the forums might wash if they only posted in the o'club...

I still have not heard ANY logical reason why only people with active subscriptions should be allowed to post on the BBS.

[gyrene81]

I still have not heard ANY logical reason why only people with active subscriptions should be allowed to post on the BBS.

take a look just through the wishlist area and see if you can find all the offline squeakers asking for some seriously stupid stuff...then look in the general discussion area for all the posts about "the good ole days" from people who no longer have a stake in what happens with ah (there were some that had been out for years and had no clue what was going on). personally, if i couldn't see anything but the staff announcements, help and training and the oclub after i dropped my sub, i would have been more than fine with it.

[ReVo]

take a look just through the wishlist area and see if you can find all the offline squeakers asking for some seriously stupid stuff...then look in the general discussion area for all the posts about "the good ole days" from people who no longer have a stake in what happens with ah (there were some that had been out for years and had no clue what was going on). personally, if i couldn't see anything but the staff announcements, help and training and the oclub after i dropped my sub, i would have been more than fine with it.

Plenty of people currently paying for the game suggest stupid things, and there are plenty of silly whine posts from subscribers as well. Perhaps the former player asking for something on the wishlist has a good idea even if he is not currently playing the game? Perhaps he simply wants something new to do that would give him incentive to come back and give HTC his money again? You are not forced to read posts you don't want to and I am pretty sure HiTech is intelligent enough (Even when mildly drunk) to know that a stupid suggestion is a stupid suggestion no matter who it comes from.  

Also "Forum for Members Only" makes it sound like somebody got the BBS mixed up with a country club. 

[5PointOh]

Perhaps HTC should charge an extra 5.00 a mo to be able to post.  I'm mean seriously, what has it hurt for non subscribers to post?  Show me where it has been a detriment to the AH community? The posters in the AH forums is a rather small percentage of overall players in AH.  The cool thing about forums is you can see who posted the original thread, and not read it.

[Guppy35]

not to agree with Traveler but, any of you guys objecting, can you point to the 5 most recent forum posts from someone who wasn't a subscriber asking questions that resulted in that person becoming a subscribing member?

and sorry but the tired bellybutton excuse of former suscribers keeping in touch on the forums might wash if they only posted in the o'club...

Coombz just posted commenting how posting in the help and training helped him before subscribing.  I can think of a number of people with history interests who contribute in Aircraft and Vehicles, or the skinning forums.  We were kept up to date on the health of Morpheus via the bbs after his accident by squad dies who were not actively flying at the time.  Morph was finally able to post himself and he was obviously not flying.

Personally since I started in AH way back when, there have been times where I was not an active player but kept involved via the BBS because my history background allowed me to contribute to discussions on any number of things.  Doing so kept me active in the community even though active playing of the game was not in the cards at the time.

Do you want me to start listing the names of all the AH vets that still contribute via the boards now or do you get the idea?

[gyrene81]

Coombz just posted commenting how posting in the help and training helped him before subscribing.  I can think of a number of people with history interests who contribute in Aircraft and Vehicles, or the skinning forums.  We were kept up to date on the health of Morpheus via the bbs after his accident by squad dies who were not actively flying at the time.  Morph was finally able to post himself and he was obviously not flying.

Personally since I started in AH way back when, there have been times where I was not an active player but kept involved via the BBS because my history background allowed me to contribute to discussions on any number of things.  Doing so kept me active in the community even though active playing of the game was not in the cards at the time.

Do you want me to start listing the names of all the AH vets that still contribute via the boards now or do you get the idea?

depends on your definition of "contribute", there is a lot more cruft in areas that should be exclusively contributing content. take off the rosey glasses and the amount of stupid is much higher than the amount of useful. and as for your reference to coombz, i did mention the help and training forums didn't i? as for the Morpheus reference, that could have been accomplished in the oclub, like i also mentioned...

[Guppy35]

If you think limiting the Amount of stupid will happen by limiting the forums you are the one with the rose colored glasses.

The community that began in part due to the game, over time expands beyond the game.  HTC seems to recognize that and helps sustain it via the BBS.  It just isn't about a squad or even only the game.

I'd like to think folks are capable enough to separate the stupid from the worthwhile on thier own.  The ignore list is a wondrous feature if you don't want to read what some folks post.

[5PointOh]

I'm still having trouble seeing what this would do for the community, AH, or HTC.  Do you or the OP have stats on non subscribers posting? Is there a pandemic going on that most of us seem to miss?

Do you feel like non subscribers are taking away from your chance to post? If its about showing you're "elite" because you pay, well you get to play the game, and in the past when HTC has had a vote on new aircraft, only subscribers have been able to vote.  

[Karnak]

What would be gained would be a clearer voice for the subscribers, currently that voice is sometimes  drowned out, diminished by the non-subscribing public.
 

To what end?  HTC doesn't implement posted suggestions unless they think they are good suggestions.  What does it matter if the idea is from a subscriber or from a former player?  Often former players have a better grasp of what might be good for the game than a current subscriber.  HTC doesn't pay attention to how popular a request is, and I recall HiTech saying something to the effect of "Give the players what they want, not what they ask for."

As was noted earlier, only subscribers, or people on their free two weeks, get to vote on new aircraft when HTC puts up such a poll.

[gyrene81]

I'm still having trouble seeing what this would do for the community, AH, or HTC.  Do you or the OP have stats on non subscribers posting? Is there a pandemic going on that most of us seem to miss?

Do you feel like non subscribers are taking away from your chance to post? If its about showing you're "elite" because you pay, well you get to play the game, and in the past when HTC has had a vote on new aircraft, only subscribers have been able to vote.  

i'm just playing devil's advocate, obviously you missed where i said "not that i agree with traveler"...i know how much many around here dislike change of any sort if it doesn't make the game better in their view, even if there is some small nuance of benefit to all.

tell me what happens when you click on this link... http://members.iracing.com/jforum/forums/list.page

that company has 35,000+ registered paying members world wide...mostly due to the genre. and their main website has a ton of information as well as links to videos that are informative where access to the forums for information isn't really necessary. then again there is a big staff to field questions, maintain faq's and generally keep things up to date. if you can't log in to the main members page, you can't get to the forums. considering the amount of drama that is involved from active subscribers there, i couldn't imagine what would happen with non-subscribers having access to the forums. Skuzzy does a great job of cat herding here and in the short time i've been around here the number of grievers posting crap has been manageable for ah management, but imagine if the numbers were 10 times what exists now, would any of you nay sayers be objecting to the idea of "subscribing members only"?

[Butcher]

Here's an Idea... Make your own private Forum on here (ask Skuzzy he can do it for you) and invite only people you want/trust.