no, but on the other side this is the quickest way for any paid up member to request assistance / parts / advice etc and a lot of the time that comes from a non paid up member that uses the boards and for their own reasons isn't a member. The club would lose a huge resource pool by privatising the boards.

Also a lot of paid up members come via the board, they get carded, have a look, post maybe two or three times than join, go on rideouts but rarely use the boards.

Closing the boards frm the Dcatisti at large will do far more harm than good ...

That obvioulsy is just my opinion ...

I agree with Dibble. Close the board to the general ducati riding public and you won't have much of a board any more. It's only new blood coming in that keeps the board interesting instead of it becoming a boring talking shop. I can't imagine anything worse than the same clique of people re-running an endless red vs yellow debate or 916 vs 999 yawn.

OK that might be an exageration, but the fact is that by restricting the people you allow to post, you also restrict the amount of interest and some people have a very narrow range of views.

I also agree that some people forget that this is NOT a public forum, but a service paid for by people like me. For myself, I'm quite happy to see people posting up adverts as long as they don't take the ****.

In my opinion, people like Nelly get it dead right. He makes the occasional plug for Cornerspeed, and throws up the occasional deal - but in my view he more than 'pays' for that with the free advice that he gives people on lots of technical questions. Fair exchange of selflessly given advice for the odd plug - I don't mind that at all.

I don't want to see commercial organisations posting on here unchecked, and I don't like to see thinly disguised traders taking advantage either, and to be honest the 1 post newbies who use their first and only post to advertise a bike (even Yamaha's FFS) without any intention of adding any value to the life or spirit of this club really **** me off, but that's just my opinion. On balance I would much rather bite my tongue and let those types of posters continue to use the forum than close it off and let it stagnate into mediocrity - this board has often been highlighted as a real jewel amongst motorcycles forums so if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it.

and a sensible one at that Mr Dibble, Sir . There is a need for the Market Place section but not if its going down the road of E-bay and glogging up the works . I thought most "roundel's" held dear to this "arrangement" 4D

PS. Does anyone want to buy a fishing rod:lol:

I'd agree with Dibble and Jools, closing the forum to non members would lose a lot of what the forum is. However I do feel that one of the "perks" of paying your membership fee could be to allow you to advertise personal items in the marketplace, I don't see why anyone who's not a paying member or a pronto advertiser or supporting dealer should get this, its the members fees and advertisers that support this forum.

Good debate and for me the key points are:

* Keep the messageboard open to all - fresh blood always prevents stagnation, new people are needed in all aspects of club life
* Make the terms and conditions of advertising crystal clear so there is no room for misunderstanding
* Don't tie the Commercial Manager's hands behind his back - allow him to be able to offer value to businesses who want to advertise on the site

ok from what's been said then what about the open forum we have already.
but advertising for members only ?
if not a member you pay a fee for a add


[Edited on 29-1-2006 by keefer]

and what about the question of signatures? Is it ok to advertise through them? Is it ok to advertise other message boards/clubs through them?

[Edited on 29-1-2006 by Ian]

simple solution realy ! Make the sales/and wants a members only area

anyone can post up an advert into the sales/wants area , but only paid up members can view them !

that way, with all the Ducati goodies on sale in here , The coffers would be overflowing with coin.

You could have a Box at the top of the board with "Forsale this week" a few lines and then click here to view!
The paid up memeber would log in with a password
the one time surfer could not.

Eammon could sort that out!
and then the board moderaters can delete ads on the main forum!

waddaya think?

mav

As far as censorship goes, can't we each individually do our own censorship, up to a point? If I see something I consider offensive on the board, I close that thread and open something else (unless I'm re-reading something I'm about to post, then I just edit it :D)

The webteam seem to do a good job of stepping in and censoring when things get out of hand and I'm glad they are there doing that job, for free! Frankly, I'm surprised to see Flanks has time to go out with this board to keep an eye on 24/7!

I don't agree that this should be a members' only board, either. As has been said, it brings in new blood who may, or may not, decide to get more involved with the club and pay the membership fee. And there's an awful lot of experts out there who post because of their interest in Ducati who may have no interest in the club itself. So what? We shouldn't limit things to just club members. Leave them be and let them have their say.

The only thing I'm slightly concerned about with this discussion is, if I want to sell a bike, I'd want the freedom to post it on here. Similarly, if someone I know and ride with or see at DSC meets had something to sell that I might want, I'd want ot hear about it through the board. It's a very effective grapevine, for those who use it. :sing::sing:

In fairness, the radical action I took last night did not just involve censorship in the end. Personal abuse I read last night was reason enough to censor and ban someone from this site, period. Another member had similar abuse put on them during October/September, and I took the same action.

Going back to the censorship last night, the Webteam were advised that someone had posted a bike for sale, which they had no right to advertise. A moderator advised the poster of his concerns, and was met with a wave of severe abuse in my opinion.

There is progress on the rule front, some won't like these rules, some will. Can't please everyone all the time, after all we're only human. But once in place, everybody will know where they stand (i hope). But the rules will be set to please the majority.

Someone said this week in an e mail to me, remember this is a bike club, it's meant to be fun.

Mark (Flanks)