MEMBERSHIP CHANGES AS OF NOV 1, 2008

As mentioned in previous posts, on Nov 1 we will be implementing our stepped membership program. Stepped Membership is a new member structure that will limit new members ability to see/post at the Sarlacc Pit and the Cargo Hold. It will also limit a new member's ability to create a new thread, giving them time to see who we are and how we work before giving them access to the entire board.

Our purpose behind creating a stepped membership is three-fold:

• Give new members time and opportunity to learn and adjust to TDH's culture.
• Encourage members to participate and reward them for their participation. We currently have over 2000 members with a 0 post count.
• Ensure our members are here for the right reasons. Members who have nothing to contribute towards the hobby will not be able to simply post randomly because they will not immediately haev access to the Off-Topic forum.

The structure we are setting up will work as follows:

When does a new member get full access?
In short, after being a member for MORE than 14 days and making more than 9 posts.
A member with less and 14 days of membership and less than 5 posts is considered a "new member" and has the most restrictions. Once a new member has 5 or more posts AND has been here MORE than 14 days, they will be automatically promoted from a new member to an “intermediate member.” Once they have 10 or more posts AND have been here MORE than 14 days, they will be automatically promoted from intermediate member to “full member” and will have full access to the board.

What can/can’t a “New Member” do?
CAN create new thread and post in a Welcome/introductory forum.
CAN reply in forums but cannot create new threads.
CANNOT view the Cargo Hold.
CANNOT view the Sarlacc Pit.

What can/can’t I do as a “Intermediate Member?”
CAN create new thread and post in a Welcome/introductory forum.
CAN reply in forums but cannot create new threads.
CAN reply in the Cargo Hold but cannot create new threads.
CAN view the Sarlacc Pit but CANNOT post.

Here is the important thing to note.
Current member WILL NOT be grandfathered in! The stepped membership system is automated. We do not manually control it. The system counts your number of posts and days registered and automatically places you into the appropriate group. What does this mean? SOME OF OUR NEWER MEMBERS WITH LOW POST COUNTS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY PLACED INTO THE NEW OF INTERMEDIATE MEMBER GROUPS AND WILL LOSE ACCESS TO THE SARLACC PITT AND CARGO HOLD. We are stating this now so we aren't inundated with "why can't I see the cargo hold PMs and emails after Nov 1.

I am sure some new members will not be happy with this change but we feel this change will benefit the majority of the community in helping focus the membership on subject relevant to this site.

If you would like to learn more, visit this link

D

great job, admin!!

Good on you Dent!!

Agreed

Great idea, this will only help to improve TDH community into the future!!

As a newer member here, I think this is a great idea which more boards should use to control things from getting out of hand!

That seems pretty wise. I'm a new member and I've made around 30 posts. (Don't know about how many days though? Somewhere around 14 I think.)

I am new and I feel really very comfortable with you and I believe that day per day I am finding my place in the world and east belongs one to them, I find the idea interesting, it is very difficult to administer, so many members, good luck and I am with you!!!!!
Leo

Im like a 3 day year old here LMAO but this sounds like a great idea. I used PMing whilst I couldn't post so I could get ideas and such and basically learn how to work this set up

Im all for it sounds like a great idea!

Not a bad idea at all. Many other sites use a similar format. here's to my first reply on a post!!

Interesting idea. I have seen this go into affect on other forums (most of which I don't frequent anylonger.) I agree that it will help to get people more active.

This is certainly not an idea we pioneered but one that we feel will help focus this community and will help newer members ease into our community and have more time to get a feel for who we are and how we operate. We hope this will help to eliminate some of the frustration and confusion we have seen from both new and old members alike.

Originally Posted by The Dent

This is certainly not an idea we pioneered but one that we feel will help focus this community and will help newer members ease into our community and have more time to get a feel for who we are and how we operate. We hope this will help to eliminate some of the frustration and confusion we have seen from both new and old members alike.

Totally agreed!

Will there be a purge system? As in in 30 days of being a member and having 0 posts would the system purge lets say 2000 accounts?

agreed here as well.

Yay! This would help kill the Joker movement going on in our Sarlaac Pit

Been advocating for this for a while now. Great move.

I just come on here to read, view pics, and purchase on the Cargo Hold. I never post because I don't feel like I have anything to contribute. Been on here since 04 with multiple accounts, I forget my PW. Now I'm blocked from the Cargo Hold "Oh the humanity!!!"
In fact I just purchased something from the CargoHold lastnight.

Now that I can do.
Im pretty sure on my other account I had way more posts than this.

Originally Posted by GCNgamer128

Yay! This would help kill the Joker movement going on in our Sarlaac Pit

Amen, brother. I think this is a really intelligent move for the community on Administrations part.

This will be awesome! Maybe we will see more scratch build threads like there used to be. I used to love seeing people scratch build stuff out of just parts in the garage. I feel this might help go back to that a little.

Originally Posted by ivansith

Now that I can do.
Im pretty sure on my other account I had way more posts than this.

Well, spamming a dozen random threads with "Nice work" was one way to do it...

Originally Posted by Count Dookie

Well, spamming a dozen random threads with "Nice work" was one way to do it...

Yeah, dude. Not cool.

Originally Posted by GCNgamer128

Yay! This would help kill the Joker movement going on in our Sarlaac Pit

amen bro!

Not a bad idea, I'm mostly a lurker, so I'll have to start posting more!

thank you admin, excellent job, i think those new rules is for a better site

grettings!!

Great new system IMO!

I agree tenfold

I don't mind the new system... gets me to stop lurking 3 times a day and start posting!

I have received several messages from frustrated members who have been here a long time but have not posted and who now don't have access to all the areas they once had access to.

We know this is not a perfect solution and we apologize to those of you who have been inconvenienced, but we believe this is a move that is good for the overall community and we believe the concept is sound. We feel that requiring 2 weeks and 10 posts isn't that much of an investment to ask for to have access to the full site. We knew in advance that some people would create "atta-boy" posts to reach their quoto but we are willing to accept that as, again, we believe the net gain will be worth these small inconveniences.

While we understand a few of you are annoyed, we appreciate the overwhelming approval and acceptance of this policy by the majority of our members.

Originally Posted by HoosierTrooper

I don't mind the new system... gets me to stop lurking 3 times a day and start posting!

yeah Cole...geesh!!

later bro

1st off, I'd like to say hello. Been a lurker here for a few years, and finally got round to registering today...

Secondly, I think this new system is a great idea. I've been contemplating a Boba Fett costume for a while now, due to a lack of them in my immediate area.

As Boba is such a hard costume to get right, I want to spend many hours reading through the tips, tricks and pictures of other costumes before I even contemplate putting any hard eaned cash down. keeping me out of the cargo hold for a bit will defo help me thats for sure...lol.

Hope to be a regular on here, and hopefully start the slow progess of a costume in the new year. Once I feel confident that is..

As a new guy on the forum, I understand the reasoning behind it, and don't mind the fact I can't see some things until a time/post count is reached, because the prop makers should definitely be protected by any means necessary.

I understand the reasoning, and the time limit, but part of me feels that members over 6 months old or something should have been grandfathered in. I hate spamming threads with 2 word responses, and if I have nothing to add I don't feel it's my place to try. I do appreciate making it a low post count though. will you frown on digging up old threads? :P

Originally Posted by Drago Lordist

I understand the reasoning, and the time limit, but part of me feels that members over 6 months old or something should have been grandfathered in. I hate spamming threads with 2 word responses, and if I have nothing to add I don't feel it's my place to try. I do appreciate making it a low post count though. will you frown on digging up old threads? :P

I can certainly understand your POV. We struggled with whether or not to grandfather members in who have been here a long time, but felt that we would only be setting ourselves up for trouble if a new member discovered that an old member who had less than the stated # of posts could access the full board. We also felt this would be a good way to encourage lurkers to become more actively contributing members of the board. We anticipated that some would make spam posts, just to get their post count up but we also felt confident that most would make meaningful posts as the required post count is very low and it wouldn't take anyone long to reach the requirements.

We have no problem with the resurrection of old threads as long as they are brought back for a good reason.

Dangit- This thread explains so much. As a new guy w/o Fett-anything, my mastermind plan was to raid the cargohold post-halloween to score some phatlewt FTW1!1!!!

I hope I ain't missing out on the good stuff!

Good plan for the community that you've got here Adminsquad- I mean it!

Awesome move.

Although sometimes the spam is really funny.

Overall I think this is a great idea, a little pain for the veteran will benefit everyone.

Well it sounds great... but then again, even if it won't work out... TDH has always listened to it's members so the problem will be tackeled better and better and with this move... I don't know how yoyu guys do this, but you have been able to improve on TDh stability and security again.

nothing beats this forum, really.

Keeps out riff raff, but Im ready for the cargo hold!

good idea ,and should keep out the spammers and such if they attemp to

Well this explains alot lol now i know how long until i can go in the Cargo Hold

I have just read the reason behind this admin issue and though I can agree with the reason I still find it a bit frustrating not being able to access other areas or being able to post some questions to help me with my ROTJ Fett build.

However, TDH is where I want to be so I will persevere.

Cheers everybody.

While I can understand why this new system has been implemented, I do find it a little frustrating as a new member. Guess I'll just have to post more

Well, the good news for those that feel frustrated is that building a Fett is a process that usually takes years... so a couple of weeks and a handful of posts is a drop in the bucket

I agree with the stepped program as well. This is my first post and I was not sure of where to say hi. I'm in the process of making my first set of armor right now and this site has been the biggest help. Very knowlegeable and helpful members and loads of resources really gave me the confidence to continue. Thanks for all the help so far and keep up the good work TDH!!

good idea

Makes sense. Good idea.

I am new and am still in step one. I think it is a great idea. It gives me the chance to learn how to navigate a little bit at a time! Having full access right away would be overwhelming to me!! As a newbie, I support this for sure!

Ill admit im new, been a lurker for awhile but finally decided to register. I think its fare.

I love your policy. It's not harsh, it's just fair. I mod elsewhere and would love to adopt something similar. From what I've seen so far in the last week of lurking, you guys run a pretty tight ship. Well done.

I love this forum, it's one of the most professional boards on the internet.

Second! Love this Board!

....this is old...and it's not like it got trolled up...it's just like every 2 weeks 4 more people respond to it.

As frustrating as it is having to PM every person in Cargo Hold that had something I was interested in... It's nice to see a "quality control" in place for the site. Great idea.

Great idea....what about locking old threads that haven't had any updates for more than 4-6 months to also stop the random posts.....

Noted. I think this is a good idea. Boundaries and requirements in order to have the privilege of joining and participating in this awesome community.

Maybe It is a good idea....

I Agree, good idea gets people posting and not just reading.

Maybe it´s a good idea.. I´m a member here just to reach the cargo hold. :/

I am new to this group and agree fully.