introspectshun
01.30.04, 11:20 AM
We've been experiencing a great influx of new members here on the GeekChat forums. So many new signups, in fact, that we've decided to place a temporary hold on registrations once we reach a cap of 4,000 members.
You're not alone if you're wondering why we're doing this. Put simply, we're having growing pains. We've outgrown our bandwidth allowance. The forums have grown to an unmanageable size for just three moderators. There's no way we can keep up with the volume of posts we've had over the past few months and we have some re-tooling to do.
Once we freeze signups, we're going to bring on more moderators, upgrade the forum's software and purchase more bandwidth. The bandwidth upgrade will have to support the current level of activity on the forums and allow for growth of the forums and the actual site itself. We have some fun features planned to integrate members with the rest of Guitargeek.com, so we'll need bandwidth to grow into in the months ahead.
After those changes are made, we will also expand the FAQ with your suggestions and provide some "newbie" tools to point new users in the right direction on signup. That way, the site won't become one big repetitive mess of "hey, how do I post my rig?" and various other oft-repeated threads.
Once those tools are in place, we will open up enrollment again. However, new members (not existing members) will be required to use a non-free email address (sorry Hotmail users) to gain access to the forums. This is to combat the increasing problem of trolls we've seen sign up multiple times to try to avoid moderation. We feel that everyone has a real email address somewhere--either at school, work or home--that they can use in their membership profile to participate in these forums. Though we're sure this requirement may be unpopular with some people, please remember that this site is free. We do not wish to waste our resources with people who signup under a cloak of anonymity strictly for the sake of trolling the boards.
We look forward to the future of Guitargeek.com and are glad you're a part of it! As always, we're interested in your feedback. You are encouraged to discuss this post here:
http://guitargeek.com/chat/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20024
You're not alone if you're wondering why we're doing this. Put simply, we're having growing pains. We've outgrown our bandwidth allowance. The forums have grown to an unmanageable size for just three moderators. There's no way we can keep up with the volume of posts we've had over the past few months and we have some re-tooling to do.
Once we freeze signups, we're going to bring on more moderators, upgrade the forum's software and purchase more bandwidth. The bandwidth upgrade will have to support the current level of activity on the forums and allow for growth of the forums and the actual site itself. We have some fun features planned to integrate members with the rest of Guitargeek.com, so we'll need bandwidth to grow into in the months ahead.
After those changes are made, we will also expand the FAQ with your suggestions and provide some "newbie" tools to point new users in the right direction on signup. That way, the site won't become one big repetitive mess of "hey, how do I post my rig?" and various other oft-repeated threads.
Once those tools are in place, we will open up enrollment again. However, new members (not existing members) will be required to use a non-free email address (sorry Hotmail users) to gain access to the forums. This is to combat the increasing problem of trolls we've seen sign up multiple times to try to avoid moderation. We feel that everyone has a real email address somewhere--either at school, work or home--that they can use in their membership profile to participate in these forums. Though we're sure this requirement may be unpopular with some people, please remember that this site is free. We do not wish to waste our resources with people who signup under a cloak of anonymity strictly for the sake of trolling the boards.
We look forward to the future of Guitargeek.com and are glad you're a part of it! As always, we're interested in your feedback. You are encouraged to discuss this post here:
http://guitargeek.com/chat/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20024