Are we trying to discourage new members?

[TURBO2GO]

I have had 3 people now give up on signing up for prime. They have a casua interest in the NSX, and this site does not accept anyone's gmail, yahoo, hotmail, address. That is in fact many people's primary address. It makes people move on. But even if they find another email to use, what's up with the math questions as proving you are human? Some are ok, but some of them... Not so easy!!! So there's yet another hurdle to membership, another point where someone might say forget this and move on.

Seems a bit excessive to me. Lud are you aware you may be making it a bit too difficult? I literally have had 3 friends say "forget it" now.

 

[RSO 34]

Those free and anonymous email addresses pose problems for potential fraud. After an uptick of scammers in the recent past I would agree with the requirement for an email address that is more easily traceable if needed.

Yes, some of the security math questions are a bit challenging but it really isn't that difficult to sign up if someone is really interested.

 

[NetViper]

why not making NSXPRIME.com email addresses? For members that do not have an email other than the ones not allowed, they could email an admin or something and get a NSXprime.com email that would forward to their other account.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Bob the math questions are too much IMO. Should be easier. I did go to college and my friend has a CS degree and we both stared at each other dumbfounded by a couple of questions. I just think you add this to the email thing and you've just gone a bit too far with the difficulty level. People only have so much patience.

 

[RSO 34]

People only have so much patience.

I understand that but it is a little ironic that people would give up trying to register for a site after trying for 5 minutes or so when their intention was to join and spend hours on that same site browsing.

Plus, since virtually everyone now has an iphone you can just plug the question in to Siri and get the answer.

Try it - ask siri what is the square root of negative 1.......

 

[Fuoss484]

Bob the math questions are too much IMO. Should be easier. I did go to college and my friend has a CS degree and we both stared at each other dumbfounded by a couple of questions. I just think you add this to the email thing and you've just gone a bit too far with the difficulty level. People only have so much patience.

Alot of the times you can just google the answers.....lol

 

[blue_myriddn]

I like the tight security, I used to admin a very active gaming website so I know first hand the agonies of spam and nonsense from free email accounts.

I do admit it is a bit sticky for some people, but I can understand that as being necessary to prevent the opening of a floodgate.

 

[NSX Prime]

I'll answer your question, but it is perhaps not the answer you were looking for.

Yes, from a big picture point of view, it is my goal to discourage folks with just a "casual" interest in the NSX from registering.

Why? The forums on this site were headed in a direction I did not like in the mid-2000s so I actively sought to change the direction. While I'm sure your friends are fine, over the years a very disproportionate number of problematic users, as well as non-owners with very high "Off Topic" to "NSX" post ratios, have been folks with only a cursory interest in the NSX.

So I decided to put up a couple fairly low barriers in an attempt to increase the percentage of new registrations that were serious NSX folks. Because the NSX is such a niche enthusiast vehicle and had recently gone out of production, I knew this would mean decreasing the total number of registrations, not increasing the number of serious NSX folks registering. And that was fine with me because growing the site to just be a huge online community around whatever people wish to discuss is not my goal. I don't want an Off Topic forum with 10 "lifestyle" sub-forums. I know other sites do because it increases traffic which drives ad revenue, and there is nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I want for this site.

My vision for the site is one tightly focused around NSX ownership, meaning this site is for NSX owners, people seriously interested in becoming owners, and dedicated enthusiasts. The more membership it is steered towards those groups, the more NSX-focused it will be, and that is my goal.

Looking back over the last 6-7 years from today's vantage point I feel these changes, while not perfect, have largely functioned as intended.

It does bother me that I know some NSX owners have been deterred from joining, but looking at all the statistics (registration rates, post rates in various forums, etc.) I believe it is a small number and the vast majority of serious NSX folks are willing to invest a few minutes to get past the small barriers I have put in place in an effort to keep the site on course.

 

[junior40er]

If I were to register now, I wouldn't be able to because of email requirements since I'm not working for my former employer now. I think the email requirement is a bit dumb. Questions were hard but not as big an issue.

 

[DocL]

I like the current requirements in place. Maybe the problem is that this site is pretty much the only only dedicated only to the NSX. However, there are other Acura websites with NSX subforums that don't get much traffic.

So which is better: An exclusive website like NSX Prime, or a massive free for all website like Acurazine?

 

[Ric]

I think for people who are self employed or don't have their employer email, they can use the email address of their ISP like Joe.Doe @ comcast.net or something like that.

If I were to register now, I wouldn't be able to because of email requirements since I'm not working for my former employer now. I think the email requirement is a bit dumb. Questions were hard but not as big an issue.

 

[thedon67]

Lud's philosophy makes perfect sense to me. Well said Lud.

Just wish we could also get more folks active members of the NSXCA.

 

[junior40er]

I think for people who are self employed or don't have their employer email, they can use the email address of their ISP like Joe.Doe @ comcast.net or something like that.

hhhhm, I think I can do that with charter.

To the admin, once I get my @charter account set, can you change my current corporate email to new one? If someone emails me here on prime, I do not receive them anymore.

 

[NSX167]

I like the current requirements in place. Maybe the problem is that this site is pretty much the only only dedicated only to the NSX. However, there are other Acura websites with NSX subforums that don't get much traffic.

So which is better: An exclusive website like NSX Prime, or a massive free for all website like Acurazine?

+1. It's like a screening check.

 

[RYU]

Just thinking out of the box here...

Why not enforce a fee? A small fee but substantial enough to matter. Say $5 to join NSXPrime.com. This way people like me can use their email of choice yet still deter the fly-by-nighters/scammers/trolls.

One can take it even further where at the end of say 30 days (or 60 days, or whatever) and after, say 10 posts this donation of $5 can be refunded or donated to nsxprime.com.

This would do a few things.
* Increase initial participation (10 first posts)
* Deter unwanted people from joining
* Be rather fair imho
* Encourage some level of commitment from new members
* Increase revenue for site upkeep expenses

 

[NSX Prime]

To the admin, once I get my @charter account set, can you change my current corporate email to new one? If someone emails me here on prime, I do not receive them anymore.

You can do it yourself here: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/profile.php?do=editpassword

If you use a webmail account as your primary address, you can probably also forward your Charter emails to it, or set the webmail account to pick up e-mails from Charter.

 

[junior40er]

thank you

 

[shawn110975]

I agree with Lud in the path he has taken for NSXPRIME

it is his Vision for a better Online Community and for that I thank him.

my 2 cents

 

[Mirroredshades]

I think it is good that Lud is trying to keep the forum NSX specific but not allowing gmail is counterproductive. I've been on the internet since Al Gore invented it and I don't have a non-free email address other than my work address, and quite frankly, I wouldn't have joined here if it was a requirement.

You need to find a different countermeasure. Require a paypal charge of $2 to join, a facebook acct, a member to vouch for you, a VIN or something else.

 

[DRIFTER]

I don't even remember what email I used to join. I couldent now that I use a yahoo account.

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

i joined using my hotmail account....i have it for like 15 years or something....

work emails come and go...hotmail (or gmail) are always there, virtually forever,
so i always use my hotmail account and have work emails redirected to it, so i can have all my emails in one world accessible place.

But despite this i understand Lud side of things....it's basic to create as many hotmail accounts as you want, and thats all spammers/crooks need to know.

Nuno

 

[RSO 34]

You can always join the NSXCA, get an NSXCA.org email address which will forward to a free email account and not have to worry about any of this. :biggrin:

 

[Nukem]

Well I remember going through and having to e-mail the NSXPrime admin to allow me to register with my yahoo. I also remember going through some questions. Bottom line is I was really interested in the NSX. A less interested person would have said the heck with it.

 

[alum04org]

I'll answer your question, but it is perhaps not the answer you were looking for.

Yes, from a big picture point of view, it is my goal to discourage folks with just a "casual" interest in the NSX from registering.

Why? The forums on this site were headed in a direction I did not like in the mid-2000s so I actively sought to change the direction. While I'm sure your friends are fine, over the years a very disproportionate number of problematic users, as well as non-owners with very high "Off Topic" to "NSX" post ratios, have been folks with only a cursory interest in the NSX.

So I decided to put up a couple fairly low barriers in an attempt to increase the percentage of new registrations that were serious NSX folks. Because the NSX is such a niche enthusiast vehicle and had recently gone out of production, I knew this would mean decreasing the total number of registrations, not increasing the number of serious NSX folks registering. And that was fine with me because growing the site to just be a huge online community around whatever people wish to discuss is not my goal. I don't want an Off Topic forum with 10 "lifestyle" sub-forums. I know other sites do because it increases traffic which drives ad revenue, and there is nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I want for this site.

My vision for the site is one tightly focused around NSX ownership, meaning this site is for NSX owners, people seriously interested in becoming owners, and dedicated enthusiasts. The more membership it is steered towards those groups, the more NSX-focused it will be, and that is my goal.

Looking back over the last 6-7 years from today's vantage point I feel these changes, while not perfect, have largely functioned as intended.

It does bother me that I know some NSX owners have been deterred from joining, but looking at all the statistics (registration rates, post rates in various forums, etc.) I believe it is a small number and the vast majority of serious NSX folks are willing to invest a few minutes to get past the small barriers I have put in place in an effort to keep the site on course.

Appreciate this.

Lud's philosophy makes perfect sense to me. Well said Lud.

Just wish we could also get more folks active members of the NSXCA.

Agreed - we are BOTH members to support NSXCA.

You can always join the NSXCA, get an NSXCA.org email address which will forward to a free email account and not have to worry about any of this. :biggrin:

Wow, didn't know this. Makes it easy. Learn something from you guys/gals every day. :biggrin:

 

[Coconut]

Luds explanation makes sense. The true enthusiasts would find a way to register on this site as they know this is NSX central.

I tried registering on this site 3 times. The first 2 times I gave up since it rejected my yahoo email address, but that was years ago and I wasn't that "serious" about the NSX. When I finally decided it was time to get my NSX this year, I tried registering again on this website using my yahoo address again. It didn't work so I used my work email.