Jestersix

Membership Nomenclature

denzil

denzil

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Hello BAR!

Since this has been a fairly recent subject of discussion, I figured that I would open this up to everyone to get your opinions on the membership nomenclature in our forums. It seems that folks are confused between a "Member" and a "Supporting Member."

A "Member" is considered a member of the forum. A "Supporting Member" is considered a member of our actual club. These are all according to the By-Laws as described therein.

To minimize confusion, what would you suggest as a solution to this? Should we have blank titles for forum-only members? Should we switch paying members to "Premium Member" instead of its current form of "Supporting Member?" What makes sense to you? We'd like to hear your input!
 
For reference, here is how a few other boards seem to handle this:

Atlanta Reef Club:
  • Forum users: nothing noted
  • Members: ARC Member
Manhattan Reefs:
  • Forum users: Member
  • Members: Senior Member
NorCal Reef Club:
  • Forum users: Guest
  • Members: Member
LA Reef Club:
  • Forum users: nothing noted
  • Members: "TEAM LARC" badge
Delaware Valley Reef Club
  • Forum users: Regular Member
  • Members: DVRC Paid Members
Fox Valley Reef Club:
  • Forum users: nothing noted
  • Members: "I Proudly Support FVRC" badge
Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston:
  • Forum users: MARSH Guest
  • Members: Supporting Member

I'd vote that forum users be noted as "Guests" and Members be noted as "Supporting Member"
This seems to be the most accurate and from what I've found, the most common solution.
 
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Simply having no title I think works best, if you don't have a title then there's no confusion about your status in the club.

As an old Cheer's episode went "Sorry I can't give you a raise, but I can give you a title!" :D
 
I like either "blank" or "Guest" for forum only non-paying folks and "Club Member" or "Paid Member" for those that pay for membership. I think you can support the club without paying (give advice or give away frags, for example) so that's why I think the word support can be confusing... I also suggest the topics be made consistent with whatever is decided upon (currently, DBTC header indicates it is for supporting members while Club Business is for club members).
 
Thanks for the info @Bluprntguy !

My vote is for a blank denotion. Only because in some forums, you don't even have to be fully registered to post as a "Guest", which denotes a lesser-status than someone who's actually registered onto the forum. It feels temporary as @FeliciaLynn mentioned, but what do we still call someone a "Guest" with over 100+ posts? Just seems a little odd. Just my 2 cents, but either way:

If the consencus is "Guest", I don't mind.
 
'Guest' says to me you aren't even registered at the site. You are an unknown.

'Member' says you have joined the site. Perhaps something more junior status like 'Limited Member' would be clearer.

'Supporting Member' works for me. Perhaps something like 'Paying Member', 'Full Member'????
 
"Guest" and "Club Member" are my favorites.

Note that the field is (or was) programmable by the user. (Custom Title)
I changed mine a while back just for fun.
So yes - you can be Grand Poobah.

If we get all official, that programmable feature will have to be removed.
 
rygh said:
Note that the field is (or was) programmable by the user. (Custom Title)
I changed mine a while back just for fun.
So yes - you can be Grand Poobah.

If we get all official, that programmable feature will have to be removed.
Click to expand...

Or... that's a good idea! Paid members can have an added perk of customizing their own titles. :beer:
 
While the "Guest" suggestion is great, I think it's slightly clearer with "Forum Member."

I've created a poll for all of us to vote on this. We'll close the voting on Saturday, June 28.
 
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