When you guys get some time please email the webmaster and complain about ‘guests’ being able to post.
We’ve got a good thing going here and I’d hate for some morons to ruin it for all of us.
The webmasters email is on the last page of the ‘sticky’ Welcome post.
Thanks.
Registering is not the solution to this problem. If you look at the last 20 members registered you will note some very questionable “members”.
Do I have a solution? Not really but www.pizzagrapevine.com has gone totally the other way where you can only post if you are a member.(which I am).
So is it totally open, open to view but not post, or members only or somewhere in between?
I’m sure the webmaster already is aware of your concerns. There was a discussion at the begining of this “new” format about it. The change was supposed to eliminate some of this as well as bring the TT into the current day. I posted then that this format seemed to bring in more spam and still don’t see any benifit. I’m still happy to be a member here and learn from the others and help the others learn.
Thanks for your comments guys. Yes, we are aware of a few people who, lately, have slipped in and posted unnecessary comments, ads for adult sites and crap like that. I try to check each post each morning and delete the junk and SPAM, but some do slip through the cracks.
We do appreciate everyone who visits, contributes and makes this forum what it is. Believe me, if it wasn’t the tool for operators (as well as PMQ for seeing what the important topics of the day are) that it is, it would have been closed down a long time ago because it consumes a lot of time, resources and money to pay our webmaster to write new code, ban IP addresses, maintain the site and keep the engine running.
Could security be tighter…maybe. It would require providing valid email addresses to authenticate new subscribers and having everyone provide a profile to post, but some operators like the ability to post anonymously…maybe because they have a question that they feel may be dumb (there are no dumb questions if you really don’t know the answer) or maybe just because they don’t want people to know who or where they are. But, I think because this is an open and free forum, we will always get a few trouble makers and SPAM postings.
Lately we have discussed an option that may resolve this. The idea of the Think Tank becoming a ‘paid access’ area has come up. Now wait, before you panic and start sending me hate-mail, we have thought about all of you who have been here for years and our true and loyal fans and readers and have a solution that we are considering, but haven’t made a decision on yet.
We have kicked the idea of making the Think Tank a ‘members only’ area that would require a yearly fee of just $9.99 (that is less than $1 a month) and the reason for this is to, first, eliminate the SPAMers and ad posting that are a result of this being a free and open forum, and secondly, to cover the costs of monitoring and maintaining the site, BUT THERE WOULD BE AN EXEMPTION…we would offer free lifetime membership to everyone who gave a full profile registration within the first 60 days of registration. This would allow true Think Tankers to keep posting and have access without paying. Fees would only apply to future members after the grace period. This would eliminate probably all SPAM and riff-raff and reward those who signed up withyin the grace period.
This is just in the consideration phase and we would like to hear some feedback from you. What do you guys think about moving to a fee-based access forum with a grandfather clause for full registration within the first 60 days?
Tom.
I am guilty of the wise ass posts. Some of the operators got a well deserved chuckle out of them, some not. If you read through my posts you will note that they are based on operational experience & facts that may prevent some people planning to open a lot of grief & significant loss of money. There needs to be balance to the encouragement. I’ll tone it down & apologize to any operators who we’re offended by my remarks. Although, I doubt there are many.
PAID ACCESS
Tom,
You may be better served by including the abililty to post & respond as part of the magazine subscription. Allow everyone to search and read the posts, but without a PMQ sub, no posting. This will also put the magazine in the hands of new operators or those in the planning stages. So up the sub $12 & be done with it.
Tough call, but here are my thoughts:
SPAM seems better than the old format, not worse.
I’d sure feel special being grandfathered, but on second thought, I think we’d miss out on many potential new users. I simply almost never sign up for paid online memberships, and I don’t think I’m alone.
Someone mentioned another site that was for registered members only - and there are 9 users. Nine.
Going to paid membership, I think we’d be here mostly without new members. Not that I don’t like the current members, but fresh thoughts and troubles are valuable and should be welcomed. Nothings more welcoming than “come on in, it’s free”.
Re: PAID ACCESS
Or that. Not a bad idea. I did pay up for the magazine…
Re: PAID ACCESS
Tom,
Why don’t you send out a direct mail piece, post card would work & make it a BOGO…FREE SUBSCRIPTION to think tank with purchase of print edition of PMQ. Make sure you track your responses & calculate your return. A POS would help 
Re: PAID ACCESS
JOHNNY writes:
Tom,
You may be better served by including the abililty to post & respond as part of the magazine subscription. Allow everyone to search and read the posts, but without a PMQ sub, no posting. This will also put the magazine in the hands of new operators or those in the planning stages. So up the sub $12 & be done with it.
That’s a pretty good idea. A good way for you to sell extra magazines and you actually get 100% readers involved in the forum. However, look for ways this could backfire on you (i.e. lower base of forum members who might just want to see what they’re getting themselves into before they make the plunge, operators who are simply broke and as silly as it seems, can’t even afford to pay the subscription fees… which is the reason why they’re here). These are the people we can’t leave behind and these are the people that are the lifeblood of this medium. These guys will learn to be successful operators and in 10 years they can pass the wealth to other up and comers. That’s how the cycle works. Who knows, maybe a poster or two might even become experts for your magazine.
Another idea would be to just leave it as it is and we put up with it. It’s really not that big a deal. It’s not like they try to advertise something I’ve never seen before. I just simply skip over it.
I think the biggest factor is how will this affect the pizzeria owner who’s looking for help. These are the guys who need this forum more than anybody. As long as we don’t keep them out I’m good with any decisions you make. -J_r0kk
Re: PAID ACCESS
I came to this (well the old TT) forum long before I entered into the business. It was (as so many people constantly say) a huge help to me then and every time I log on, there is always something to learn.
Would I have signed up to a site before I entered the industry? no - would have probably kept surfing and found another free site to browse and get my interest.
Its very easy to see the spam messages - just live with it.
No if you could do something about the spam email I get then thats a different story… 
Thanks guys for the input. It was very informative and gives us more to work with to make a decisions…which looks like keeping the status quo. Keep offering suggestions and thanks for the feedback.
TOm
One other thing…
I’ll gladly pay for a bigger private message box. Every day I’m almost at capacity and I constantly have to delete messages just to keep some space open. Anything you can do about that?
Thanks,
J_r0kk
Here’s my 2 cents…
Like the guys said, we’ve all seen our share of spammers and we know when to skip over them. Yes some of us need to put a piece of duct tape over our mouths but here we do encourage freedom of speech if its helping our fellow man.
I find this site very addicting some ideas I like others I don’t. I try to help the next person if I can and I also like to hear from others.
I agree that if it becomes a paid site we would lose many future business owners in our industry. They need answers to their questions and that’s what we’re here for maybe they don’t like our bluntness but “WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE”
I’ve been in this biz for 30 years and believe me I learn something new every week. In my book no question is a dumb question as many of us have the same questions but we’re scared to ask.
So that’s my 2 cents if it means anything…