Usergroup and Forum Access Changes - Effective Immediately

[Admin]

Due to privacy concerns, new members will no longer have access to the Community Member forum. Newly registered accounts now must have 10 posts, 10 reputation points and 30 days registered to have access to the Community Member forum/usergroup. This is the same requirement that has been in place for chat room access.

In addition, future donations at the Sponsor and Benefactor levels will no longer have access to the Senior Community Member forum/usergroup. Instead, Sponsors and Benefactors will have automatic access to the Community Member forum/usergroup as part of their subscription, if they do not already have access.

Access to the Senior Community Member forum/usergroup will be granted only as follows:

The only users who can read and post in this forum are:

1) Admins

2) Community Members with at least 100 posts, 50 reputation points and 1 year registered (higher minimums apply at 6 months)

3) Technical Professionals with at least 25 posts and 60 days registered

4) Moderators and Usergroup Leaders with at least 25 posts

5) (Some long-time users may be grandfathered from an earlier change)

A few other notes-

Donations at the Supporter level will not automatically gain access to either Community Member or Senior Community Member usergroups. If they have access to those groups already, they will continue to have access. Current Supporters are grandfathered permanently into the Community Member usergroup.

Donors with currently active Benefactor/Sponsor subscriptions will be grandfathered into access for the Senior Community Member usergroup until your subscription expires and is not renewed. If your Benefactor/Sponsor subscription exprires, you will at some point lose access to the Senior Community Member usergroup unless you have met one of the criteria above. This affects about 30 people.

Less active or newer members may lose access to the Community Member off-topic forum. I apologize for the short notice and any inconvenience. If you would like to participate in the Community Member Off-topic Chat forum, you have 3 options:

1) Access is free when you reach 10 posts, 10 reputation and 30 days registered.

2) You may request to join the Community Member Usergroup in your User Control Panel, Group Memberships area. Requests are granted at the discretion of the usergroup leaders. Generally, this will only be done if you have posted in the Community Member forum already or if you "know" someone who has access already and who will vouch for you. Please list their username in the reason for your request.

3) You may donate at the Benefactor or Sponsor Level

No other members will lose any access or features in this change. If you think your access has changed in any way beyond what is mentioned here, please send a private message to Admin.

[Starlight]

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/starlightCPST/respect.gif

You rock!!! And thanks!!!

[MySillyKids]

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/starlightCPST/respect.gif

You rock!!! And thanks!!!

:yeahthat: x 10000000,00000000,000000

[Patriot201]

Excellent! :thumbsup:

[TXAggieTech]

Great idea! Thanks for the doing the extra work.

[BookMama]

Great! Thank you, Darren!

[aisraeltax]

May i ask why the changes? it doesnt really affect me other than teh senior community forum (i think) but i dont have access to that forum now anyway. just wondering what prompted the change?

[mommy2redheads]

I guess that means that I cannot get back into Coffee Break until I get 5 more hugs.:(

[Admin]

I guess that means that I cannot get back into Coffee Break until I get 5 more hugs.:(

Please put in a join request in your User CP. For the rest of May, there will be sort of a grace period. If you have been a member for at least a few months and have some posting history (especially in the Community Member forum), your request will probably be approved. Newer members and those without many posts will probably have to look at one of the other options, unless you know a current Community Member who will vouch for you.

[Admin]

May i ask why the changes? it doesnt really affect me other than teh senior community forum (i think) but i dont have access to that forum now anyway. just wondering what prompted the change?

Like any large community forum, from time to time we have had issues with users gaining access to the forums for unsavory reasons. These range from harvesting personal information, stealing photos, stalking, harrassment, you name it. Nothing so far has been a major issue, but I do have concerns as the forum is growing so fast and is a community mostly populated by women with young children.

This way, the off-topic forums take a little more effort for anyone to get access. Like anything on the internet, there is never a guarantee of security or privacy, but at least it will now take someone a little more time and effort to be a nuisance here.

[southpawboston]

Nothing so far has been a major issue, but I do have concerns as the forum is growing so fast and is a community mostly populated by women with young children.

Like anything on the internet, there is never a guarantee of security or privacy, but at least it will now take someone a little more time and effort to be a nuisance here.

i'd say resisting the urge to post pics of your little ones and refraining from using their real names is probably the safest online practice. :twocents:

[Admin]

i'd say resisting the urge to post pics of your little ones and refraining from using their real names is probably the safest online practice. :twocents:

Indeed, but not very much fun in a community. Safe practice is always a bummer, well, unless it applies to child restraints, that is. For those who don't mind the risks, things are now at least a little bit safer here...

[crunchierthanthou]

thanks, Darren. :)

[Neatfreak]

Thank you for the update! I was really confused today when I logged in ...

[Heather and Alex]

i was trying to figure out what happened to coffee break.. is there anyway i can get back in? i dont post in there often but i do post some

[SpaceAngel]

Thank you for the access to the community forum! I can't wait til I actually have kids of my own to talk about with you fine folks.....in the meantime, fieldtrip season looms and I must be prepared to deal with installing (mostly) booster seats!

[BeckC]

What are reputation points? How are they awarded? Does admin hand them out or other members? My posts say I have disabled reputation. What does that mean? Or does it mean I just don't have any?

Just wondering.

[Simplysomething]

What are reputation points? How are they awarded? Does admin hand them out or other members? My posts say I have disabled reputation. What does that mean? Or does it mean I just don't have any?

Just wondering.

That just means you haven't turned them on. You still accumulate them, if it's disabled. You can enable it in your User CP.

Anyone can give out reputation points by clicking on the scales icon at the top of a post.

[BeckC]

Thanks so much. :)

[AmRo]

This is probably a stupid question... :rolleyes:

I don't have enough rep points to see the Coffee Break forum any longer, but I have posted there in the past. Those posts are no longer in my post history (I'm guessing because I can't view the forum), but are they still there? Or have they been deleted? Thanks! :)

[Marinesfamily5]

love the new rules... makes me feel safer
and I tend to rebel against "the man" and rules lol

[CPSDarren]

This is probably a stupid question... :rolleyes:

I don't have enough rep points to see the Coffee Break forum any longer, but I have posted there in the past. Those posts are no longer in my post history (I'm guessing because I can't view the forum), but are they still there? Or have they been deleted? Thanks! :)

Nothing was deleted. Go ahead and make a join request in your User CP:-)

[CPSDarren]

love the new rules... makes me feel safer
and I tend to rebel against "the man" and rules lol

Isn't there an old saying- "Behind every man Admin implementing the new rules are 20 women Moderators suggesting the new rules" ? Or something like that...

[Neatfreak]

Darren, thanks for hooking me up (I'm assuming it was you)!

[UlrikeDG]

Isn't there an old saying- "Behind every man Admin implementing the new rules are 20 women Moderators suggesting the new rules" ? Or something like that...

I thought it was 20 female moderators going, "Whatever you say, dear," and then doing their own thing.

[gbpmama]

Ahhhh. There was a couple of threads I was following and now I can't. :( Wah, I know.

I didn't turn my reputation feature off yet it is off.. guess I'll turn it on, though I can't see any reps coming my way. I'm here to learn more so than anything. Though I've shared a couple of deals on car seats.. can you get reps for that? Hmm..

[snowbird25ca]

I thought it was 20 female moderators going, "Whatever you say, dear," and then doing their own thing.

:ROTFLMAO:

[CPSDarren]

Darren, thanks for hooking me up (I'm assuming it was you)!

I've been checking the join requests a couple times a day. QuassEE and the Usergroup Leaders (Papooses, Lovinwaves, LuvBug03, Skaterbabscpst) can also approve this queue. So, you're welcome, but I'm not sure who it was!

[CPSDarren]

Ahhhh. There was a couple of threads I was following and now I can't. :( Wah, I know.

I didn't turn my reputation feature off yet it is off.. guess I'll turn it on, though I can't see any reps coming my way. I'm here to learn more so than anything. Though I've shared a couple of deals on car seats.. can you get reps for that? Hmm..

If you haven't already, make a join request. You have 47 posts, been registered since 2007 and have posted in the CM forum so you don't even need more rep.

[KJ,AJ,&RJ'sMommy]

Well that totally explanes why I haven't been able to find it on the forums lol! ;):p I dodn't think that I have enough reputation to gain access. :( That sucks.

[UlrikeDG]

Well that totally explanes why I haven't been able to find it on the forums lol! ;):p I dodn't think that I have enough reputation to gain access. :( That sucks.

Psst. There are instructions to regain access in this thread.

[tweetykl]

How do you get reputation points?

[UlrikeDG]

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=8944

[MissKatie]

What is the senior community member forum? I'm a tech and I have a billion posts but I don't think I've been registered for 60 days... will it magically appear on my registration birthday? :p

[CPSDarren]

It does indeed, it should be automatic once you reach the appropriate threshold.

[Admin]

Community Member access will now be granted automatically by the system, based on a floating scale of posts, reputation points and days registered. The Community Member usergroup leaders can still approve individual requests, but will generally only do so if the request is accompanied by a referral from a current Community Member.

[CPSDarren]

Access to the Senior Community Member forum/usergroup will be granted only as follows:

The only users who can read and post in this forum are:

2) Community Members with at least 100 posts, 50 reputation points and 180 days registered (subject to change)

3) Technical Professionals with at least 25 posts and 60 days registered


Effective immediately, Community Members must now be registered 1 year to gain access to the SCM forum with 50 reputation and 100 posts. Somewhat higher reputation and post counts will be necessary to gain SCM access at 180 days registered.

Technical Professionals must have 50 posts and 90 days registered for SCM access.

Community members who are blatantly increasing their posts counts with trivial posts or soliciting reputation points may have their reputation points reset for doing so.

No current members with access to the SCM forum will lose access due to these changes, except those listed in the first post in this thread who gained access via a donation and do not otherwise meet the minimum requirements listed here, should their donation expire.

[jewlsvern]

I can get into the community member forum. Is there another forum other than SCM that I am missing? All this happened while I moved across the country and I thought the names had just changed.

[Simplysomething]

I can get into the community member forum. Is there another forum other than SCM that I am missing? All this happened while I moved across the country and I thought the names had just changed.

I don't think so. There's the tech forum, but you have to be a tech to post there. Perhaps there are other secret forums, but they haven't told me about them. lol

Admin, could you edit the original post in this thread to show the new requirements for SCM access? If a poster doesn't read the entire thread, he or she might still think that the other requirements still apply.

Post 1 (http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=433489&postcount=1) says :
2) Community Members with at least 100 posts, 50 reputation points and 180 days registered (subject to change)

Post 37 (http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=494807&postcount=37)says:
Effective immediately, Community Members must now be registered 1 year to gain access to the SCM forum with 50 reputation and 100 posts. Somewhat higher reputation and post counts will be necessary to gain SCM access at 180 days registered.

It just might help to put that up there in the original post, since it has actually changed.

[CPSDarren]

Done! No other private forums except for the moderators to discuss reported posts and such.