In late November, BMWCCA approached me about our closed registration status. It had come to their attention, they wrote, "that the ZHP Mafia is no longer accepting new registrants. This is not in the spirit of what a SIG is supposed to be and not what you indicated when you applied to become a recognized SIG of BMWCCA. We ask that you change this policy immediately or you will be removed."
I gave them the reasons for closing the forum to new registrants and also explained that new members are added all of the time. We just didn't want new members coming off the street disrupting what we have here. We also didn't want spambots signing up and disrupting our forum.
In sum, I said, we accept almost every person that requests to be added to our forum. It's true, I wrote, that we do make them jump through a hoop, though, to get added. It's not possible to simply sign up. You have to approach us and let us know that you plan to be active and that you plan to not be an asshole once you get here. Once they jump through that minimal hoop, they're in.
The vice president of BMWCCA said that he does not like how our message reads. He believes that the first roadblock is a turn off and that people go elsewhere. I don't necessarily disagree with him. I think that many would-be asscracks self select at that point. But I also believe that people who would be great additions to our forum do jump through that hoop and join.
After giving it some thought, though, and in consultation with the moderators at ZHPMafia.com, we've decided that we will not be changing our policy and we will not be altering our message. We are not reopening the forum. And we are not tweaking the message that unregistered members see when they arrive.
As a result, I do believe that BMWCCA, at its next board meeting, will remove us as a SIG. As I told the moderators, though: I'd rather keep the forum the way it is (closed) and keep the same message, than be a part of BMWCCA.
Keeping the general population happy with our forum is our number one priority. A closed forum seems to be working well.
In the end, even though we may get the boot from BMWCCA, we will dictate our policy. An outside organization will not.
If and when we get the boot, I will let you know.
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