Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Amy,

Yeah. However, it's been my experience that if a community isn't growing, it's shrinking. There's no staying still. And it's hard for new people to be a problem if the board is community-run and we stick to standards. I've tried to make this board different from TOBB partly by giving several people moderation and admin rights, and even one (Pete) a login on the server. That way I don't have total control.

In my Day Job, I help run a community of database programmers which has grown from a couple dozen in 1998 to several thousand today ... without losing its spirit or character. So it's pretty natural for me to look at a community and immediately say "how can this grow?"

That being said, I don't think a change of domain name will have any measurable effect on getting new people on the board. I could be wrong, of course. But really, I think the only thing that would catapult us would be moving to FaceBook. That would also cause the board to lose its character and community, too, since the FB admins would control it and not us.

Josh,

Let us be brutally honest...

There are certain people we would never want to join this board. (Hence Frank's comment on another thread about not ruining our little slice of heaven.) I just hope that whatever direction we move doesn't "invite" this.

Amy

Amy,

Sure. In fact, at some point we need to discuss how we can deal with ... ahem ... undesirables in a fair and community-minded way. As long as the board is running on a private server, we can make our own rules, and that includes banning people because we know they behave badly on other boards.

But I don't think changing the domain name will affect that one way or another. Do you?

Just to be clear: I'm not pushing to change the domain name, particularly, and there's no urgency about deciding. We have a year until I need to renew cookaholics.org, so I'd like to decide before then, but this year's $15 is already spent. I just want people to decide based on whether or not we want a different address, rather than other issues which are probably unrelated.

I know this may or may not become an issue, and the community has to come first.



Not per se, but it immediately popped into my mind.

Amy

Oh, I've seen what happens with communities who are unwilling, or constitutionally unable to, kick people out, up close and personal (Debian project). No arguments there.

However, I've also seen communities where the rules for banning people were unwritten, capricious, and up to individual moderators to decide without appeal (Chowhound). And that's just as bad. So we'll need some kind of fair process.

Anyway, that's getting away from the topic of the new domain name. As the biggest user of the board after me, can you say yea or nay on a change of domain name?

The pressure, the pressure....

Okay, I say "go for it."

Amy

I say we dunk 'em. Anybody made of wood has to go.

JB,

Who are you who is so wise in the ways of science?

So they weigh that same as a duck?

As long as editors are ready willing and able to banish the "personalities" that ruined the other board I'm good, just do not let that seed take hold here.

I have a few "most (un)wanted" to be on gaurd for..