It is a fair point, but I have seen firsthand on other forums that the more hurdles you put up in front of new members then the greater the probability that the forum becomes clique driven.

Keep the barriers to entry and participation to as minimal as reasonably possible without compromising integrity is my view.

Agreed. Perhaps a distinction needs to be drawn between new users of say one to three months duration (which should be ample time to ascertain any poster's intentions) and long term members who simply opt to remain "unverified".

As a demonstration of legitimacy and sincerity in the implementation of this change there should be a sticky thread created which contains the Admin and Moderator's contact details that can only be viewed by "verified" user accounts.

This will no doubt assist in maintaining forum integrity and top down transparency.

Quid pro quo.

Fair point, but having seen these kinds of autocratic hurdles and barriers to participation being applied on other forums domestically they typically end up causing more harm than good in the long run particularly in terms of growth but the underlying dogma in that it promotes cliqueism amongst the general membership and a largely unnecessary barrier to new participants.

Now I just got a friend to verify my account thereby bypassing divulging my contact details to the Admin/Moderator team and I have no doubt in my mind this method will have been used by countless other users on here to circumvent the requirement. A new user will typically not have this luxury and will be required to pass on his/her details to the leadership team, something that given the leadership team has now effectively refused to divulge their personal iinformation that many new users may be reticent to reciprocate in kind.

I am not looking at this from a personal standpoint but from a bigger long term picture in terms of broader positive forum outcomes.

I also note that as a 5 year plus member on pinside and that I have my location listed having done so for a majority of my tenure here, so in my view the requirements of having an arbitrary tick of approval next to my name for the purposes of removing posting restrictions and gaining "forum cred" do seem a bit superfluous.

All good though and problem solved. Carry on.

It's an unecessary hurdle and a barrier to participation either way.

Are users on pinside so precious that they need to be protected from an opposing viewpoint from a user that has been arbitrarily deemed illegitimate?

Building higher walls around a forum to protect the existing inhabitants harms forum growth. I have seen it implemented on our forums domestically to their detriment.

Like I said, whilst the intentions may be virtuous the underlying (and perhaps unintended) result is that it promotes cliquism which ultimately harms forum growth in the long run.

The purple circle know that taking the path of least resistance by consistently siding with those in positions of authority and repeatedly poking at any individual who expresses an alternate viewpoint will inevitably lead to moderator intervention in their favour every time no matter how spurious the reasoning behind the intervention.

As you pointed out it will unfortunately also lead to a gradual sterility to what is one of the major pinball forums with a diversity of membership base and viewpoints.

There is always going to be an established dominant ingroup no matter which forum you join, the key being that it must be kept from overwhelming any thread which necessitates civilised discourse and certainly not publicly validated by way of unilateral thread banning for what was in essence nothing more than a dissenting opinion.

Try AussieArcade, but you live in the wrong State so it would be a tokenistic window dressing position anyway.

Darksoul worships the position because he gets to claim knee pads and chapstick as a tax deduction.

Good foresight though because from an AA Vic perspective, it is probably a role more suited to those with a predominant lapdoug personality trait as it is.

Based on past experiences on local forums, I believe it is the first step towards the beginning of a slippery slope.

Time will tell, but I am hoping the far broader forum demographics of pinside at both managerial and general membership level will act as a counter to it, which was/is an aspect completely lacking down here on the local forums.

It isn't a cliche if the observations are based on empirical data. Being in finance you should know that already.

Not at all, but I would be more concerned if every person on the forum simply nodded their heads in agreement without a single voice of concern or discussion raised. That would be the kind of servile abasement I would expect to see on a morally corrupt forum like AussieArcade.

I really enjoy when the local AA loyalists get the shits on when I indirectly criticise their domestic sacred cows and then rebut by turning it into a personal attack. Hate to break it to you Michael, but since you live in NSW the stooges who run AA don't give a stuff about you or your mod business. Their raison d'etre is to promote Queensland based pinball interests at the expense of every other State. The rest is just tokenistic window dressing designed to fill the AA coffers (e.g. instant all access pass to the trading section with a "donation") as a commercial operation and give the misleading perception that the forum on outward appearances is pretending to live up to its namesake.

Thanks Robin for your receptivity and the opportunity to provide feedback on what is by and large a well run successful forum. Much appreciated.

It's a good community provided you associate with those who have no ties to either of the two factions that operate down here.
My door and collection is always open to those who fit that no affiliative ties category and there are numerous people (local, interstate and international) who I have been happy to welcome into my home, play some pins and talk pinball.
Any time you make it to Australia and are in my area drop me a PM. I've been to the US a number of times and always admired how well organised, open and apolitical their public pinball events are so it would be remiss of me not to reciprocate that level of hospitality.

Added over 7 years ago:

I know you care PBP despite your publicly flippant attitude.

Otherwise you wouldn't be sending me private unsolicited correspondence complaining about the parlous state of the domestic pinball community and looking to me for advice.