Changes to what the public can see.

[Administrator]

When the site was first built we had a lot of it open to the public for google and yahoo bots to be able to crawl the site and put us into the search engines. We recently decided it was time to lock down more of the site to the public but still allow a little bit visible for the bots to pick up.

All the techniques and shop stuff areas are now locked. As a guest you can only see the thread titles but not the content of the threads. What does this mean for the site? Well you can feel better about sharing real info with other working professional tattoo artists without running the risk of a kitchen magician taking your suggestions out of context or treating this forum as an online apprenticeship. The thread titles are still visible so that Google doesn't see the site as a black hole with no info and can still help us attract new members.

The Off topic/job/classifieds areas are completely invisible to guests for security reasons.

The only area that is readable by guests currently is the product reviews and info. This is open because the majority of searches for Rotary machines are based on brand. We have a handful of amazing builders that are members of the forum and have been very helpful. Having info on here about their products with all of you singing their praises is good for them! It attracts users through search engine hits as well as it will help people make informed choices about where their money goes even if they decide not to join the forum.

I you want to see what a guest sees simply log out and look at the forum. If you are not logged in you should see a big gray box at the top telling you to sign up if you are a working professional. If you try to open threads in most of the forum you will get a message saying you are not allowed to see this. When you are done feeling frustrated with not being able to read log back in and start some new conversations, post some work for members to discuss, etc.

If anyone has any opinions to the contrary please feel free to post them here so we can discuss this.

[Alie K]

I think it's a great idea, and that people will be more open to posting and boasting in areas such as "Techniques" now that they know that every Tom, Dick and Mary can see the info!!

[rev matt]

Good call.

[Administrator]

Looks like this backfired a little and has turned the sections into a black hole for visitors. I will work this weekend on fixing this so people can still catch us and are encouraged to still join and post. The biggest problem right now is generating content and conversations that will keep everyone coming back to keep talking. I would encourage you if you are a regular user of the forum to please start lots or threads! If you love something, or really hate something please share!

[inked]

Looks like this backfired a little and has turned the sections into a black hole for visitors. I will work this weekend on fixing this so people can still catch us and are encouraged to still join and post. The biggest problem right now is generating content and conversations that will keep everyone coming back to keep talking. I would encourage you if you are a regular user of the forum to please start lots or threads! If you love something, or really hate something please share!

will do!

[possessed2sk8]

Nice job thanks! hopefully this will encourage more posting

[slicksteel]

true true

[possessed2sk8]

Is there a clear way to tell exactly what topics are available to the public eye and which are not? Perhaps put them in their own category or color coat??

[Administrator]

I would need to make a list. The easiest way is to log out and try and check the sections. Some are completley invisible others show you the title but when you click on them you cant go in there unless you are logged in. When a member registers they can see almost all the forum but cant post until their account is validated. Depending on how busy the staff is we usually validate the accounts within about 12 hours at the most. I try to check the pending registrations about every three hours and Alie K. gets a notification to her phone as soon as a new registration happens. Between spammers, looky lous and kitchen magicians we approve about half of all registrations. There are always also the people who fill out the information with vague details. They either get an email from us saying we need a little more clarification of professional affiliation or they just get the (rude) email the software auto generates when we do not approve an account.

I will work on making the list tonight. With a builder account you have access to all the forum and a little more

[possessed2sk8]

Thanks! Logging out to check would take work on my end though. Haha