At present forum members are very anonymous, in the early days it didn’t matter as we were largely refugees from “the other place” and already knew each other (more info is displayed there). I think membership has now grown significantly and the forum might benefit from the option to make more personal information available, obviously not mandatory. A member’s personal details can often be relevant to the post (eg location, bike etc)
My suggestion for fields -
Country
Area/Town
Current bike(s)
Previous bikes
Age (perhaps birthday - wishes)
Gender
About you - (random whatever you want to tell people)
Probably most members would prefer that only other signed up members have access to the data?
It’s interesting you should bring this up as it’s something I’ve contemplated quite often. Specifically, what’s the right balance between giving people the space and anonymity they prefer and still bringing us together as a group of, shall we say, online friends who get to know more about each other. It’s why I set up the region groups, so that people could find each other without having to be specific about their own location. (For what it’s worth, I’m in South Yorkshire - It’s a big place, you’ll never find me! Except @Tigcraft). A bigger ‘Gathering’ event is something I’d like to do next year as well, if we get enough interest but it’s just at the idea stage right now.
To set my stall out, I firmly believe in the right to privacy online and if any member wants to stay anonymous, that is their prerogative. Not wanting to give out personal information shouldn’t be cause for question or suspicion. The only expectation I have (and I’m sure we all have) is that people treat others respectfully around here. Piss-taking notwithstanding.
I quite like the idea of a ‘rogues gallery’ to put some faces to names, perhaps with more information on member profiles for those interested’. Some members already know each other well but for those willing, it would be quite nice to have a bit more insight about who is behind the name and whatever else they’d like to share. I’ll look in to how we can provide and manage information about ourselves to members above a certain level. Either way it wall always be optional.
I’m comfortable with what @Col_C has set out. Knowing which town and county where we live is useful in understanding if members are close.
A meet next year would be good.
). A bigger ‘Gathering’ event is something I’d like to do next year as well, if we get enough interest but it’s just at the idea stage right now.