stever - 4:31 am on Aug 23, 2002 (gmt 0)

So the problem really is the number of posts (and the number of "noise" posts) but the number of members should not drop? And there is not a financial problem.

To address this then, what about membership plus a post limit model?

Free membership: lurking plus limited posts per month. Use your allocation wisely. Mods plus Brett/mod-selected members given unlimited posting privileges.

Paid membership: unlimited posts per month.

New viewers: given access to newbie faq base and view-only time-limited membership.

After a year's membership, membership changes automatically to free.

One thing I was impressed with when I joined here was the depth of experience and the high level of gold to dross. I was intimidated in making my first post (good thing, IMO). Lately the average time taken to reach 100 posts has dropped significantly.

Would not "think before you post" be a good path to follow? I'm as guilty of not doing it as anyone...

[edited by: stever at 4:33 am (utc) on Aug. 23, 2002]