Ok, here's the problem. I don't think anyone around here wants a truly "open" forum such as AICN... which gets overrun with trolls and idiots.
If we just throw open the forums and then deal with the troublemakers, it causes way more pain for the admins than any of us want to inflict (well maybe some of us
). However, if we stay "Invite only, majority decides" then we'll never get anyone new, or, we'll reach a point where most people don't know the invitees, which makes voting pointless.
So what about this:
Invite Only, wait a couple of days for any objections, then they're in. No vote, give some time in case someone has a major case against that person. If someone has a problem with an invite, deal with it on a case by case basis.
Some of the votes for people now are getting silly. Yes, we'll want these people, but some people seem to be voting "yes" when they really should say "don't know them"
I don't know... It seems like there should be some way to facilitate easy entry but still make it "by invitation." That's also not to say someone couldn't request a membership either, but that's like an "application" or something... I'm just thinking out lout here... I don't think that would actually work...
I guess my main point is, the tag "invitation only" doesn't need to be negative. The tag of "voted in or out" is inherently negative... if you're not invited.