Re the Copyright thing: How about Democratic Underground going TRULY Underground?

[Turborama]

I just had an idea and I'm not sure how it would work initially but if anyone has heard of Demonoid or used member only sites they'd get what I mean.

Demonoid close the site down occasionally due to bandwidth use and they only allow people to enter who have membership, which they can only have if they've been invited. The invitations are given by fellow members and any misuse of the invitations is strictly stamped on.

Can I invite my friend to Demonoid?
You sure can! You can access the "invite" feature under your control panel. The link is on the upper right corner of every page .. This will generate a code that the receiver will have to input when they register. There is a set number of invites so use them wisely.

Nothing on Demoind turns up on any search engines and it is totally underground in the true sense of the word.

My suggestion is that DU could migrate the site to operate in a similar way to how Demoid works when they limit the entrance to the site for members only.

Thoughts...?

ETA

In case anyone's missed it, this LBN article is what made me concerned enough to come up with the idea: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

For the full story, click on the date next to Democratic Underground here: http://righthavenvictims.blogspot.com/

[virgogal]

1. I don't like the "invitation only" part.

[Turborama]

What about members only?

The invitation thing is a way to make sure only trusted members can get in. DU only consists of trusted members anyway. Existing members of DU would automatically get invitations and then there would be a shut off point after which DUers would be able to invite friends.

I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, brainstorming.

[Electric Monk]

6. "DU only consists of trusted members anyway." Really?

Your list and my list might differ.

[Turborama]

8. How long do trolls last on DU? n/t

[virgogal]

7. Members only would be fine. The invitation only thing reminds me

of exclusive country clubs---- it becomes a very closed little world.

[Electric Monk]

2. Isn't that a bittorrent site, not a discussion site?

Somewhat different...

[Turborama]

3. It is a bit torrent site, I was just thinking about using their membership SOP

As a way for DU to go truly underground like they are, carry on as normal and to stop them from being taken over by another company.

And there are actual discussion forums within Demonoid, too. Also, when torrents are shared (as News stories are on DU) there are discussions underneath the shared torrents.

[EstimatedProphet]

4. So are you going to invite me to Demonoid?

[Turborama]

5. Sure!

PM me your email address and I'll get an invite to you...

[TygrBright]

9. You could start a site like that, but I can't see the site Admins here going to that model.

One thing that allows DU to be so very functional, with lots of forums, excellent basic software, regular upgrades, a modding system that can be operated by part time volunteers, etc., is that it is, essentially, three peoples' nearly full-time jobs to manage the site, stay on top of technical issues, pay for equipment and hosting, look for upgrades, train volunteers, keep an eye on the modding, shoot trouble, update guidelines, etc.

And while some of that is financed by member contributions, a substantial amount of what enable it to be a near full-time job for three people is being able to tell potential advertisers how many eyes view this site in a given period. In other words, LARGE numbers. Respectable numbers. Sufficient that advertisers want to place their stuff here even if it won't necessarily be seen by members and people who use ad blockers and such.

I can't see that working the same way in a by-invitation-only site.

It could maybe work as a spin-off, or a meta-DU, but you'd have to work out the issues of whether it's fair to couple such a site with the whole "Democratic Underground" concept that was created by this site's owners, and brought to its current brand recognition/traffic level by their hard work, etc.

dubiously,
Bright

[Turborama]

10. All I'm suggesting is a change in how people enter the site

Not a revamp of DU in any other way.

BTW Demoid has adverts with multiple rotating banners. Here's the latest banner I just saw (not posting a live link, it'll have to be copy and pasted):

content.yieldmanager.edgesuite.net/atoms/3d/4c/af/49/3d4caf494062b6c0e8aa336cf751f68e.gif