They did give a bit of notice quite a while ago, but I do agree that a more timely last warning or heads up would have been more friendly.

The leadership decided to make everything locked down to members only.  I'm not as sure as they are that this is the way to attract new memebers.   Lots of other great forums such as the C34 site are open to all and are much busier and accessable than ours.   It just seems kind of mean spirited.   The email list was also shut off without a last warning.   This was not really the best example of communication.

I could not agree more. I think the decision was incredibly heavy-handed, and membership should have been consulted (and perhaps allowed to vote) on such a drastic change:

1. The "style" of the website looks slightly better, but that's a matter of aesthetics and arguable
2. Usability is significantly diminished. Elements don't fit on a single page, navigation is more confusing, font sizes are unnecessarily large / different, etc. It is very poorly designed
3. The forum change breaks several things, not the least of which is Google search. Furthermore, all of the old posts are now non-searchable with Google, which was my primary way of searching the site (as the internal search was and remains pretty terrible; was not an issue when all posts were indexed in Google)
4. The post length limit is horrendous

Seriously, guys, how is it that week took one of the BEST resources for sailors on the web (and a big part of the reason I chose a Catalina) and went a ways towards destroying it?

Since the character limit cut me off...

What's necessary for:

1. A vote of the members on the open/closed forum decisions (I would expect this to happen only after significant debate and input, including an informed discussion of costs of the old vs. new website, alternatives (such as raising membership fees), etc)
2. Removing the post length limit
3. Re-opening the archived forums, which remain indexed by Google

As for the Google searches on history, now that the forums are locked down, the Google spiders can not catalog them for future searches.   I too, find the forum software a bit odd.   I think SMF forum software is a bit more freindly.   Look at C34.org for an example but many other sites I visit also use it.

Please read the summary Sue Griesbach posted of the reasons the board felt it was necessary to take this step:

http://www.catalina36.org/comment/55132#comment-55132

There's a lot of background history that got the association to the point that we needed to undertake this work and get 3rd party support to do it in future.  We were in a situation where one very generous member had built and ran for free a website that only he could effectively run.  He moved on, the site began to fail, we had problems to solve.

If people would direct their technical articles to the website and not the forums we may not have had to take that step.  But the technical articles submissions have dried up.  The new site includes a process for anyone to submit a tech article, to be reviewed and posted by a TechEditor.  Please use that process instead of the forum for tech content.  The site is a WIP and we will address concerns with it going forward.

As a paid member, I feel the attempt to coerce people to buy memberships is going to boomerang.  First I suspect that Stu and Mainsail are not the only two non-members that have contributed.  To be honest, even asking a question is contributing as it builds the knowledge base.

Without being in Google search, how is it that one feels people will find this site?  I found it through Google search when researching the Catalina 36.  Without Google, I would never had found it and never signed up.  I ended up over at the Catalina 350 site as they had great writeups on the M35B damper plate replacement - by this logic I will have to get a paid membership to that forum also?  Guess I shouldn't say that I also visited the Catalina 34 and 42 forums for helpful posts that  were relevant to my 36.

Utoh, running out of characters!

Hello again,

I feel a bit awkward saying much here. I don't yet own a Catalina, so how much should I really say? But here goes, and then I'll be done. I've only sailed a few times, so I wasn't all that familiar with the brands of boats. In discussions on various forums, the Catalina isn't always given a whole lot of appreciation. Fortunately for me, I found your forum. It explained well that when I got my boat, I would have access to a lot of great material. In the meantime, I could view the forum and get to know what kind of people sail Catalina's. Compared to some sites, it seemed very friendly. I found a sailing school run by one of your members on the BC coast that uses the Catalina to teach lessons. I found a great blog of a members trip on the BC coast that really makes one look forward to the time when a boat comes available to travel in some of those areas. 

I'll finish up below

Now, I'm sorry if I offend you. I've never thought of finding, and taking, everything techie about Catalina's on the forum. Using your analogy, I see myself as a visitor looking wistfully at your community centre, with the understanding that I don't have permission to take anything from your community's  garage, until I move into the neighbourhood.  Then I pay my taxes, and can get in the garage. Unfortunately, you don't seem to want anyone to even see the neighbourhood. To be honest, you seem interested only with those who are already here. Not with those who might be. But thats fine, its your site and those are your decisions.  But,  you have made me feel a bit of an interloper. I do wish you the best in your association. 

Shawn, 

I suspect this is one of those "best of intentions" scenarios that just needs to be re-examined.  My path here was exactly as yours and this site was key to me making the decision to purchase a Catalina 36 MKII.  It wouldn't have happened if it was a closed site.

Have to laugh at the "tax" comments, guess we're on par with Obama Care now!  Good news is that my site tax is paid untul 2016 - assuming the site does fail!  But I assume it's probably too big to fail.  :) :) :)  I am cracking myself up.

I will yield my remaining 364 characters to the next poster.

This is an interesting discussion, because I manage another sailing site that never wrestled with these problems.

Why?

We took a different approach. Make the site so valuable, that when the site asks for donations to maintain it - we get overwhelmed with donations. It was so good, that people donated some prizes and we raffled them off. So we raised money and the members got the chance to win a great prize. We raised enough from one raffle to pay all the costs for 5 years!

We allow public access to a few very basic topics. Everybody can read the other topics, so Google can still search and index all the information. But people have to join (free) to post anything.

"Build it & they will come".

As for the post limit - this is easily fixed - the admins just have to increase the setting in the management panel (well thats what you would do in all the forum packages I have used).

Cheers