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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I have no qualms with the jury process but I find it *extremely* short sighted to not have at least one section of the forum where non-members can post.
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Perhaps the following will help in regards to your statement of being shortsighted.
I think one thing that is perhaps not clear to many is that the Forum is not and never was intended to be an entity unto itself like WetCanvas. From what I know of them, their primary mission is an artist community. Here, the Forum is simply an offshoot of the main Stroke of Genius web site and is intended to reflect the main site - simply a side benefit for professional portrait painters.
So, we are not trying to be everything to everyone. For a long time, the main site existed without a Forum - the Forum was and is not a necessary entity in order for the main site to achieve it's purpose. My business is the main site - not the Forum. Except for the donations that come in and the bit of money I make on orders from the links shown in the Forum, it is not really an income producing entity - yet it does require my time and attention.
Perhaps many visitors think that once installed, the Forum requires little to no maintenance or time from me. However, even apart from the jury process, there are regular administravtive and technical issues to address and maintenance/upgrades to be done.
The other thing you may find of interest is that originally it was only going to be for the artists who are listed on the main site - simply a benefit for the member artists and not open to the general public. However, I decided to change that direction and open it to other portrait artist professionals.
Given all this, what are you looking for that you are not getting? Are you saying have a separate section just for non-members? Or are you saying allow non-members to post in exisiting sections? Would this benefit other readers and in what way?