Check out www.quittintime.com once in awhile you guys. They are auctioning off a cordless drill this month. The proceeds go to the website.
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>> Check out http://www.quittintime.com once in awhile you guys.
I tried. Didn't see anything about an auction. Didn't see much of anything at all, actually, besides some really cryptic error messages.
Uncle Dunc- In order to partisipate in the quittintime forums you have to register a user name(Uncle Dunc) and log in just like you do here.
After you register- go to Back Porch
Then go to Auction house
Try it you'll like itBob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
>> ... just like you do here.
At quittintime you have to register to read. Here you have to register only if you want to write. That's a big difference, and pretending otherwise is disingenuous. Here I didn't have to register just to look. In fact, I lurked for several weeks here before I decided to register so I could start posting.
The stated rationale for requiring registration is that it is intended to encourage participation. For one class of potential participants, it firmly, even conclusively, discourages participation.
I don't know what percentage of potential participants join me in choosing not to register at quittintime without being able to check it out first. I don't know what percentage of those people would become active participants if they could check the site out before registering. Of the people who are willing to register without a preview, there may be some percentage who will participate, who would otherwise have only lurked, but I don't know what that percentage.
The quittintime organizers don't have any of these numbers, either, or if they do, they're not sharing them because the numbers don't support their policy. Otherwise, they would produced them by now, to rebut some pretty pointed criticism of the policy.
So quittintime is either clinging to a registration policy that is unsupported by statistical evidence, which is inept, or is maintaining the policy for some other reason that they're not telling us about, which would be wicked, since they've denied it, or both. And the net result of their effort to encourage participation? Unless I misunderstand what I read on their web page yesterday, a grand total of 191 registered users in 9 months.
Perhaps I should add that I believe the quittintime arganizers are perfectly free to run their forum any way they like. Just as I am free to take a poke at them every time they post appeals here for more participants while continuing to exclude me.
I guess you lost me Uncle Dunc- Do you not log in to Breaktime every time you want to read? Do you log on as a guest so no one will know how much time you spend on the site? Do you log on as Uncle Dunc so you can actually make a post?
Are you aware that the guys that started Quittintime are oldtime Breaktimers that started another site to mirror the same old Webx format which for some, was much easier to follow than the new Prospero format.
The website was designed not to take away from this site but to offer another forum to check out when everything of interest is read here.
How do you know they have 191 registered users in 9 months unless you in fact registered? Why do you feel they are posting appeals for more participants and excluding you?
I just donated a brand new 18volt drill at their auction site thinking some of the guys here might be interested in bidding on.
Sorry
Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
>> Do you not log in to Breaktime every time you want to read?
>> Do you log on as a guest so no one will know how much time you spend on the site?
>> Do you log on as Uncle Dunc so you can actually make a post?
I logged in as a guest here for the first couple weeks, until I had seen enough to convince me that I wanted to participate. Now I log in as myself all the time.
The question is not how hard is it to log in, or what it costs me to register. The question is why does Quittintime require registration even for read access when there's no evidence that it will further their stated goal, that of increasing participation, and irrefutable evidence that it discourages some potential participants.
>> Are you aware that the guys that started Quittintime are oldtime Breaktimers that
>> started another site to mirror the same old Webx format which for some, was much
>> easier to follow than the new Prospero format.
Are these arguments in _favor_ of Quittintime? If these are the same guys who were complaining about the Prospero format back in April, their involvement doesn't increase my desire to try Quittintime. More the opposite, actually. And I thought the Prospero software was a huge improvement. But in any case, I would still want to see what I'm getting into before I decide whether or not to register.
>> How do you know they have 191 registered users in 9 months unless you in fact registered?
Because on the page that I end up at after following your link ( http://quittintime.infopop.cc/ubbthreads/categories.php?Cat= ), in the lower left corner, under the label Extra information, it says 204 Registered User(s). 205 by the time I finished composing this message. When I looked yesterday, it was 191. Of course it might mean 204 registered users out of a much larger total are currently logged on, but there's no way to tell from the information on the screen. And I'm fairly sure that I'm still not registered because I can only see statistics on two out of nine categories.
>> Why do you feel they are posting appeals for more participants and excluding you?
Because you posted the invitation at the top of this thread, which is arguably an appeal for more participants, but when I followed your link, I found that the forum is still following the policy of excluding people who choose not to register when all they want to do is read, i.e. me.
Edited 1/2/2003 7:19:06 PM ET by Uncle Dunc
Why register every time you have to read at Quittintime? Ya got me there Uncle Dunc? Maybe they want to compare readers (lurkers) vs participants, I don't know, I'm just a carpenter that likes to read in all the similar sites that I can find regarding our industry. http://www.contractorsunite.com is another site that needs to get off the ground. The only way these sites work is if people like you and I get involved.
You are obviously set in your ways, and I will not try to persuade you to go outside the box.
The bid on that new $130. drill is currently $30.
But then you'd have to register to know that.
Oh Well,
Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
>> The only way these sites work is if people like you and I get involved.
I absolutely agree. That's what makes it annoying when they persist in a policy that discourages involvement.
I gotta agree with uncle dunc. I followed your link, saw that I had to jump through the registration hoops just to take a look and closed the window. I'd rather not register for something that I can't at least look at first. Tom
All,
View Image
Construction Forums Online!
Edited 1/2/2003 11:10:06 PM ET by Joe Fusco
Hey.........U want quality or U want volume!
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
Seems to me that they (Quittin' Time) is getting both quantity AND quality. Not such a bad deal. I personally didn't think of the registration issue as a deterrent, but I'm me, you're you, and everyone is who they are. I agree with Bob that builder forums (good ones anyway) are not always easy to come by, and I'll check them out to find ones worth participating (or lurking) in.
Later. mattyLittle Sawhhorse Construction, LLC -- Building, Remodeling, and Repairs. Bayfield, WI
I get over there occasionally and find some things I like which I don't see here. There's nothing threatening or difficult about it, just another basic old builder's forum.
Joe Fuscos is pretty good too.
I just thought I'd throw my vote in for it so not every body gets a jaundiced view from just one old curmudgeon. No need to run it down, they aren't hurting you or Taunton. .
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Hey Piffin who you callin old? (another basic old builder's forum)
Joe Fusco does have a great website.
It would be neat to see a listing of other builder forums, they're not that easy to find. Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
Call me old fashioned but I like to check out a product before investing in it. Registration costs me time and effort. I have to come up with a handle and password and record them in a separate little book. It is no major ordeal but it still means that having to register to see the site. This makes me invest, time and effort, in something I cannot see. Because of this I have to agree with Uncle Dunc.
Open the site so I can check it out before registering if you want me to bother registering. Until that time I will concentrate my efforts right here. Post a message when you change this. Ironic that some would leave because of a simple format change and then fail to take their audience in to account by committing an offense as ham handed as having to register to view the site.
Do they still recommend rebooting ?
I'll go back when that's done with...or I have to reboot for some other reason.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
I don't get the reboot Jeff. I never have and I go in there all the time. My computer is on all the time I'm on a hi speed cable connection. Not that that has anything to do with it, but rebooting was probably requested when they were going thru a new server. Bob
"Rather be a hammer than a nail"
I've got an old fashioned dial up slodem but all I ever do is just go and login the same way I always have. I don't have to re-register every time I go. My Netscape stores all my passwords for me once I start it up and use the master password, it fills in the blanks..
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius