Frontpage

[Seng]

Can we make a frontpage that doesn't require a login? I think it would be good for newbies to be able to poke around at least a little bit before creating a login and all that stuff. I think the "Why BAParkour" article and the events calendar at least, perhaps a few featured videos. Is this a technical question or a philosophical one (how can be be more of "an open space for tracueses and traceurs...")?

[SafeNSure]

"Open", doesn't mean that you don't have to knock at the door...
(so much for the philosophy)
=)

There are some technical challenges, meaning that ALL content would have to be public (but posting would be allowed only with sign up...).
The whole issue has been actually discussed early on online, and "in circle" about two weeks into the new community site [full thread here].

My argument was and is still pretty much the same:
<...Also reading about the beginning of other functioning communities helped; check the story of MADparkour.com (Muse_of_Fire article at PKNA): "A lot of people would register for the Madpk forum site but then never post and never show up to training, which was to be expected. ...
We were posting regularly on Madpk, mostly just communicating training dates and times. It was still kind of early, so there were a few times when it would just be me, alone, at a training site. I had a bit of a scare at one point when I went to activate a new member. His information seemed kind of sketchy so I did some Googling and found a MySpace profile or something similar that had all these pictures of scantily clad women, and links to porn sites and the like. It was at that point that I decided to lock down some of the security on the forum, especially since there were many cases where I would show up to training alone, at least at the beginning. It got a little difficult, then, for people to get involved, but I wanted for me and my budding group to feel safe."

Then there's the issues of trespassing, liability and plain haters... BAparkour is young plant: not only we need to keep watering it, but also protecting it from the winds...

I personally wouldn't sacrifice any of that to grow too quick too soon, but it's up to all of us to decide, let's keep on talking about it....>

Nevertheless, I don't mind rediscussing this live, as soon as Chris (and maybe also Haley and Andrea) are there too.
In the meantime I'd like to add that having had 105 sign ups in 2 months, peeps may not be THAT discouraged after all...
;)

(I actually wouldn't mind finding a proper way to remove completely inactive accounts, which have never posted, showed up at sessions or introduced themselves... I consider them either uninterested or plain rude...)

And finally a basic rule of life (IMHO): often what's free is perceived as worthless; since I believe we all care for this group and its activity, if somebody wants to peek in, he should at least leave us an email in return, which allows a minimum of interaction, and the chance of reminding him that we exists, at least once...

[Seng]

Okay, that clears up what I was asking about. Sorry for not checking previous threads first. I guess it's kind of a technical question since I agree that if it's login access or all public, keeping the login is better, at least for now.

As a possible workaround, how about pointing baparkour.com to a page hosted elsewhere which has basic info on the group (maybe just the "Why BAPK" article in text format or some other kind of group definition) then having a frame or link or whatever that leads to the login part of the site (baparkour.ning.com). If it's just a matter of a single html text page, I would be willing to put it on my personal site. So login would still be necessary to get to the bulk of the site but people who maybe we didn't invite directly can get a quick sense of what we're about before creating a userID.

I know this site (and hopefully the community) is growing fast so I wasn't thinking that the login was discouraging people, more that there should be some publicly-accessible explanation of what we do for when we talk to curious bystanders and direct them to the site. Most onlookers, honestly, will never take up pk, they just want to know what's going on as they walk by a jam or training session. A public area on the site may become more useful once the branding materials (shirts, hats, flyers, patches, etc.) start being produced. Plus, regarding potential dead accounts, some amount of self-selection is actually good.

If folks would rather discuss this in person, I won't press it here. I think now that a little time has passed since the split and BAParkour has taken on its own identity, we can proceed with less baggage.

[SafeNSure]

Fully agree on "publicly-accessible explanation of what we do for when we talk to curious bystanders and direct them to the site", and "BAParkour has taken on its own identity"...

We own www.baparkour.com, which redirects here (the ning platform), but can easily host a non-interactive "welcome!" page on its own.
Let's talk about the details at the next opportunity, and thank you for bringing the whole issue back again: we don't want to become a clique, a team or an "elite", that's for sure...
=)

[Chris]

Lets have a live discussion after the start of July.

[SafeNSure]

...after a couple of months activity, BAparkour repainted its front door!

If you've bookmarked directly the main page (like I did), check out www.BAparkour.com, which now offers a "publicly-accessible explanation of what we do for when we talk to curious bystanders and direct them to the site", demonstarting that "BAParkour has taken on its own identity".
;)

[monk]

G, this is great! lots of good stuff up there. great to see this upfront! thanks!

[SafeNSure]

...thanks, but this was a team effort.
BApk organizers, moderators and regulars contributed somehow...
=)