My site is loosely based on this set-up, in which you must past an "introductiuon" essay.
I was wondering how many months until this was installed on the nexus? I don't want to deter new members, but I also want members who are going to have 'this' community type feel.
I'm just under 100 members and visits are very unstable.
Should I remove the nursery? It really only takes a few sentences (intro), in order to gain full membership.

Well, the nexus has been around roughly since DMT-World went down, late-2006 near as I can figure (at blackclover.com.au) or early 2007 (at its current url), and as I recall the Nursery didn't get started until late 2009 (or was it early 2010?).

Back when the Nexus was a very obscure corner of cyberspace visited only by those who were really seeking out something of it's nature, the nursery wasn't really necessary. As it became more widely known through other forums (particularly for the quality of information/development/discussion here), the Nursery became a necessary evil to protect that quality.

What's your site?


JBArk

I think the nursery ultimatley filters off more contributers than it does trouble makers. I also think its a passive way of censoring the dialog.
Uniqueness is a quality we all possess as entheogenic explorers, but when someone comes along with ideas that stretch beyond the nexus norm they ususally get shut down in the nursery.

my observations

About the only criteria for fitting within the Nexus norm is having respect for the health and safety, and being capable of engaging in a reasoned dialogue on any controversial assertions you may bring up... I suspect that most of what you refer to as people with "ideas that stretch beyond the Nexus norm" are actually shut down in the nursery because they are unable or unwilling to engage lucidly on those ideas.

I suspect you're right though, the Nursery may well deter some contributors... but probably not as many as you'd think. People who come here with their hearts in the right place and a substantial amount to contribute generally get out of the nursery pretty quick from what I've seen.

I don't really think the nursery's an issue.

I read it the same as the rest of the site, as I believe do others, so it's not like you're losing out on the community by being held there temporarily.

I was happy to stay in the nursery for as long as I did. When I got out it felt like a gift. I love this place and the people here. It's a special community. I think the nursery is a must. I've seen some real recklessness get shut down in there. A low profile is important sometimes. Some people are like loud flashing neon lights shaped like arrows. Some places suffer from neon beacons. The nursery either teaches them to dim down or change their shape while they are here... or turns them off all together.
And in the words of marhta stweart: That's a good thing.

I think some of the best threads (imo anyway) in recent months have been from the Nursery and I agree.

The site in question, as jbark asked, is the good ol' exoticearthexchange.com

The nursery to new users is an obstacle to get to the "cake". Even if they like the Nursery that's not why they came in the first place. The nexus cake is very large
in comparison to yours so more people will probably try and climb the obstacle in contrast to yours.
I'm not racking down on the quality of your page but less users = less attraction for most people.

Maybe set up a nursery when to many trolls are banging at your windows=)
If you dont have a lot of problems then maybe it's not necessary.

I dont run a forum myself so maybe there are problems I dont know about.
The Traveler should though!

Yeah, no need to set up a safety net if no one is falling!

JBArk

Community came first, then the nursery to protect it.
I don't really like this concept. I'd stay open as long as possible.

With any new members there is a certain percentage that is causing trouble. This trouble can be anything from asking the obvious questions and bad mouthing till complete trolling. When your member count is still low you don't need a nursery at all. You can keep track of everything happening and if trouble arises you will mostly just have to deal with one person.

When you grow bigger and when you have a controversial website like the DMT-Nexus the amount of troublesome new members will get to a point where it will be a daily and tedious task to keep the forum clean.

At the DMT-Nexus we came to a point were even with several mods, the task to keep the forum clean was getting too problematic. It was a serious hard time. this left us with two options:
1. Close the gates. No new members for a certain time.
2. Or....???

Since I did not like the idea of closing the gates the idea of the Nursery was born: A place were we could better keep track on new members while the trolls could not pollute the rest of the forum. Of course it was known from the start that this would have adverse effects, like the possibility to keep good people out. But since we had such a hard time weeding out trolls it was a case of choosing the lesser evil.

So my advice for you is this: don't even think about a nursery until you find yourself weeding out trolls/bad post as a daily task that costs you more time as the time you enjoy your beloved forum.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

Ya, the website is ExoticEarthExchange.com.
I've already had a few people posting advertisements and such. But I can deal with them one on one for sure. I'll go ahead and take down the nursery.
Any other input would be great! Thanks!

*Also, anyone can read the forums but the new members couldn't post topics.