Good point, Barbara.

I also seem to remember being able to see some information on the site but it's been so long since I looked at the site without signing in, I can't be sure.

A lot of internet communities do allow read only of forums and the first little bit of info in a profile.

Good and bad, it would give prospective volunteers and hosts a look at what the community is all about.

Noreen

Hi Barbara & Noreen

Host Experiences and Wwoofer Experiences have always been visible to the General Public but indeed we did add additional forums for General Public viewing a few weeks ago.

Each of the forums visible to the general public are marked "This is a Public Forum". This was newly added a few weeks ago as well.

We agree with your observations and thank you for your comments. We do try to address concerns as they are identified. So please keep the comments coming!

Have a great day!

Becky

Thanks for making the forum visible. None of the forum was visible to me when I didn't sign in, until the changes were made. It was just a blank page. Glad that it is visible now. I also suggest that at the bottom of the public page a sentence be added that says something like

To view lisitings of hosts looking for volunteers for each province, register as a member at (and a link to the registration page).

This is the comment I made about a year ago. Just a suggestion to encourage others to join.

Barbara

I agree that it would be nice for visitors to the site to be able to read some of the information; but if too much information is available potential wwoofers may be able to look for farms then research contact info elsewhere as most hosts are listed on a few different sites or have their own web page. if everyone can access this information free then there would be no more wwoof and that would be sad.

That said, my aunt was looking at my wwoof page with me the other day and commented that she'd have a better look when she got home and I felt bad having to tell her that she wouldn't be able to see it unless she was a member.

I don't know. somewhere in the middle i suppose

Terri

(ps- I really like this site and I read all the forums once a week when I'm at work. Also, hello to the new administrators, what a large job! Keep up the good work, we all appreciate it!)

Hi Terri

You were concerned re:

"if too much information is available potential wwoofers may be able to look for farms then research contact info elsewhere as most hosts are listed on a few different sites or have their own web page"

If a person is not signed in, the host name or farm name does not show up and only the first paragraph of their profile shows. They also cannot go to the profile to see any more. So unless a host profile has their name and location in that first paragraph, there is really no way for non-members to find them.

Admin/anyone - please correct me if I'm wrong.

Noreen

Hi Barbara

You are correct in that the public had (and has) no access through the FORUM link but the Host and Wwoofer experiences were and are also available through a link in the menu that runs down the right side of the page under "Useful Information".

I was able to add a link as you suggested but unfortunately I was unable to place it in the Forum directly. But I did manage to place it under Announcements. As you suggest this could assist users in finding the right place to register if they are interested.

Cheers!

Becky

Hi Terri

We are glad you read the forum. It's a great place to share information and thank you for contributing and your kind comments.

As Noreen said, unregistered users cannot see or access user information from the Forum. (Thanks Noreen!)

Becky

As long as it is done in a way so people cannot bypass the membership requirement to access hosts.

And I am not saying this so Wwoof Canada can make more money.

I'm thinking of our own protection, and a process to keep track of the wwofers whereabouts and identify the problematic ones.

But I fully support some forums to be restricted so we can discuss our issues in private.

Patrick