[Leeroi]

I'm pretty sure it has been brought up, but for some reason I couldn't find a thread concerning it yet. If there is, Mods feel free to merge. Haha.

TFS has been one of the cleanest forums I've actually joined, especially as a fashion forum; which tend to be filled with trolls just wanting to start fights with people because of petty disagreements.

I wanted to formally suggest that TFS should make the entire forum viewable to members only. For example, non-members may view the main section titles, but they are unable to view the actual threads in them.

There's a little forum by the name of The Celebrity City that goes by the same concept. I mean, TFS is already running under an invite only membership, so why not go the next step?

Maybe it's just me who want this, but I think the whole idea of memberships is rather pointless (unless you want to join in the discussion) when there's more non-members viewing the forum than actual members.

[sethii]

Do you see all those adverts on tFS? If we stop non-members browsing the forums, there will be less people clicking on those ads

[Thefrenchy]

^people really do click on them?

[sethii]

Well...enough people do I guess.

[BetteT]

Non members cannot see the images that are "attached" by our members (hosted here, on tFS) but attachment space is limited so members must eventually either pay for a Premium Account upgrade or start hosting their images someplace else. Those images that are hosted somewhere else are viewable by the general public.

In addition, certain parts of the forum are completely invisble to non members... Heart & Soul in particular ... since that is designed just for members to get to know each other.

If the public did not click on enough ads .... we would cease to exist. We are owned by an ad company .... who bought us from an individual (Andy, if you remember him) for the express purpose of offering one more forum for thier clients on which they may advertise. Therefore, there is no incentive for them to make the images or posts invisible to the general public (sethii's point) .... we need a reason for the general public to come here and lurk, even if they are not members.

[BetteT]

Oh ... and regarding why we have memberships (it's actually not pointless) ....

The legal reason you must be a member in order to post:
We must have a way for those who wish to post content taken from other sites and magazines, to accept the legal contract that is between us and them (the DMCA act of 1998).

The practical reason why we restrict being able to post to members:
It has strictly to do with the reasons why you like tFS: "TFS has been one of the cleanest forums I've actually joined, especially as a fashion forum; which tend to be filled with trolls just wanting to start fights with people because of petty disagreements."

We used to be an open forum where anyone could join, but we found that as we grew, the number of trolls and spammers was increasing to the point of being totally disruptive. So, now we have a couple of cross checks in place which have dramatically reduced the number of troublemakers who come in here to post thier junk. We instruct our members that they are personally responsible for those members they invite .... so they need to select carefully or they could endanger their own membership. And for people who don't know a member to invite them, they may apply to the waiting list. From time to time our Support Team reviews the applications and selects the best candidates ... based various criteria/qualities that they think is important for a good member to have. Then the best of those get invited to join, too.

Lastly, we have dedicated members who report posts when things get ugly and a large team of volunteer moderators who are very good at enforcing the Community Rules.

[VogueParisLover]

StrikingFashion had to pay $2,500 for uploaded fashion show videos onto megaupload... they tracked him down through tfs, actually. If tfs was member only, I guess that wouldn't have happened...

But even now, some members are just bad... they keep posting the same stuff over and over again, and their post count keeps going up, even though they haven't actually said anything of meaning.

But I am neutral to the whole thing... I haven't done anything illegal, and as long as the members keep being screened and warned about things, I think that it's fine the way it is.

[sethii]

^ With all respect to him, tFS isn't supposed to be some kind of underground fashion network. As Bette said there is that member agreement when you sign up that you're responsible for what you post. We often get legal requests from various groups asking us to remove certain images. For example if one photo was taken in a private venue and someone isn't happy...they can ask us to remove it. Or if a magazine cover is posted too early we have to remove it. I really cannot remember hearing about a time when we were asked to give personal details about a member. Only when you're doing something large scale which is very popular like those DVD quality fashion videos, or uploading every full issue of Vogue like bwgreyscale did - then you are more likely to get in trouble.

Yes there are lots of members who don't make an effort, they treat tFS as a photo gallery/chat room Certain threads are much worse than others. If you see members who are often 'power posting' to get their post count up, or making many 'empty posts' which means posts which single words, or just smileys - then you can use the 'report post' button to let the mods know and we'll deal with them.

[adorefaith]

I too would like tfs to be member only viewing...but given what Bette has said, it seems that is an impossibility now. Fair enough, i suppose !

[ilaughead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sethii Or if a magazine cover is posted too early we have to remove it.

I'm sure this was explained elsewhere, but what/why? (Rarely in the magazine subforum, so this is new to me.)

[sethii]

Often magazines are timed to build hype for a celeb/movie. If it's released too early that can harm their PR strategy.Other times they just ask us to hold off posting the cover until the magazine is on their official website or in shops. If there is a really small low quality scan going around the blogs it doesn't exactly make the magazine look good.

[BetteT]

Sethii is right on the mark!

Quote:

Originally Posted by VogueParisLover StrikingFashion had to pay $2,500 for uploaded fashion show videos onto megaupload... they tracked him down through tfs, actually. If tfs was member only, I guess that wouldn't have happened...

I don't think it had anything to do with them seeing their videos on tFS, to be honest. We never got a notification from anyone about these videos being a problem and we were never were asked to remove them. We never give out member information to anyone ... unless court ordered and we did not get a court order regarding VPL. I'm not saying that the were not on tFS or that the were not seen by the copyright holder ... what I'm saying is they didn't involve us at all ... they didn't need to. I think they were able to determine that they were being downladed from their location, via another means.

They probably would have been able to see the videos, even if the threads were not visable to the general public. We have lots and lots of members who are press, publicists, people working for publishing companies or magaiznes, photographers ... the people who have a vested and/or legal interest in the images that get posted here. Many of them are here for the sole purpose of seeing what is going on. We don't keep them out ... they are invited to join if they ask, because we abide by the DMCA act and handle things properly ... we have nothing to hide.



Regarding magazines and copyright violations of any type: the law states that we must remove the content whenever we are notified of a violation by the copyright holder (the legal owner). It doesn't matter why they want them gone ... the law says we must delete them ASAP. We always advise the member why they were removed, so they know that the copyright holder does not want them posted. And that is usually the end of that .... most of the time they don't pursue it any further ... unless they determine it's a serious breech and/or costing them money .... hence the fines.

For more information or questions about having your pictures or article deleted for "copyright infringement", go here: Pictures I've posted are being Deleted due to Copyright Infringements?