Make Road-Related Illustrations visible to guests again (2022)

[JoePCool14]

Before I get into this, I just want to say I think the Roblox trolls are long gone at this point. Anyway...

I would like to see my "home" board of Road-Related Illustrations be made visible again. I think a lot of the charm I had before registering was that I could see all these cool sign drawings by other users, which made me want to join and start creating and posting my own. Thinking about it now, I would never find any of them until creating an account, and I wouldn't necessarily make an account if I don't see any drawings, which then turns into a chicken-or-egg situation. There are also old sign-making resources like PowerPoint templates that won't be found searching on Google because they're hidden.

Obviously, the board has significantly slowed down in recent times with less people creating content, including myself. But I do think it's being at least partially stifled by the fact that prospective members can't even see it.

I think there would be a lot of benefit to the board to restore it to its former glory. Even if people come on here just to post there, it would bring the board back to life which I don't think would be a bad thing.

That's basically my suggestion and I hope to see this change made.

[on_wisconsin]

Seconded. Plus, that game/ site involved is likely not as popular as it was 8 years ago.

[Henry]

I'm on board with that as well.

[webny99]

I'm on board with that as well.

No pun intended!



Question: what was the reasoning behind making Road-Related Illustrations a members-only board? I would assume that, unless something has changed since then, the same logic would still apply.

[kphoger]

He's on board, but he's invisible.

[Scott5114]

Question: what was the reasoning behind making Road-Related Illustrations a members-only board? I would assume that, unless something has changed since then, the same logic would still apply.

A bunch of twelve-year-olds were stealing images from the board and selling them as Roblox stickers.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12891.0

[JoePCool14]

Question: what was the reasoning behind making Road-Related Illustrations a members-only board? I would assume that, unless something has changed since then, the same logic would still apply.

A bunch of twelve-year-olds were stealing images from the board and selling them as Roblox stickers.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12891.0

I should add I don't believe they were selling them for money. I think they were just reuploading them for people to use for free. The way Roblox worked at the time was that anything you uploaded, you'd be considered the "creator".

My point in my top comment was that I don't think it's a big enough problem anymore to justify hiding the board. We can always use things like watermarks in our images as was discussed several years ago if someone really didn't want their signs being reuploaded. Roblox might also have methods of requesting removals as well, though I doubt anyone would go through the hassle for something like that.

[Roadgeekteen]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

[webny99]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

It's supposed to be a bit of a pain, so internet randos who have no interest in roads don't show up and start spamming the forum.

That said, I bet there are many users who clicked on a link and encountered "this board is for members only!" pop-up and created an account just to see what was on those boards, especially fictional highways. That was part of the reason I created an account myself... I didn't really have much intention of posting at first, but here we are.

[JoePCool14]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

Certain boards on this forum should be restricted to users only. Mass Transit, Sports, and Weather, for example. We don't want people signing up here just for discussion on those boards, especially in the case of Mass Transit. Those boards are just bonuses for us in the community to get to know each other better and share other common interests. Fictional Highways is its own beast and I do not feel qualified to speak on that one. And it isn't that difficult to create an account. It's more about knowing that the hidden content exists at all as a non-user.

The reason I started this thread was because I feel Road-Related Illustrations is a topic that falls within this forum's primary scope, and therefore is a draw for potential new users. As I previously stated, I am here on this forum because of that board.

Given it's been about a month, do any admins/mods have any comments about this proposal?

[Roadgeekteen]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

Certain boards on this forum should be restricted to users only. Mass Transit, Sports, and Weather, for example. We don't want people signing up here just for discussion on those boards, especially in the case of Mass Transit. Those boards are just bonuses for us in the community to get to know each other better and share other common interests. Fictional Highways is its own beast and I do not feel qualified to speak on that one. And it isn't that difficult to create an account. It's more about knowing that the hidden content exists at all as a non-user.

The reason I started this thread was because I feel Road-Related Illustrations is a topic that falls within this forum's primary scope, and therefore is a draw for potential new users. As I previously stated, I am here on this forum because of that board.

Given it's been about a month, do any admins/mods have any comments about this proposal?

Sports and Weather are avalible. I actually don't mind more transit geeks signing up for this forum, as a combined road/transit geek we share a combined interest in transportation and as long as everyone is being respectful it's all good. Sometimes this forum could use different prospectives on issues related to roads and transportation.

[JoePCool14]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

Certain boards on this forum should be restricted to users only. Mass Transit, Sports, and Weather, for example. We don't want people signing up here just for discussion on those boards, especially in the case of Mass Transit. Those boards are just bonuses for us in the community to get to know each other better and share other common interests. Fictional Highways is its own beast and I do not feel qualified to speak on that one. And it isn't that difficult to create an account. It's more about knowing that the hidden content exists at all as a non-user.

The reason I started this thread was because I feel Road-Related Illustrations is a topic that falls within this forum's primary scope, and therefore is a draw for potential new users. As I previously stated, I am here on this forum because of that board.

Given it's been about a month, do any admins/mods have any comments about this proposal?

Sports and Weather are avalible. I actually don't mind more transit geeks signing up for this forum, as a combined road/transit geek we share a combined interest in transportation and as long as everyone is being respectful it's all good. Sometimes this forum could use different prospectives on issues related to roads and transportation.

(emphasis mine)



Ok, I'll elaborate more than that.

Bear in mind this is the AARoads Forum, not AATransportation Forum. I don't mind transit, but it should remain a side-focus on this forum. I wouldn't want a bunch of insane pro-transit people whining about every road expansion ever on all the other threads. Pro-transit people are definitely still welcome to join, but they should know what they're walking into.

[Scott5114]

I think that every board should be public. It can be a bit of a pain to create an account, as I encountered back in 2017 when I tried to do so. But maybe it's different now.

Certain boards on this forum should be restricted to users only. Mass Transit, Sports, and Weather, for example. We don't want people signing up here just for discussion on those boards, especially in the case of Mass Transit. Those boards are just bonuses for us in the community to get to know each other better and share other common interests. Fictional Highways is its own beast and I do not feel qualified to speak on that one. And it isn't that difficult to create an account. It's more about knowing that the hidden content exists at all as a non-user.

The reason I started this thread was because I feel Road-Related Illustrations is a topic that falls within this forum's primary scope, and therefore is a draw for potential new users. As I previously stated, I am here on this forum because of that board.

Given it's been about a month, do any admins/mods have any comments about this proposal?

Sports and Weather are avalible. I actually don't mind more transit geeks signing up for this forum, as a combined road/transit geek we share a combined interest in transportation and as long as everyone is being respectful it's all good. Sometimes this forum could use different prospectives on issues related to roads and transportation.

The problem is that there is a certain kind of transit geek that will show up and do 50% of their posting in Transit and then the rest of their time on the forum criticizing every road project discussed here because it's not a train, and tell all of us we're murdering puppies because we want to drive a car. I don't want this kind of transit geek thinking there's anything here for them.

[Roadgeekteen]

This thread is avalible to guests so they all know about the Transit Board now. I knew about the Transit Forum before I joined AAroads as a member.

[Scott5114]

This thread is avalible to guests so they all know about the Transit Board now. I knew about the Transit Forum before I joined AAroads as a member.

Good for you.

If someone is reading enough of the forum that they know about the Transit board, presumably that means they're actually interested in the other forums.

[Roadgeekteen]

This thread is avalible to guests so they all know about the Transit Board now. I knew about the Transit Forum before I joined AAroads as a member.

Good for you.

Even as a lurker, the hidden boards on this forum are brought up enough that most outsiders that lurk for a while would find out. Granted, Mass Transit was the last one I found out about.

[hbelkins]

This thread is avalible to guests so they all know about the Transit Board now. I knew about the Transit Forum before I joined AAroads as a member.

Good for you.

Even as a lurker, the hidden boards on this forum are brought up enough that most outsiders that lurk for a while would find out. Granted, Mass Transit was the last one I found out about.

The Mass Transit board is also a fairly recent addition to the forum.

[vdeane]

There's a difference between someone skimming the board list, not seeing anything on transit, and moving on, and someone lurking for long enough to discover there actually is a transit board.  Likewise, there's a difference between knowing there's a transit board, and knowing what threads are there, reading all the posts, and deciding you need to add your two cents for something on that board.

[Scott5114]

Case in point is that random New Urbanist YouTuber that browsed the board so he could use his platform to make fun of kernals12. (Yeah, kernals is ridiculous, but making fun of some anonymous private individual on a channel with thousands of subscribers is tacky.) We don't need people like that around here.