Yesterday, thenewgreen, insomniasexx and I were bouncing around an idea that struck our fancy. I mentioned it in pubski, and the response seemed mostly positive. The half-baked version of the idea is this:
Except for the first day of each month, when registration is open to all, account creation on Hubski would be by invite only. Hubskiers could spend their hubwheel credits on either badges or invites.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Is it worth an experiment? Should we modify it in some way?
Giving Hubski a sort of exclusivity may make it appear more valuable to new users, like ello. But it's hard enough getting into Hubski and getting comfortable. There's no social hype for people to get on Hubski like there was for ello, and we're tight-knight and small enough as it is.
I think we could juggle the idea of gating this community, but perhaps we could make it so that it's not really exclusive in reality-- call it Splenda exclusivity. Here's my idea:
Everyone, always, can access the site whenever they want. When they Sign Up though, they verify with an e-mail and you say, "Thanks for registering to our community waiting list! We will contact you when(if?) new invites are sent out to be a member of Hubski."
then you send 'em an email one week later. This does, in a way, also cover the very controversial ideas during the "Mute Wars" regarding a waiting period between registry and activity.
Whaddaya's think?
edit: I still dont think we should be doing anything at all, this was a compromise idea:)