John Holmes,
I have to disagree with your "hill" analysis. We have retained several members for many years, some of which have been here since the very beginning. We don't make it hard to "climb the hill" at all. Most scammers/flamers/trolls drop off rather quickly. Those who are here for the sake of cigars, and want to be part of the SAFEST online community, will remain long time members of CP. I firmly believe that CigarPass is BY FAR THE SAFEST online cigar community out there. The core membership here all believe in honesty and respect. The moment you try to scam someone or outright profit from this community, you'll either be banned or take some heat for it. Everyone (except scammers) has the opportunity to redeem themselves. If we didn't maintain our core values, and allowed new guys to run rampant, all hell would break lose. I'm sure we lose a certain percentage of new members, as they feel they're not the "king of CP", and that's just fine! I'd rather be part of a smaller, stronger community over a whore-like community which only values the number of members over the quality of members. The stronger the community, the better it is. Size means nothing.
Look at George G, Devil Doc, and many others. These guys have only been members for a couple years, yet they're very well respected here. Why? Because they're goal is to uphold the honesty and integrity of this community. It seems unfortunate that some new members try to change a very well established procedure. We could easily implement a team of moderators to manage the board, but then we'd be just like every other cigar forum out there, and it wouldn't be that safe of a place. I don't believe a set group of people should control an entire community. We do quite well managing ourselves. This is an adult forum, and as such, we're the only cigar forum who treats our members like adults. The new guys need to learn and understand what we're about. That hill isn't as steep as it may appear. Obey the rules, be honest and you'll do just fine.
