Downloads - What's Your Opinion?

[Gantry]

Matt & I have been talking about the downloads section. We originally considered it to be "bonus" content to attract members to sign up.  But as with any forum, it's not the number of members, it's the quality of the participation of those members that really make the community blossom. We've had relatively few complaints about it being a member's-only resource (two? I recall), although there have been quite a few people stumped as to where they can find their downloads password.

As part of our first anniversary updates, we have been considering removing the password and offering the CAR and rules freely, for the public. Matt suggested we put it to the community, so what do you think?

[Joff]

When I first found CC I clicked on the Download link and wondered where I got the password form. It was not clear that I needed to register as a forum member to get a download password. I registered because I like the game and wanted to meet those who were like minded. It was at that point that I obtained the password. However, if it were made clear that the dowloads were for registered members only that would be better and would have pointed me quickly to the forum. I have no problem with downloads for non-registered users, but it does offer an incentive for registering and taking part in CC.

[dwhitworth]

I have no really strong feelings either way on this. It's either "get 'em to join the forum to get the CAR" or "once they read the CAR they'll join up". That's may be a 50/50 trade off. But of the two motivations, the latter seems a bit more likely to produce active members. After all the hard work Matt, and his helpers, have put into the CAR and version five's great quality, it does seem rather a pity to limit its circulation.

[Scott]

People who just want the downloads will sign up and download them without participating. I think we all want the CarcCentral community to grow, but there's better things we could be doing to achieve that. I feel it's extremely important to get the annotated rules out there and into people's hands. So many people are unaware it exists and still playing with the rules that came with the game, which is particularly unfortunate if those rules are RGG with first edition farmer scoring.

We can still drive growth with the CAR, but by making it more widely available and encouraging people to visit us from within it. Some people might not realize that this is more than just a place to discuss Carc. We've got a great support structure for people who need rule clarifications, and the ability to get official rulings on things that aren't covered. The BGG forums for Carc just aren't practical.

[Wishmaster]

I think there could be an argument that making them freely available to all could in fact generate more members. If they can see what happens here they are more likely to join to get involved, as opposed to now where they simply join to get the stuff... or don't bother at all.

So, on that basis I'd say may them available.

[Novelty]

I wonder how many of us here joined up to get the free stuff?  Personally, I joined up because I had questions and this seem to be the best place for those questions to be answered.

[Scott]

I'll admit that I signed up to download the latest CAR. I became familiar with Matt's rule sheets on BGG, and I think I read a post by him in one of the forums that the latest versions were only available on CarcCentral. The need for a password to access the download area made me venture into the forums, where I read the interesting stuff here and started posting.

Bear in mind, that's just the sequence of events as they happened to me. It's not to say that I would not have signed up here, or that I would not have started posting, if the CAR was more easily available. I love this game, and I think that would have drawn me here eventually. I think that people who only care about the free stuff will indeed just sign up for the free stuff and never post, so the hoops they are made to jump through are no guarantee that they will become active members.

There's another web site that I visit regularly which had some similar hoops to jump through for some member-only content. That site is a few years older than this one, so it also larger. It has around 8000 members last I checked, but I would say only around 20 to 30 people are regular posters.

The best thing we can be doing to increase the activity around here is get the word out to people that haven't heard about CarcCentral yet. There's people on BGG that are posting their questions on BGG forums. I don't know about the rest of you, but I visit the BGG forums less often than BGG itself, which is not very often. And then there's the people out there who haven't heard of BGG; I heard about it from the friend who introduced me to the game.

EDIT: I just went and submitted CarcCentral to the links sections for the original Carc and each expansion on BGG.

[Gantry]

wootage 

[canada steve]

Make it available to all. If they want it that bad they will register, as previously mentioned, and not participate. Better to give people the chance to see how good this site is by offering free then maybe that will entice them in.

[Gantry]

Well it seems the score is:

downloads for registered members only: 0
downloads available to anyone: 3 (scott, wishmaster, CA steve)
fence sitters: 4 (joff, dwhitworth, novelty, scott)

Please correct me if I misread your post... will sift through this with Matt, thanks for the input guys!!

[Scott]

Eh, you counted me twice. I should not be in the fence sitters category.

[Gantry]

oops! it was late 

[Novelty]

Oh, this was a poll?  I dont' see a poll ... :p

[dwhitworth]

I'm happy to fall off the fence on the side of the majority 

[Joff]

And I would be pleased to side with the majority