I understand and appreciate that TMC has a very open format - it's one of the things that makes it great! But that openness comes with a downside. The media now uses TMC as a resource, often to ill effect, and there seems to be an increasing frequency of suspicious FUD comments from first-time posters (such as the bickering today of/over first-time poster "BillHamp" in this thread: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/23581-Ugh-Another-Model-S-fire-2013-11-06.
I think TMC needs to consider a way to make some conversations private to vetted members only.
Perhaps there could be some private forums that are invisible, until a user reaches some threshold of minimum-time-since-registration, and a minimum number of previous posts? (and then maybe a final sign-off from a moderator?) This way, "hot topics" like breaking news of vehicle fires -- news that has the potential to impact the success of Tesla Motors -- could be discussed in these semi-private forums first.
(apologies if this has been discussed before -- I took a quick look and didn't find anything... I'm just increasingly concerned that the very-public forums of TMC have too much potential to cause problems for the company...)
I think TMC needs to consider a way to make some conversations private to vetted members only.
Perhaps there could be some private forums that are invisible, until a user reaches some threshold of minimum-time-since-registration, and a minimum number of previous posts? (and then maybe a final sign-off from a moderator?) This way, "hot topics" like breaking news of vehicle fires -- news that has the potential to impact the success of Tesla Motors -- could be discussed in these semi-private forums first.
(apologies if this has been discussed before -- I took a quick look and didn't find anything... I'm just increasingly concerned that the very-public forums of TMC have too much potential to cause problems for the company...)