Advanced Locks Information

[scriptguru]

1. It's private club, open for invited - OK.
2. To be invited you have to write some useful posts - OK.
3. Useful posts should be:
- not about your new picks, not sound like noobs posts - OK.
- contain something new and useful - OK
4. All posts about advanced locks will be deleted if posted outside of Advanced Locks Information

Guys, don't you think that these limitations lead to the situation when Advanced Forum will contain only "good old members" and will die because of absence of fresh blood?
Take a look at the list above and try to think of what new members of LP101 can write posts about. All in all their posts always belong to one of the categories: "too newbie to be invited to advanced forum" and "too advanced to be posted on newbies forum".

Don't you think about, for example, open registration if user proves his or her identity somehow?

Look at Barry @ blackbag.nl
He is professional and responsible person, but still he publishes advanced information in his blog and discusses it (and allows discussion). Perhaps he understands that just closing information doesn't lead to anything but stagnation in the locksmithing trade?

[gloves]

I think most you can do would be contacting the forum admin/moderators, but even that if they made that choice there are surely solid reasons behind it. Not to say you aren't the first to complain about this and you won't even be the last.
It is a rule, we have to cope with it. Nobody wants more unwanted attention than already there is on here. It's just a hobby

[Evan]

1. It's private club, open for invited - OK.
2. To be invited you have to write some useful posts - OK.
3. Useful posts should be:
- not about your new picks, not sound like noobs posts - OK.
- contain something new and useful - OK
4. All posts about advanced locks will be deleted if posted outside of Advanced Locks Information

Guys, don't you think that these limitations lead to the situation when Advanced Forum will contain only "good old members" and will die because of absence of fresh blood?
Take a look at the list above and try to think of what new members of LP101 can write posts about. All in all their posts always belong to one of the categories: "too newbie to be invited to advanced forum" and "too advanced to be posted on newbies forum".

@scriptguru:

It sounds like you have either been misinformed or are assuming too much about a process which isn't all that shrouded in mystery...

1. It is not a "private club" advanced membership is granted through an application process and the eligibility criteria can be found on the appropriately titled thread: HOW DO I GET ACCESS TO THE ADVANCED FORUMS? READ HERE.

2. It is not just that your posts are "useful" it is that you have established a posting history by making them so the site admin/mod team can figure out who you are and try to determine what you are like by what you are posting about... What they are looking for is explained in detail in Item #3 in the topic referenced above...

3. Sounds generally correct but you should read the actual criteria on the Advanced Access thread...

4. What you think is "deleted" is more often than not merely moved to the appropriate forum, if you can not access the Advanced Forums then if you post something advanced which is moved there it "disappears" as far as you are able to see... The moderators also have hidden parts of the site in the way of forums they can move posts to for other reasons as well as a place where spam posts are sent to before they die...


I don't think that the process has limited much of what is discussed in the Advanced Forums... I have been told in various conversations about the Advanced Forums that interest in admittance to that part of the site has decreased since the decision that discussion of Medeco locks is no longer considered an advanced topic...

As far as what new members can write about, that is totally up in the air, good things to do are to write posts that are thoughtful and try to teach something or show what you have been able to learn from the site which might be useful/of interest to others...

The way the applications for advanced membership are processed has apparently evolved over time as site admin digital_blue explained in this thread from 6 years ago: New Format For Advanced Forum Access

The real issue (based on my own personal experience) seems to be the waiting time involved in the process after you apply, it takes many many months to get an answer because the moderators are busy with running the forums and until an additional SpamCop was recently added removing spam from the forums... Besides their personal lives, removing spam and processing reported/offensive posts takes up a lot of time so lower priority functions have to take longer as the people who make the decisions are busy doing other important things to keep the site running smoothly...

If you want to join the advanced forums, then click this link and apply:
http://www.lockpicking101.com/ucp.php?i=groups

I don't think that complaining about the process or what the eligibility requirements are is a step in the right direction if you want to be accepted as an advanced member... The site admin/mod team is quite open to new ideas and perhaps it could be time to evaluate and potentially revisit how Advanced Forum access is granted but it would be more polite to send your ideas on how to improve that process to a site admin (digital_blue) or one of the moderators privately via a PM than to start a debate in public, especially one which evolves out of a post criticizing the way this function/part of the site presently works...

~~ Evan

[nothumbs]

Most lockpickers start as beginners, I know I did, and frankly I still consider myself a beginner. When I began posting I posted questions that I thought/hoped were not repeats, and that were timely and relevant. Over time I found I could also answer some of the questions I saw posted. Occasionally I posted ideas/thoughts/comments that were related to locks and lockpicking, but not necessarily directly related. In short, I participated in the community. Eventually I was accepted to the advanced section. While that was a goal (just one of many) for me, having reached it did not make a huge difference in my relationship to either lock picking or this forum.

Like any community, members work to establish relationships, and a level of trust. That's what I think the rules for membership to the Advanced Forum are about.

[Legion303]

We get new blood all the time. The majority of every applicant list is granted access every time we vote, which admittedly could be more often (the flip side being that we don't really have a ton of applicants). You can discuss locks you've picked, theories you have, post breakdown photos (yes, even of high security locks) and the like. Don't give us 40 posts of "lol" and be respectful of others, and you stand a good chance of getting in.

-steve

[MacGnG1]

i dont think you really understand what is in there. it's not like a second hidden forum full of super secret stuff. all the good cool stuff is here in the open forum. dont be mad that you dont have access to a super secret way to open every lock, because that's not what is in there.

become a productive member of the open forum and in time you will see the little bit of extras.

hope that helps.