Lack of response by O.com?

[shooter1201]

Why has O.com/Cygnus failed(refused?) to respond to my(and other officers) requests for an update/accounting re: the Restricted Access Forum? E-mails and posts regarding the so-called 'temporary'(4 months and counting) closing of the RA have gone unanswered. Several of us long-time members of Officer.com would appreciate an expedited response.

[OfficerDotCom]

Folks

There is a clear statement right above the RA area that says as soon as it can return, it will. Until we have a new registration system in place, and develop a legitimate means to verify officers, it will not. We expect this later this year or early next.

Since there were only 90 people there to begin with, and more than 5,000 users here now, we want to ensure its open to the majority of legitimate law enforcement officers.

Thanks

[shooter1201]

I've been reading the announcement of the 'Temporary' closing of the RA forum for 4 months, now. As a matter of fact, I made the last post IN the RA forum before it was deemed 'unsecure for use'. Blaming O.com's lack of response to reopening the RA forum on having '5,000 registered members' is a joke. 80% of those '5,000 registerd members' have never made a single post. Yes...I DID check.

[OfficerDotCom]

As we said, when its ready to be available it will be. The old mods made only 90 people able to participate. There are far more than could be and we will have a system that makes it easy for a larger number to be approved. Until that technology is built, there will be no RA area. If you think its some kind of joke, there are other forums elsewhere. None will be as secure and legitimate, and more than 90 people will be able to participate.

And for the record, Its actually now 6,000 registered users (nearly 1/3 of those since we took ownership), and nearly half have posted at least once, and more than 1/3 have posted more than once. Your numbers are incorrect.

When its ready, there will be an announcement. It will be more than RA access to the forums, but also to sensitive areas of the site as well as we build them. Its an important part and we're not going to rush it, especially given the few number of people who participated there in the past.

Thanks

[shooter1201]

I shall consider myself 'spanked'.

[boomer21]

Actually the 'clear statement' says:

"Access to this forum has been suspended for the 90+ or so users who have been previously approved, until a more streamlined approval system for confirmed LEOs is finalized later this Summer."

Almost Winter now......

Here are some figures dug up by one of the Admins a while back. If one looks at active posters (over 35) then the 90 or so RA members comprised about 16% of that number - a pretty good number, considering that many posters were not LE, and the LE status of the rest was unknown. Most unactive members wouldn't bother applying for RA access if they don't even post.

It was all about applying - the RA was open to any who qualified, and was not some elite club as some seem to think. It may not have been 'streamlined', but the LE status of each RA member was individually checked and therefore more than reasonably certain. Don't know how one can improve on old fashioned legwork, although if you don't know what it is in the first place.....

Frankly, I'd be more concerned with getting the vast majority of members to even post, rather than streamlining them into RA.

***********************

>>>Nite, is there any way to see how many active members?<<<

I'll jump in here, since I was just looking at this the other day.

Current Registered/Active Members - 4327
Total Registration - 5030

The difference between the two represents accounts that have been inactivated or deleted for various reasons.

Number of posts for most active members:

>10K: 1 - Needs no naming
>7.5-10K: 1 - Don
>5-7.5K: 1 - MikeTx
>2.5-5K: 14
>1-2.5K: 29
>500-1K: 46
>250-500: 78
>100-250: 142
>35 (Veteran) - 100: 258

Veteran posters - 570

So, a little over 13% of our current membership are active posters.

1-34 posts (Rookie): 2421

Most people that register have at least contributed one post. 1327 members have registered, but not yet posted.

Unlike some other sites however, Officer.com does NOT require registration to merely read the forums, so our membership numbers are not falsely inflated. We remain one of the most active and comprehensive LE sites on the internet.

[OfficerDotCom]

There is no RA right now. There will be someday. It will be alot more than just letting people post in a forum. When its available, we'll let you know.

Things have been fine here for months, and will continue to be. We had the most posts perhaps ever last week, with no problem posts, almost all on legit law enforcement topics. Sorry a few of you remain upset, but so be it. We cannot possibly make everyone happy. A bunch of mods, some of whom had personal agendas, hand verifying 90 people for simple forum access is not practical when there are over 100,000 law enforcement officers coming to the site a month. Having two systems, one for the site and one for the forums, is also not practical.

When technology permits, and the program/staffing is in place to verify folks as LEs, we'll do it. We're not going to give a date, because frankly its not a priority given the level of interest in it thus far. The majority of the users of the site visit the news, jobs, and search features.

When we launch the new RA area, there will be additional content features as well that will tie into the forums, but the actual RA of the forums is not an absolute priority at this moment.

Its a big site. The forums are important, but since so few are impacted by not having access to the RA area for now, we cannot guarantee we can satify you all.

The bottom line is last week was the most popular EVER on Officer.com. Nearly 50,000 unique visitors, over 400,000 page views. The forums, accounting for 15% of the total traffic, had their best week ever most likely, with over 1,200 posts in over 120 topics.

At the IACP show in Philadelphia, more than 3000 law enforcement officers -- many chiefs and senior administrators -- visited us, learning about the new information, news and features available and coming soon to Officer.com. Last week, we launched our new daily news e-mails and Officer Down alerts.

Thanks for the rest who continue to support the new Officer.com.

[boomer21]

Actually, a little C&P takes up very little of my time Dave, but thanks for your concern.
Nobody is upset here, simply pointing out some inconsistencies, like the difference between late summer and near winter - perhaps you should consider changing that to "when we get around to it" or something similar.
It really should make no difference whether the RA is open, except that it was likely easier to close it than arguing about the legitimacy of non-LE accessing it. Perhaps you are right about 'agendas'.

[OfficerDotCom]

Perhaps you are referring to some old post, but the notice with the RA area clearly is:

Authorized Personnel Only
New registrations and posts to the restricted access area have been temporarily suspended until we develop a more streamlined system of confirming LEO status for the forums and the site as a whole. We apologize for the inconvenience as we grow.

Any other links on the majority of the site to the RA areas have been removed.

Our only 'agenda' is keep the majority of users happy. A few seem only to want to continue to be rude about things, hardly even giving us more than a few days to respond before they trash us. Totally unnecessary.