While in real life you can drive down Country Club Lane and admire country clubs of which you aren't a member, there are elite places online for ladies and gentlemen that don't work that way. The sites find you and not the other way around. There is no (identifiable) public interface for non-members. Members recommend others based on personal friendships and interactions other than specifically online. After some vetting and time, invitations are extended. And once you're 'on the inside' you find very much what you do at country clubs, that the ability to say you're a member is much of the prestige. The inside amenities are often much the same.
At least this is what I've heard.
Originally Posted by Contralto
Thanks for sharing Contralto. I think my ideas are getting more clear about this project and I would really appreciate that if you guys help me to build this out for you. I think feedbacks are really important both from providers and hobbyists. I'm very careful about not making advertisements here but if you PM me, I can share more information about what I've done so far. I'm also planning to give lifetime VIP access to early members. Maybe that would be something you guys would be interested.
I think I'd place mine between or center of BP, ECCIE, P411 and those hidden sites. I think for my project, an invitation from a provider would be enough to get premium access to the real url and the content. I also think to associate accounts with user's phone number and a initial fee to avoid having multiple accounts. Maybe providers can be awarded with credits and freebies for each OP they invited to our site.
I just want providers to build their own trusted hobbyists pool for themselves. Even a hobbyist would not be able to invite his friends. Also providers will be able to review hobbyists as well but it will be visible only for other providers. Maybe that would help screening process easier?
Providers can post ads like they do on BP but at least we can verify them as well, it is something BP doesn't do, right?
