Silent Comedy Mafia reopens for new members---again!

[Richard M Roberts]

So what in the holy hell has been going on with our hit numbers of late? We've been breaking records for numbers of people reading this site for awhile and now the site seems to have viewing numbers almost always in triple digits and between 300-700 at any given period in time.

And our security-IT people say this is just not bots, because all the forums have traffic and the hit numbers on all topics are rising. We know a lot of this traffic comes from overseas because the hit numbers really rise at night, but they stay in triple digits now all day as well (it's really fun to check our high numbers then go over to Nitwitvile and see they still are averaging 18-30 hits at any given time).

So, who the heck are you, and because we might want to find out we are doing something we haven't done in more than a decade, we're opening the door just a small crack to see if any of you might want to join the discussion and become registered Mafiosi. Now, we're not going to just open the membership page, who wants to delete all those spambot memberships on a daily basis, but here's what we're going to do:

If you would be interested in joining the mafia, send an email to us at this address:

SilentComedyMafia@gmail.com

Saying you would like to join and tell us a bit about yourself. We will check into you a little and if we agree to let you in, we'll send you a return email to the address you give us and tell you how to activate your membership

Now, you had better read the RULES AND GUIDELINES page first:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2

and realize we are dead serious about those rules, YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR REAL NAME, and if your membership is activated it will be only with you utilizing your real name with a space in between your first and last names. As said before, we're only talking about old movies here, and an opinion is only an opinion with an actual name attached to it, if you can't deal with that, you ain't entitled to that opinion.

And repeating what I said in my essay on the RULES AND GUIDELINES page, I remind you again that this is not a public forum, it is a private clubhouse we created for us and some of our friends and like-minded experts, we do no censoring and let the talk be fast and loose, so if you are easily upset if you find yourself corrected on some misinformation you are mistaken about (you are entitled to your own identified opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts), or want to be offended by any sort of honest language, perhaps you might want to remain a lurker. Our membership is a small but very knowledgeable group, and that's the way we like it. However, that said, we really have not had to do much if any moderating around the place in the fifteen years or so of our existence and we've only sent two or three Mafiosi to swim with the fishes in those years. That using your own name thing really does make people behave better around here, that and the fact that we didn't let the weirdos and trouble makers get on in the first place, they're all over at Nitwitvile using silly made-up monikers and lowering the credibility of that sorry little site.

So here's your opportunity, take a chance, you don't have to be an expert, just a lover of these films, just don't try to act like an expert if you're not, because there are too many around who will call you on it. But if you love the stuff and have questions or just want to talk, you're welcome to do so. Of course real experts and historians are welcome.

But one more time, this is not a democracy, this is our joint, and if you are weird or a troublemaker we'll flip you like a cheese omelette and drop you like a hot potato, maybe just because we feel like it. However, the mafia seems to have more freedom than anyone's average Facebook page, those are everyone's little private fiefdoms stocked with those who only say what the fief's want to hear, so we suffer no guilt in how we run things. and don't be offended if we don't activate your membership, sometimes we do that in consideration of your own feelings if we know you probably wouldn't be happy here.

Anyway, for the first time in a long time, the doors are open, just a little, lets see what happens.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Richard M Roberts]

Bump