Should we let foreigners in as members?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by springah

QFT! Any reason why it can't be a Oceanic Region site?

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+1!

ps. I need to add at least 10 characters to a reply! that's a new feature of this board!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dirge

I would accept _some_ situations - such as Aussies/Kiwis living abroad (not emigrants, those working or studying) and the like.

As for true foreigners, I think they'd need to have a compelling reason and there were need to be some support for that person joining.

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I agree with this.

Okay, he's already been added, but I think Karl is a good example of someone with both a reason and support - he's specifically discussing Australian TF sales, and with all his (and Jon's) efforts putting together BotCon down the years, I don't think anyone would begrudge him!

so is Karl, a co-organiser of Botcon??

if so, can we get some free tix? :D (doesn't hurt asking)

Karl & his brother Jon basically _are_ BotCon. Back before there was an Australian Transfans community (when I was the only one - online, anyway), they had already organised the first two BotCons!

I can't imagine anyone outside of this area wanting to join except to advertise something. Perhaps we need a policy regarding for what reasons this is permissible?

Don't worry Jay. The anti-spam policy I have would make it very difficult for a foreign toy dealer to register here. If any did have an interest, I would probably just get them to email me exactly what they want posted, and I would post it for them. Because I don't want to have people registering here if they only intend to advertise and not interact.

And, how many times do I have to use the phrase 'Australian region of the world' before people get the idea that we've always been open to fans from neighbouring countries? I want fans from 'our part of the world' to have the option of interacting here if they want, and in the past, we have had members, not just from Australia and New Zealand, but also Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Countries beyond that would feel more 'local' to the large fan communities in America, Canada, UK and Japan.
I just wanted to see if there was any stubborn hostility to the option of allowing fans in from outside of the 'Australian region of the world' if they were important enough or were a useful source of news/info. Since no one here seems to object to it, I will consider the option if ever the need arises, and process each person thoroughly.
Thankyou guys for the input though.

I never thought id see the day

Australia puts the Oz in OzFormers


permanent residents and people staying or living in Australia should only be allowed to join.

perhaps outsiders can contribute as visitiors but NOT members

c'mon isolationist policy

im against the idea of letting New Zealanders in for what i hope are obvious reasons

Admiral Perron out

I don't see what the problem with foreign members is. If you look at the American sites like TFW2005 and AllSpark, the members are about 70% American, 20% Canadian and 10% misc.

The British sites like Transformers @ The Moon and TheTransformers.Net are at least 80% British with a handful of other Europeans/N. Americans and the odd Australian.

Then the Dutch sites are almost entirely Dutch with the odd Belgian member, etc. etc.

But none of these places suffer for the multiculturalism. Restricting membership to citizens of certain countries borders racism, and is especially pointless when you'd probably get almost no foreign devils joining up anyway.

I say NO.......

*Unless* They can proove to inhance us in some way.