Yep, forum use won't be decided without Mers agreeing with the decision and the participants being OK with it.I would say to anybody that doesn't want their name connected to posts for the future to just go ahead and let Mers know and he'll have me change it to whatever you would like, to satisfy any worries about people reading your posts in the future and exploiting you (I wouldn't worry too much about it, but it's no problem on our end and understandable to want that changed, so we're happy to do it).

I think most of the value of this forum comes from your help... fixing the players leaks... I don't really know if other players may have the same benefits without posting... but again I don't knowRegarding the read-only access, I think is up to you, let the users change his screename is a must imo, I soulread that and I didn't mention my screename hihi...

 Hi, Mers, I think we had already a read only student: bbq :-) To be honest I wouldn’ be very happy with read only students, because imo the forum is something like a collective project and everybody profits from the other threads, which wouldn’t be the same with read only students.

Yes, deffo buy that turquoise shirt u saw  srs note tho;id rather not have read only students, or a shitton of people reading my thread regardless not sure why i feel like this tho i dont mind that much tho, but if there would be a significant amount of more students over the next few months id at least want the video i posted in my thread deleted also [x] in for anotehr month, if poker isnt banned here obv ;D

Hi Mers,I'm glad to hear that you're offering this again in June and really hope you're accepting me as a student again.  Now we're already more than half-way through May and I kinda feel like I wasted it - only posted a few HH's and couldn't read any of the other student's threads so far since I was so increadibly busy these last two weeks.However, there are some important changes coming up in my life which will not only give me - at least temporarily - a lot more time to spend on poker, and also make it much more important to learn and improve my game.As for read-only access, I don't really feel too comfortable about that. Well, it's kida ok if it's just a handful of paying students - but I really don't like the contents of this forum to become public to the world.For me, it's not so much about the number of these students, but more about their history.  I don't have any problem with opening this up to anyone who's a reg on 2+2, but please let's not make it that wide that the random stranger with 5 posts and sign-up date May 2011 can get access.Call me paranoid, but I'm really worried that somehow whom I know in real life may accidentally learn my Stars SN somehow (look me over the shoulder while I'm playing, for instance), then simply look it up on google and immediately see how much time I'm spending on playing poker, how good / bad I'm running, how much money I lost / won.  This applies especially to current and future employers who may not be too excited about me being a "gambler".However, apart from that - I'm sorry, I really see spies from the Lucian Alliance everywhere at the moment - maybe it's also worth to keep it closed like it is at the moment.For me, one great value of this program is the social / closed group part of it - that really distinguishes it from just posting hands on 2+2.

I agree with Jack about enjoying the closed group aspect of this forum.  I personally don't think I mind too much if its opened.  I mean are we afraid of the games getting tougher?  On the one hand there's so much concentrated information here that you are never going to find in one place.  Just reading Jhub's thread is going to make a ton of difference in any Husngers life.  Especially in turbo, and Super turbo's.  I do run into other players in this forum often, and 2 + 2ers in general.  But like anything else, to improve is going to require effort, and those that are going to want to have access to MErs's thread are going to improve anyways.  This will fast track them though.  I really think it comes down to the question of community here and how we want that community to be constituted.  I think that the greater participation by players the greater respect they deserve.  I don't think Mer's, Primo, or any other HUsng coach's game improved soley from them sitting in a hole pouring over data.  The whole Husng team and many 2 + 2ers set an example of how poker players should interact.  Communities are essentially networks of communication, the way that information is communicated directly leads to its constitution.  I think husng.com is a very positive influence, by providing access to a ton of information and a forum for players to interact it fosters postive relationships that enhance all participants abilities.  Its funny how even in a profession that is most viscerally about money, that greed is actually a deterrent to growth.  Having open networks and sharing valuable information leads to further innovation and understanding.  Really there is nothing more useful to a poker player than another poker player, and I think husng.com and 2 +2 are great example of how this process works.  In poker it seems that solitude is synonymous with poverty.  The problem with opening it up to other players on a read only basis, is that it does hinder this essential interaction process.  If you were to provide access I think it might be best to also provide a single thread for read only players to interact.  I also think that the selective nature of this forum is an incredible boon. Here there's no trolls, no jibberish, just solid strategy.  So I hope that even for read-only people there would still be a selection process. And I'm in for next month unless I go bust :)   I'm going to be trying to participate even more, just always a fight against time constraints.  

if you never ever let wut_teh_hell be part of this, i agree to whatever u want me to agree :)

Thanks for opening up discussion Mers, i've got some points that I'd like to make about this but got exam tomorrow, I'll try to write here after that.

And even if we were not moderators there, 2p2 is extremely respectful to other people's work and copyright, from the top (Mason, Mat) down (hard working volunteer mods).But Mers and I being mods there makes the process much faster on average, I would imagine.I don't think it will be a big worry, however.Just like with torrents of poker videos, the people that work hard at this game understand and realize the value in what is offered (both in this forum and with videos on the site) and in most cases are happy to pay for that value. The people that copy and share content against the wishes of the authors tend to be less successful, unmotivated to play/work hard in this game, and while it sucks that they receive the same information for free sometimes, it will not bother you as much when you realize it won't do them any good.After all, no amount of words Mers or any great husng player writes will win money for you, you still need to recognize the situations and make the decisions, consistently.

^ a bit of generalizing of course, but I've just found that in my experiences most people that I've identified sharing or uploading or downloading on torrent sites tend to be non winning players.  This experience lines up with with others I've talked to in the industry.  That said, there's always going to be successful assholes ready to shit on you.  They don't live happy lives either, gl to them.

I wonna be read-only student in june, cuz full access every month  is too expensive for me  ( at least now, but i hope, not for always).  anyway, i ready to pay for learning by Mers )I am ready to pay 50-100$ for read-only. About "Do you care about having your posts read by a wider audience? If so, how wide is too wide?" - i care, and i think >15 read-only students per month is too wide in my opinion.

Thanks for addressing all of these concerns Mers.  I think what you are proposing is completely fine and I trust you and Rypac to manage read only students as well as you've managed these and the 2 + 2 forums. 

Okaay, well first of all, I'm in for June again for sure unless you're too tired of me :) And will probably be doing a higher amount of private sessions too if they're still on offer. Very happy with everything.About the reed-only students: I'm against it, sorry, but i know you want honest opinions, so I'll give you my reasonings and hopefully we can get somewhere.I think it's an obviously good idea in the sense that there is a lot of value here, and it is value that can be very easily monetized, so it's inevitable that the idea comes up. However, I think it's a bad idea in the sense that it doesn't fit with the nature of the program imo in the following ways:1) The learning that goes on here starts with the understanding and acceptance by all that we are a (limited) group of people who learn together in equal conditions. So we agree to share (which is ofc why it's cheaper) all the value we get from your answers with the other students, and also give and receive whatever value we can from them. This leads to us postings questions, comments and resources (JHUBs full preflop ranges, HHMiner's simulations this month for example) to contribute to the general improvement of the forum to the best of our abilities, differently from how we would act in a public space. Additionally, this turns into a friendly / family like enviroment, which leads to stuff like personal comments being made, free discussion of other specific regs, etc. It's kind of like (on a ridiculously different scale obv) if Primo and Hokie recorded the interactions of their bootcamp, things would be very different, and people would not be comfortable in the same way, with a camera on.2) What we are paying for (with really great value/$ for sure) is private coaching - even though it's not 1on1 - in the sense that we pay to get a direct, semi-private interaction with you, as opposed to paying for access to a training site where you know that the resources you're paying for are gonna stay right there for anyone else to get at same price. So the thing is, the format of this coaching offers a much more intuitive source for trying to convert into further value than say a 1on1 sweat session, or even less so a video of primo's bootcamp in my ridiculous example above. But still, I think the concept is the same, you should be able to get all the money that you believe your work is worth with the payments the students make in exchange for it, and if that's not the case it should be priced higher, but it's not appropiate imo to try to get aditional value afterwards.So yeah basically I just don't think it should be done, sorry again, just my honest opinion. You know it's not a matter of me not wanting people to get better or not wanting them to see my style as I was happy with you posting the session we did last month as a vid on the site.In conclusion:What I'm cool with: A specific group like the bootcamp people having access, as I feel it's kind of like joining another group that makes sense, and fasttrackers can benefit from comments from them - although they haven't been super participative - and their coaches as well as they do from ours.What I'd cope with fine: Specific, very limited amount of people that you feel are good fits (very interested in learning, good integrity / no intention of taking advantage of anything) getting read-only access.What I'd be unhappy about: Big audiences getting access, this being opened up directly to all husng.com subscribers, and just read only option being directly offered / advertised out there.Yikes, so that's my view, much love to all,Nico. 

I'm totally confident whatever you do you'll do it in a way that no one, including me, might feel isn't totally honourable.And fwiw I think the way you run the program is both full of integrity in every sense where the word integrity might apply, and with an amazing effort to deliver best value possible, which you definately succeed at. Also nothing less can be said for husng.com as a whole.Continue conversation on skype? 

I think read-only access is fine. At the end of the day there's forums out there like 2p2 that are completely free for anyone to post and read. I agree that this forum is far more valuable to someone than the 2p2 forums of late but I also tend to think that people aren't guaranteed to get better just by reading. Though I can understand some people's concerns, and so I think limiting the read-only access to a small number is a pretty good idea and also maybe the idea of deleting individual threads at the end of the month. Although this would be to the detriment of the forum and not something I imagine you would want a lot of people doing. Maybe members get a % of the sign-up fee back if they agree to leave the thread? Or maybe being able to delete your own thread just shouldn't be an option :p Perhaps another idea would be to give read-only access to people who have already participated in the program? That way the only people reading are the ones who have also had their own thread that's out there for others to read. If you want to read everything that's been written then you have to contibute yourself first sort of thing. Just a thought. Regretably I have had far more to do outside of poker this month that I anticipated and haven't been able to spend as much time here as I would have liked. I would love to sign on again for next month but I will be on holidays for 2 weeks. And now it looks like July is up in the air in terms of the program itself. So assuming the program is running in July is it possible to prematurely reserve a spot? And if not will people who have participated here previously be given some sort of preferencial treament during any future slection process?

lol triple post.

can delete these

"I would say to anybody that doesn't want their name connected to posts for the future to just go ahead and let Mers know and he'll have me change it to whatever you would like, to satisfy any worries about people reading your posts in the future and exploiting you (I wouldn't worry too much about it, but it's no problem on our end and understandable to want that changed, so we're happy to do it)."Hi Mers, Hi Rypac,could you please change the title of my thread to "kingkong HH review" and also delete the first sentence in the first post of my thread, where I mention my screenname. There's no hurry, but I don't want that the read only students in the future know my screenname.I can't do it by myself, I think admin rights are required. Thanks.I changed it by myself:-)  

Really ?  Requiring admin rights doesn't make much sense after we discovered yesterday that we all can edit the student directory OP.Ok, I get the edit button in the OP of your thread, so you should as well.  I didn't try to actually edit it since I don't like the idea of editing other people's post very much, though.Simply open your thread and click on the "Edit" box at the top.  If you need to edit individual posts within your thread, click the "edit" box at the bottom of that post.

Thanks, my fault, it worked fine now. I didn't find the edit button before