Ah, yes, I probably know who you talked to. We haven't missed him a bit.

The truth is: I ask people for 2-3 sentences about themselves and their connection to China. If someone registers using the handle of someone prominent on another site, such as this one, I might ask for a bit more, to make sure that person's identity hasn't been stolen. It's for THEIR protection, not ours...most of our site- the only parts that new members will see for quite some time- is publicly visible anyway, so your concept of "spies" is incomprehensible to me.

If people don't like our site, that's fine. It's no skin off our nose, and we're probably all happier with their non-participation. If some people find our registration process an affront to their dignity, well, sorry. That's the way it is, and one has the choice of liking it or lumping it. We're actually quite happy being relatively small, and in fact there are quite a number of folks out there we're terribly grateful are NOT part of our site.

Say whatever you want, I don't really care. The fact of the matter is that thanks to our registration procedures and other mechanisms, we've managed to maintain a relatively civil and coherent community on the Saloon for well over 5 years now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

As for why we don't do "open participation" there, well, just look around you for the answer to that. The Saloon may well be the one place on the 'net where one can actually have a conversation without a bunch of trolls, trashers, hit-and-runs, stealth advertisers, and other undesirables quickly clinging to it like barnacles and sinking it. And that isn't going to change, not on my watch.

Raoul