Both. Possibly lack of know-how is a reason to “don´t” 
It’s probably to give non members a taste of the site and help them answer any questions they have before they join.
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Thank you @ElsieDownie
Pet and housesitting is still an unknown proposition for many.
There are pet owners and potential sitters completely unfamiliar with the proposition although they may have heard something about it through the media or advertising and the forum is where they can come to learn about our community and how it all works … the number of “readers” on this forum in a day far exceeds those who engage and are active…
The forum is helping incubate new community members, that is one of the main reasons for it being open.
By the same token, and for the sake of argument discussions titled “Respect …”, “Frustrations” and the like can easily shy them away from the proposition
@anon47943759 there aren’t many who make important decisions based on one source and to your point there are far more Forum positives than negatives to inspire and inform.
That’s one reason why I rarely tell people about the forum and only point them to the main website.
IMO, I think it would be great if we could have a separate private forum for members but I imagine that’s all a bit too much work, and then how do you decide what to put on what forum and who monitors it etc etc…
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There’s a link to the forum on the main website, with a great big red NEW button next to it. But I don’t know if you have to be logged in to see that.
Yep, definitely they will likely see it, but I’m just not driving traffic to it deliberately. There’s too much negative vibe on here for my liking. I want to encourage people, not discourage them.
In hope of the THS-friendly final decision, letting the lurkers in could be an effective way of attracting presumptive customers to become paying customers. Nothing wrong with that. Not sure, however, how fair it is to forum users that are already existing customers.
As much as I am (almost) indifferent to the above I cannot say the same about the inability for users to delete their accounts themselves. 1 post and they are trapped. Now they must ask you for permission to let them leave.
The problem seems to be the fact that non members can access the forum. They can then secure sitters without paying the joining fee. But likewise non member sitters can apply for the last minute sits that are posted on the forum so I really cannot see the difference but rules are rules and it has been decided.
I for one would not accept a sit if the pet owner was not a THS member. I have huge faith in this community and won’t let a few bad apples spoil my enjoyment.
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Google calendar is so easy to use! You can even tell your phone, (or your smartwatch) “add an event to my Google calendar”, and it conversationally asks you the questions that it needs to get answered, and then it just does it! You don’t even have to touch your phone. I do this using voice to text, when I’m driving, when I’m cooking, all the time! It’s the best way to capture the little tasks that I would otherwise forget to do if I didn’t write it down.
Okay Google… Add an event to my calendar
(What’s the title of the event)
Refill the coffee in my travel kit
(What time is the event)
Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.
(Okay, refill the coffee in my travel kit tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., do you want to save this?)
Yes!
(Okay I’ve added this to your calendar)
And yes, I say “thank you Google” all the time, when the robot uprising happens, perhaps they will remember that I was polite and mercifully exterminate me first.
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Thanks MissChef. To be fair, today was the first time I’ve used Google Calendar and I’m pretty pleased that I managed to get all our sits until the end of the year inputted first go.
My husband always thanked Alexa on our Christmas sit and it always made me laugh.
Love the Dalek reference 
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I totally agree. And I would never accept a sit with someone who was not a member because I would not be covered by the support or the insurance either.
Yay! Proud of you! You’ll see, it makes things so much easier. Do you know how to share it, to publish it so that people can see the entries?
I completely acknowledge that I’m a dork/nerd/geek, and I’m fine with it! I’m having way too much fun to worry about it. The people who get my references, those are my people!
I do the same thing, but for me, it’s all on my Apple calendar and I do love how it syncs between all my devices, all the time. However, I only put personal stuff on there.
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We may have to have a little private tutorial off the forum. But not right now - geeky stuff makes my brain hurt 
Cool, If anyone’s interested, send me a private message. If enough people respond, I’ll do it over zoom! It will take only 15 minutes!
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@Kelownagurl I’m with you on using the Apple calendar. I can easily mix personal with housesitting though. I use the colour-coded labelling for various categories, and housesitting has its designated colour. I add ‘HOLD’ to the description of ones I’ve applied for. When I confirm a sit, I delete the hold wording and can also easily see any that overlapped on dates. I then message those to let them know I’m withdrawing my application as I’ve taken a booking.
I find this takes very little time. I don’t understand people saying it’s too much work to be able to check back and see where applications overlap. Yep, I’m a computer geek maybe, but I also think everyone deserves the courtesy of timely updates.
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We are traveling as a family for about 4 weeks in Ontario, Canada. I have been looking for dates but so far the few that are posted just don’t work for our schedule. Is there a way to post what dates/locations were looking for so that home owners can reach out or see when we’re available? I have our availability marked on our calendar but I’m wondering also if it doesn’t help that these will be our first sits and we do t yet have feed back as a sitter (we’ve had several sitters come to our house and have feedback for all of those).
Any help would be appreciated as we leave in just a few weeks!
Hi @LauraBBrady. I saw your question and moved it here, so you can see how others have responded to this question in the past.