Hi @Snowbird … The forum is a branded public forum and yes we are open to partial members and for the reason you say, to encourage more members to join our community which will benefit all of us.
Off site arrangements can happen between members, not just non members. They rarely do as members realise to go off site means member benefits do not apply, there is no support for anyone involved in the arrangement and for sitters there are no reviews, which we all put great store in … including those of us with many reviews.
We do not allow listings or profiles on the forum and we always encourage members to go through the site for all arrangements. Historically we find that if and when a sit goes wrong it is generally one that has been arranged away from the site.
We cannot prevent this from happening either through the forum, the membership or other means and now that the forum is becoming more popular we are in the process of updating the guidelines on forum process and best practise.
Thank you