New replacement for now defunct HRD Yahoo group.

The procedure to join and gain the ability to post is exactly the same regardless of whether the archive is open or closed. In both cases they need to apply for membership and convince you with their "note to the admin" that they are a genuine candidate for being a member. It's your decision to let them in or not.

How does the archive being open or closed change that?

This is not a personal attack. I'm just trying to understand your decision to keep the archives visible to members only. Your answer above does not make sense.

I haven't noticed groups with open archives having significantly more spam than those with closed archives.

 

And, you can see how closed groups end up on yahoo groups: They tend to die after a year or so. I don't join a group to see if it's worthwhile. I read the messages to see, and then join if it looks worthwhile.

It's your sandbox. Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law. I wont bother with your group, however.

Nobody said open join, what I (And others) are suggesting is to open the messages up to browsing for non-members. Otherwise, this forum here is plenty enough for me as far as HRD support goes (What little I use it).