EXCLUSIVE: FT Launches ‘Exclusive’ Discussion Forum
Friday, October 17th, 2008 by Mark Hanson 
Exciting news reaches Staniforth Towers that the FT is beta-testing a new style forum, which will be modelled like an exclusive club where users have to qualify for membership.
It will be called the Long Room, after the famous City restuarant, which used to be a favourite for financiers and opinion formers to swap ideas and make contacts.
The site will be an offshoot from a redesigned Alphaville blog and interestingly members must apply to be accepted by the Alphaville editorial team. Once ‘in’ they can write articles, comment on articles or just observe. Although, interestingly, if you decide to write a post (open a ‘table’) you can restrict access so that only those people who you want to be privvy to the discussion are part of it.
I think it’s a fantastic idea and builds on what forums are supposed to be i.e. a recreation of traditional social networks and its only right that if you want to build an electronic community for big City ‘players’ then it should have exclusivity and privacy.
It’s a really efficient way of networking, doing deals and finding things out for bankers, lawyers, fund managers, regulators and even PR people. Far less costly and time consuming than conferences, presentations and dinners. However users are allowed to adopt fictitious personnas, so it will take time for some users to build trust and will the FT be earwigging on private, matket sensitive discussions?
A thumbs up from me and it will be fascinating to observe. It goes live next week.
PS I’ve been allowed to relay information but not pass on links. Sorry!
PPS The FT Alphaville blog has around 15,000 subscribers with a 60/40 London/Wall Street split
Here’s the membership criteria
Admission to FT Alphaville’s Long Room is restricted to finance professionals, therefore we need to collect some information about you. Applications are hand-sifted by the FT Alphaville team and we aim to get confirmation of membership back to you as soon as possible.
We do appreciate, however, that you may well live behind a regulatory wall or simply want to protect your privacy. For that reason Long Room members are free to adopt a fictional online persona. You will be prompted to choose one below, along with a suitable picture from our selection.
None of the private information requested - including your email address - will be disclosed to other Long Room users or any outside body.
But the FT Alphaville team does need to know that you are who you say you are. For that reason, if your FT account was registered with an open access webmail address (eg. godwinson10666@gmail.com), we will request further evidence of your identity.
Apologies in advance for these stipulations, but we need to ensure that the Long Room is a quality destination for professionals - and free of both market and personal abuse.
