http://www.proptopia.com/

I happened to come across this website a while ago and I remember reading a few threads about it. But no matter where I search, I cannot seem to find a way to register and gain access to their message board. I read somewhere that in April 2009 that registration was blocked. I'm wondering if anyone out there knows anything about this potentially fabulous website and how to gain access to it.

Is it me or does it seem fishy that a website blocks registration and only allows a certain select few to have access? Sounds like Nazi Germany.

The reasons behind Proptopia's current closure to new members aren't shady.

The first reason that crops up every October, are people who come onto these sites only to buy props for Halloween. There are those who aren't too bad, but there are “Halloweeners” who come in with unreasonable expectations in terms of how much things go for, or how much a Proton Pack costs to build.

The second reason is that both Proptopia and GBFans have experience problems with banned members sneaking back onto the forums they've been banned from by using Proxy Servers. Proptopia took the decision to close new registrations for the foreseeable future.

Heh; “Halloweeners”…I like that.

To play devil's advocate for a second, is it that bad that people come in droves on Halloween with annoying questions about buying props that would require shutting down registration? The fact that people are visiting the board in the first place and spreading the love of Ghostbusters around is a great to begin with. Punishing other prospective ghostheads from enjoying this site sounds a tad over-the-top, and above all, against the spirit of Ghostbusters fandom.

The first problem is that the forum in question ends up getting a bucketload of new memberships, most of which never show up again after October 31st. The next problem is that often these new members aren't there to participate in the forum in the preferred/standard way, they don't usually participate in the wide range of discussion… most of them don't want to, a lot of them are there to seek props for sale, some not bothering to search the marketplace to see if someone is actually selling the item they're after.

The fact that people are visiting the board in the first place and spreading the love of Ghostbusters around is a great to begin with.

They aren't all there for that, some are just there to get a kickass prop for Halloween.

Another part to that I imagine, is the fact that some of them are after the instant gratification of buying a awesome prop to wear on Halloween, whereas the members of Proptopia would prefer that person to have a bit of an investment in the costume by making it themself.

There are at least two other forums the prop buyers can visit to try purchase something, and then there's eBay. They're not significantly hard done by from being kept out of Proptopia.


I'm sure Sean has considered the other group of people, and has viewed locking them out as the lesser of two evils. It's his forum, he retains the right to do so if he likes.

To be quite honest, I've looked at this message board almost every single day for about a year or so, but I've posted only around 3 times. I learn a great deal about the world of Ghostbusters by just soaking in the information like a sponge. Just because members of a message board don't post a certain amount of replies to a thread, it shouldn't make that person invaluable to the board.

I really don't see the problem of people flocking to the board on Halloween to buy props. Aren't the props there to be bought? While I agree that some people do not know how much a decent proton pack actually costs (which can get annoying after a while), I don't think this is grounds to close registration for people like me who want to check out the sight for the sake of gaining knowlege about Ghostbusters.

The primary drive of the prop boards is for the building of props, not the selling of complete ones.

Occasionally, complete props do get sold through the various marketplaces on those sites, but a large proportion of “sale” topics are for individual components, resin parts, electronic kits, metal pieces, stickers, etc, for use in detailing props… Forums like Proptopia and GBFans try to encourage people to build their props, rather than buy them.

In the past there was a degree of debate about whether to have marketplaces… Proptopia I'm sure would happily continue to exist if the marketplace was closed… there were a couple of occasions where, due to deadbeat sellers, it was shut down. GBFans would sustain a hit on its activity, but would also continue to exist if its own marketplace closed.

I know it's unfortunate that you've been kept from checking out the content there, but as I said, Proptopia is Sean Bishop's forum, and he's allowed to close it to new members if he feels the reasons are valid.

Maybe if you got in contact with him, it might go some way to getting you in there.