There are two points about that..

1. whitelist yes -> we can check everybody who want to play on the server.. the guy has to register in the forums and tell us who he is and why he wants to play on this server... thats the good thing.. we can assess the guy better..
Buuuut: we`ll have very few people, who play on the server.. i dunno if this is good or bad .. i love the idea that i see 3 or 5 people are currently playing.. but some people dont

2. whitelist no --> everyone can join on the server .. every pvp noob, and even (and thats muuuch more important) thieves.. buuut: we´ll have more players on the server .. so the social thing (with hey can someone gimme a lift .. or heey im bleeding out in elektro .. can someone bandage me?) will be much better than with 5 players..

So i dunno whats better, but i think i´d like the whitelist. and i have at least 3-4 honest players in my environment, which i`m sure would love to play here .. and if everyone has them.. we`ll fastly have 20 active and cool players tho^^

Well im all for whitelisting the server once it's up and running, better to have a few trustworthy players then a load of undeserving nitwits that think the game revolves around screwing everybody else over.

Hell that forum needs a damn like button ... i`m +1 with master ..

I kinda vote no, due to the fact that then, the server would hardly ever be populated. Like, if you saw this server on commander, would you say "Oh, I'm gonna go research this server up on the internet and see if I can get whitelisted!" ? I sure wouldn't, and just go use my time to find another server. Sure, we could maybe get a couple of guys from bartertown to join, but... I just want to, maybe, run into another player at Trader City Stary, or maybe encounter one on the road, maybe needing a lift, but my point is, It would be pretty dang boring when you're the only one on the server. So.... I really dont know. For me, the only good thing that would come out of whitelisting is it would prevent hackers. Hmm... well...

There is also this one thing. I saw it on a wasteland server (Eden Grounds), but every time they experience a hacker, they turn on whitelisting and kick everyone off, Except for the one's who have registered on the forums, so it increases the chances of finding or eliminating the hacker. I belive this is a practical suggestion for this server.

Thanks for reading this... rather long post, Firestorm.

First, i agree totally with Master.

Whitelist is better.

Only problem is that we (yeah i know, i've only been here for a week, but I've found my home) would get less people and it will take longer to build up a decent player base.

Another thing. How many of you have gone through this on another server?
Get kicked, join forum, go back on, only to discover that the server is crap?
Our server is the dogs bollocks, but like everything, if you can't try it first, it will push potential members away.

Just a thought.

Ext1nct