I don't get why those sites are invite only. I'm a total beginner concerning UX, and I'd like to learn, but I can't because the content of those sites is inaccessible for non-logged in users. What's the point ?

TR42 was once public but later overran by anime and insulting people. Invite system allows us to operate an incredibly close knit community (300-400 active users) which has been around since about 2000/1. Furthermore, an invitation is half the battle... membership is still based on whether or not the community votes you in. From a commercial designer's perspective, we have more freedom to share behind close doors.

Because of the trust that's formed the last decade, we've had meetups all over the world. No matter what country you're in — there's usually a rooter who's got an open door. In addition, TR42 isn't just about art... it's a living community and people share very personal details that they don't want index by spiders or viewable by the general public. I'm not going into specifics but it gets very personal.

So if we are interested in joining do we send an email to ben (at) carbonfour.com, or do we talk to you?

For the record, Ben is an incredibly inspiring designer at Facebook who brings a whole 'nother dimension to tech and design.

http://designforfun.com/display.php?id=99

We can talk, sure.

And yes, pxlpshr speaks truly--Ben is a great designer, the founder of the root, and he was the first rooter to work for FB.

I don't have a huge claim to fame, just the design work that I am doing for my as of yet uncompleted web app. To make a long story short I don't consider myself to be a really professional web designer, but I would like to learn and get feedback on my design efforts.

I can send you an email with examples of my design work. Should I send it via the contact form on your site?

The Root still exists? That's just crazy. I remember first visiting that place back in the days I was still active at deviantART as well, which must have been like 8 years ago now.

Don't think my account is still there though... ;-)

what if one doesnt have any impressive portfolio or any even. Could one just join & learn??

It's a voting system. If you don't have anything to show, people probably won't vote to let you in. You need a minimum number of votes to get in, so I'd get crackin' on those impressive projects 8)

Uhg, talk about a community that I don't want any part of. Can you imagine submitting sample code to be 'allowed' into Hacker News or a similar service? No thank you.

You say that so negatively, but I bet, at the very least, it would mean we could skip the "HN Sucks now" threads that pop up every month.

Edit: I just wanted to say that I was joking there, since it might not be obvious. The detriment of course would be that we'd lose out on the advice of the non-technical members we have here.