[Debate] Guests Must Log-In

[sorceresss]

Never liked the idea.

As a possible member I get turned off by having to join up and go through all the hassle of logging in just to see what a forum has to offer. As far as trolls go, trolls will steal anything if they want it bad enough so doing this won't really keep them away.

But on the other hand, like Kat said, if you have an already busy community and you don't really need lots of new members it probably won't hurt much. I would never use this for a board that is just starting out.

[sergeim]

why you that have that guests must log in?

[chanelley]

To be honest, I have it as a setting on my forum because the forum is quite new right now and I know a lot of people keep saying "I'll join when your forum has more members." It really irritates me when people say that and I'm proving a point that more members do not necessarily mean a better forum. So I'm going to keep this guests log on until I reach a certain amount of members to prove my point.

[Star Teller]

I think that requiring guests to log in might cause them to lose interest in the forum, but it really depends on what kind of forum it is. If it's an advertising forum, it's a hassle to register just so you can post an ad.

[TaintedAzaelia]

Personally I prefer it when things aren't locked out to guests. Being able to poke around a forum before joining it can really affect whether or not someone wants to join said forum, and this can help to make sure they don't join an inactive forum. Although the only place that guests really should be allowed to actually post is in an advertising board. It gets annoying when you get that dang Chinese spam crap. ><

[nintendog444]

I am really not fond of it because if guests just want to look at a forum and see what it's about they'd have to login. They wouldn't sign up for a forum that they don't know what it's about.

[wolfpup22]

I only used guest must login mode because i had a harasser in my board. he eventually left so i turned it off. Guests must login mode is a waste of time turning on unless you have someone who is harassing your site. I dont find it useful because if you want someone to join your site they cant see the boards and if its worth joining. So i leave it off.

[gloomy sunday.]

I just make people log in because it confuses everybody when they can see everything before they log in...

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 11, 2008 18:51:38 GMT -8 gloomy sunday. said:

I just make people log in because it confuses everybody when they can see everything before they log in...

How does it confuse people if they can see everything? Do they try and post or something when they know they are not a member of the site? I guess I do not understand how having an open forum for guests to view confuses anyone...

[Yukino H.]

I perfer to have guests come on first, not make them sign in. That just makes a lot of people NOT join, in my opinion. Shouldn't a guest get a taste of what they're about to see before taking a whole spoolful of it? o.o

[gloomy sunday.]

Apr 11, 2008 18:53:26 GMT -8 HoudiniDerek said:

Apr 11, 2008 18:51:38 GMT -8 gloomy sunday. said:

I just make people log in because it confuses everybody when they can see everything before they log in...

How does it confuse people if they can see everything? Do they try and post or something when they know they are not a member of the site? I guess I do not understand how having an open forum for guests to view confuses anyone...

I don't know, I guess they just don't expect to see everything right away.
But, I actually did change it so that guests don't have to log in, though.

[>>Phoenix<<]

Guests must log in to view all but 2 catagories on my forum. No guests may post due to the huge amount of spam we've gotten over the years.

I leave it that way for my own peace of mind.

[gloomy sunday.]

Yeah, I feel better about members only being able to post on my forums...

[Tini♥]

I'm not a fan of the guests must log in mode... I believe that a forum should show what they have to offer to guests, so that if they like it they'll join... If you don't want them to see the posts and stuff there are other ways to do it... Plus I think it's annoying when someone advertises at your site and when you try to link back the guests must log in mode appears. It's not fair to others

[veggiegirl]

If people register just to see what the forum is about, it creates a lot of non-active accounts. I am against this. I do, however, feel hiding the content from most boards is a good idea.