[Debate] Guests Must Log-In

[twilight.Memories]

Guests Must Log-In

How do you feel about the practice of leaving a forum in Guests Must Log-In Mode?

Some people say they do this to protect their forum's content, to make it more difficult for people to plagiarize it for use on other forums. Some people do this simply to get people to register to view the board, either in hopes the person will stay, or to increase their forum's member count.

Others think that leaving a forum in guests must log-in mode is not the best thing to do. It is thought that if people want to steal content bad enough, all they have to do is register an account and steal away. Some people are of the opinion that a forum should show what they have to offer to guests, so that it may persuade them to join if they like what they see.

So what do you think about leaving a forum in guests must log-in mode?

Debate.

I personally think it is really annoying to have to log in to see any of site. I automatically turn down a site that does it. The content, number of boards, and overall site set-up is a big factor if I'm considering joining a site. =]

[elenek]

We had debated it whether or not to close our doors to guests when we first set up our board because we were splintering away from another group that we were no longer happy with. We did not want the insane admin at that board to come on over and cause a large brew-ha-ha. Fortunately that didn't happen. Eventually we decided to just do approved membership without forcing guests to register. We want people to look at our board and check us out before deciding whether or not to join our RPG. But if any guest can post, there is no point in having any registered membership at all.

I would like to say thank you to Fensake Daito. My co-admin and I have been trying to figure out how to do that for ages!!! Up until today we hadn't really had a problem, but we just had our first spam bot come through which make finding out how to do that a priority.

[karkarkarei]

Generally it is a bad idea for a board to have Guests Must Login enabled. If I do click a site link and find out I have to login to see the boards I exit out immediately. If guests can't login, they can't read the rules, see how big/small the forum is, (if a media-based rp) can't see what canons are available/taken, etc. etc. Plagiarism is a problem, I've experienced it more than once, but if no one joins your forum then what's there to steal?

I do think that if a forum has a lot of members and they are satisfied with how big the forum is, then it's a good time to have Guests Must Login enabled. Otherwise I'm very much against it.

[Denny]

I personally don't think it's a very good idea to have. For some reason most guests feel forums which have guests must login enabled aren't active at all, and they pretty much wasted a sign up.

Because of this, most members won't even bother registering for a forum which has this function enabled.

Additionally, with this function enabled, you really cannot post your board on the advertising board provided by PB support, or the GOAYB section of PB support, which does come in pretty handy. (I'm a frequent rater there)

So, all in all, I think this function is rather useless. The only positives you can get from it is to not have mysterious guests stealing all of your information that you don't want let out by non-registered members, but the chance of that happening is incredibly low.

[DisneyCraze]

I dont think its a good idea because, people would want to see what the board looks like and what they have. And know if its an appropriate board that they were looking for. Now if they can't see what the board is and wastes there time on appling and it turns out that the board was horible because they never knew the rules in the first place. It would really make a good website.

[D.evious]

I prefer it when guests can view the forum, but they can't post in it. I am usually active on RPG forum, which is why this works in my opinion--they can view the roleplay, the rules, and decide whether they want to join, but they just can't take part in the RPing as a guest. This also keeps it active with members. "But D," You may ask. "Why does that matter [to you]?" <--Thank you for asking, lol. Well, it might be just me, but I prefer a forum that knows each other, and having members increases the chances of that happening.

[I ♥ Adam Lambert!]

I'm same as above kinda. We don't have guests must log in, we do however have no boards that are guest postable, and most of the boards can only be viewed by members (especially boards where people discuss personal problems and stuff) but apart from that, guests can view the full layout, see how many boards we have, how many members, check out the organisation and structure etc...that should be okay from a guest stand point to see what we have to offer but not actually read member posts and also if I was to advertise my forum or get opinions about your forum sections

[imo pop,]

I really don't like it when you have to be a member to view a forum. If I am browsing for a forum to join and I come across one that say I must log in I close the window and don't go back.

True it makes it harder to spam but it also turns away a lot of people who might have otherwise joined. Another reason why I personally think that mosts sites who use it die is because there cannot be a guest friendly advertising board if guests can't view it and most sites (including mine) will not accept a advertisement if they cannot place there own back.

[Ginger]

I have the rule board, and the main board (to chat) open for geusts, the advertise and affiliate boards are only to be viewed by registere members, that also for the free lands (where member roleplay in) I made another catagory that's called Namibië (site is about meerkats) and that one has two boards, they're both open for geusts, but they can't create a topic or reply in one.

I think this keeps my forum open to a point so geusts can have a brief look of my forum.

[Comrade Corporal Dota <V>^_^]

I have thought about making my forums members only, but i've always been to lazy to go and set it to no guests. But I guess its ok since when guests show up they like to see the level of activity on the threads, the skill level of the RPers, and to see the plots and topics being RPed.

When I go around and look for RPs that i am intrested in, if i come across a site that is guests must log-in, i don't even bother, especially since i want to see what their topics are all about and stuff like that.

It was stated before ( i forgot who was) that they have their forums guests can view but can't post, I generally don't care, since i could just delete it reletively easily as i check the forums quite often.

[.::Boo::.]

I think my site is fairly relaxed in its viewability. Its one of the million and a half Harry Potter rpgs, and I've taken the guests (called muggles on my site) not able to view certain categories to a new level. It simply says "Muggles can't view Hogwarts" which doesn't flat out say "guests steal so go away" it makes it more intriguing. (in my opinion anyway)

All the important information a guest would need in order to make an educated decision on whether they'd like to join is available for them to view, including rules, a general time line, a board for taken characters, advertising, and an open cbox to talk with my other members. The only portions that a guest is unable to see is the 'castle' and 'the magical world' which are RP only sections. The only draw back I know exists is that guests can't see how interaction works really with the site, but seeing that it is an HP site, I am of the opinion that anyone who knows the fandom will have a general idea of what's going on behind the signs anyway.

[Revenant]

I understand why some people think it's the best option.
Like others have said, it makes it harder to steal ideas and such, and it could pique the guests interests...
but I know that from when I go around checking out forums, I've never registered at one that I can't see without registering.

It could be the best forum on earth, but I just don't like becoming a member of a site without having an idea of what I'm getting into.
And it's not like there aren't other ways, like others have said.
On my forums guests can't post, or see all of the category's...and they can't get into around half of the boards either.

You have to show something to get their interest.
And a little sign telling me I have to register to see anything, just shuts all down in my book.

[coby90]

I think that making guest log in, only hurts your forum in the long run. People who want to join a forum typically want to see what you forum is about before joining. The only reason I see in using something like this would be if you have a forum that is personal and only for certain people. Otherwise using this would be a bad idea. For protecting you forum content there are other ways, like making certain boards only viewable to guest. You could also use the "stop copy & pasting" code. People won't be interested in something they can't see.

[&&MONTANA]

I've always found it useless to make guests log in. I look for new forums all the time, and it really bugs me when I can't see what the forum is like. I won't want to register on something when I don't know what it's about or if it's even active anymore. It just hurts your forum. I can see why people would put it on that option, though. That would elminate a lot of stealing and spam. However, wouldn't it be better to just make guests not able to view certain boards, like Boo said she does with her site? Overall, I don't think the "Guests Must Log-In" is very effective at all.

[Dusk]

Personally, I don't really like having the Guest Must Log-In mode. It's pretty annoying, and I can't really see what the site has to offer. I like being able to see what the forum has first, instead of just joining it right off the bat. I don't really think it protects the forum from plagiarism, either. If they wanted to, a guest could just create their own account and take what they wanted.