[Debate] Guests Must Log-In

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enchant said:

I am going against the majority here...

I personally have found it to be helpful. I used to have the EE open to guest and it got alot of spam. It also had other forums stealliing the concepts made for the EE. These were my primary reasons.

It has been mentioned that people should leave the boards open to guest so they can see what you offer....while I understand this concept, I personally feel that that should be a priviledge for members....I mean if that was the case....then why have membership sign ups in the first place? Being a member has priveldges and should be treated with priority..... As for know what content you have...that is what your board discriptions are for.....

As for making guest join just to get membership...perhaps to some....but I delete all inactive accounts and anyone who doesn't like what they see there are free to delete thier accounts....I do not force people to join or stay if tey do not want to....

It has also been mentioned that if they wanted to steal if they wanted to...TRUE....however.....it works as a deterent not as a absolute....and the good thing is there IP is logged ....therefore...should I visit thier forum and notice a theft, I have thier IP dated on the EE.....

I made a poll open to guest and members alike on the EE (in the infobox)and it was for this topic and I was surprised myself to see that people rather liked the EE for members only...SO I think it might depend on the forumitself...and what works best for you.

Hey Enchant,

Your points have a valid point (as usual), however in terms of what you said here....

enchant said:

It has been mentioned that people should leave the boards open to guest so they can see what you offer....while I understand this concept, I personally feel that that should be a priviledge for members....I mean if that was the case....then why have membership sign ups in the first place? Being a member has priveldges and should be treated with priority..... As for know what content you have...that is what your board discriptions are for.....

I would have to say that, not ALL boards have to be closed to guest viewing. On my forum, I have the sub-boards hidden to member viewing/posting only, however guests too, can view what's inside the boards that are displayed on the homepage only. When a guest views it and they see what the foru has to offer, BUT realise that the boards they can see but can't view, might be interesting to them, that can have an influence of new members registering. That's what I think the point is of that

enchant said:

As for making guest join just to get membership...perhaps to some....but I delete all inactive accounts and anyone who doesn't like what they see there are free to delete thier accounts....I do not force people to join or stay if tey do not want to....

I take it you might be referring to members that join but do not post for a long period of time. That's fine, but what about those that post but forget to post within a certain amount of time. Will the same thing happen on your forum?

enchant said:

It has also been mentioned that if they wanted to steal if they wanted to...TRUE....however.....it works as a deterent not as a absolute....and the good thing is there IP is logged ....therefore...should I visit thier forum and notice a theft, I have thier IP dated on the EE.....

That's precisely the reason why I put up the first positive in my table "Keeps the forum protected from guests possible hotlinking any images there would be on the forum" - It's very handy for those purposes for one unargumentable fact

...and you've made a good add-on to it by speaking of using the IP address noted in the security log if a theft happens

foozlebootz said:

...now guests can view most boards on my site, but cannot post.

That's how I currently have my forum set like Annie. Any guest can view whatever things are on the boards displayed on the homepage, but they'll have to register if they want to see the rest

[Satai Delenn]

mrsyukisohma said:

Closing your forums completely from guests will not solve plegiarism. Your forum can be plegiarized from members that are apart of your forum. I hate boards that are closed off from guests, because I want to see what the forum looks like first. I don't want to waste my time logging in, see the board, and end up not liking it. That's a waste of time. You can lose members by this.

I don't know if you were referring to my post or not with your response but I'm not talking about plageurism, I'm talking about games like KOC/Fall of Empires, etc. (which, if you aren't familiar with these kinds of games you won't understand what I'm speaking of) where it is imperative to keep people from seeing important stuff on your boards due to potential spies from other clans, etc. This is why those kinds of boards either require everything be members only or guests must log in to be able to see anything beyond the "normal games/jokes/intro" section that most boards have. In addition to this, these boards also often have the registration set up so that new members must be approved by a Mod or Admin before being allowed active status. It's a pain in the butt for the staff of these kinds of boards but you'd be amazed by the level of scrutiny a new member has to go through to gain access to some of these boards but it is necessary to these types of groups.

Anyway, as I said previously, outside of these kinds of boards I discourage the "guest must log-in" feature. It's just not necessary.

[Enchant]

Hey Enchant,

Your points have a valid point (as usual), however in terms of what you said here....


I would have to say that, not ALL boards have to be closed to guest viewing. On my forum, I have the sub-boards hidden to member viewing/posting only, however guests too, can view what's inside the boards that are displayed on the homepage only. When a guest views it and they see what the foru has to offer, BUT realise that the boards they can see but can't view, might be interesting to them, that can have an influence of new members registering. That's what I think the point is of that

I wasn't referring to all boards...I mysefl have two boards that guest can view in...however, my theme boards are for members only...

I take it you might be referring to members that join but do not post for a long period of time. That's fine, but what about those that post but forget to post within a certain amount of time. Will the same thing happen on your forum?

I was referring to a respectable amount of time...I clean the forum out quarterly....three months is more then enough time to make a single post....and I send out plenty of Emails and newsletter and announcements ...so the I forgot excuse doesn't work on me...

That's precisely the reason why I put up the first positive in my table "Keeps the forum protected from guests possible hotlinking any images there would be on the forum" - It's very handy for those purposes for one unargumentable fact

...and you've made a good add-on to it by speaking of using the IP address noted in the security log if a theft happens

I think so... I love my security log....its full of info....

But I went and re-posted when I realized I was on the wrong topic

[Syko Nachoman]

I only recommend forcing guests to register if it's for a select group of friends, and you don't want anyone else to intrude. By the same token you should have "Limited Registration" turned on. For example, if your board is for a certain group or club at your school, you would only want group members to join the board. You wouldn't want some random person who found the site off a search engine to start posting.

I don't see the point of turning off guest viewing for public message boards. There's no way to know what's going on. I might join a board and then find out there haven't been any posts on the board for two years. ;D

[csigs]

I understand why many people do not like the guests must login feature, although I personally use it for my board. Since my board is used for my warcraft 3 clan, and my last clan was torn apart because another clan was able to view all of our strats, our player specialties, and espechilly see what problems any members had with the clan. With my new clan I enact the guests must login with the limited registration to prevent any non clan members from viewing our site. So unlike alot of people I do see it's value and it's use, but the need for this program I don't see hapeneing in many boards, since most people do not use boards for purposes that require high security.

[The Real Chewbacca]

i happen to like the guest must log on feature. It keeps out unwanted quests, and it stops mass spamming because you can contro a member and you can ban them but a guest is hard to ban because they could be anywhere and anyone

[myke]

dumdum said:

i happen to like the guest must log on feature. It keeps out unwanted quests, and it stops mass spamming because you can contro a member and you can ban them but a guest is hard to ban because they could be anywhere and anyone

Welcome to ProBoards Support. You do realize that you can allow guests to view the main page, but not allowed them to post, right? Also a guest is as easy to ban as a registered member. Copy the IP displayed in their posts, enter the admin area, click on ban members, and paste their IP and ban them.

[John Bird]

I think its the best idea to make guests register if guests must not login they will see the site and if they like it they maybe register or stay guest and if they didnt like it they will get out without registering so if they must login they will be encouraged to register

and i like everyone want to see my site to register

thank you for the nice topic

[kaiba369]

I say dont because if i see a site that i would think about joining but i cant see the overall forum because i have to register first i dont even bother and i think other people are the same way.

[Venomi]

i think there are some boards that need protecting such as pre-mades where they can be a guest and steal them although youcould get a code so they cant right click anything overall i think it should be used for graphic forums on their pre made section that is aout it

Venomi

[CIWY]

Guests must log-in is too much. Let them view the boards, but not post in them. I've had some guest spamming problems with a member called, "Dude". God, he was annoying.

[Eternity]

i don't believe that it gives a friendly atmosphere when people visit the forum. having it automatically closed off to you gives a negative vibe, almost suggesting you aren't wanted.

if you are worried about protecting content then by all means stop guests from being able to see inside certain boards, but do not limit their view so much that they cannot get an idea of what your forum is about and how well the community would suit them

[Trublu]

I think it depends on the type of board that the feature is being used on, but for most boards I think the "Guests must log in" feature should be forgone.

It makes it harder for members to see what kind of board they are joining. The board could be dedicated to their favorite topic in the world, but the members could be rude, the conversation boring, sparse, or constantly argumentative, and the potential member wouldn't be able to see any of this before joining. Then, if the member decides to join, then doesn't like what they see, the board is stuck with a virtually non-existent member (unless the member is particularly nice and deletes that account... but we all forget to do that sometimes).

I much prefer and recommend the option that we have to regulate who can post on the board, who can create polls, etc. I find it to be much more inviting, since the potential member can see what the board and conversation is like before they join. And, members who don't plan on posting can just look at the information and save an empty account. Also, it takes care of the issue that board owners (myself included) have had with guests spam posting... at least temporarily, since there is nothing stopping a dedicated spammer from taking the time to sign up. But, since most spammers like easy targets, it helps with most of the problem, while it doesn't punish the potential member and restrict them from seeing the board.

[HoudiniDerek]

Personally, I always feel that it is not worth my effort if I cannot even get in to see what the forum has to offer as a guest. If they want me to join without knowing, then obviously they are overcompensating.

All forums I belong to and/or admin have an open viewing policy, with the exception of the password protected areas. But the guests know those sections exist. And while I know most people hate spammers, and I am one of them, I always leave one section where guests can post if they have questions or something. I don't want to lose a potentially great member because they could not ask a simple question before joining. And if I do get spam, the delete button isn't THAT hard to find.

[kelendria]

I've always had some boards open to guests, otherwise what's the appeal if they can't see anything?
Then again you want people to join to see the special privileges ('pulling' them in)
It's good for them to see how people interact with eachother, if there's flaming this may put them off (if it's not what they're in to)
I leave some of my general ones open then the subject boards for them to wonder if it's worth it!