[Debate] Guests Must Log-In

[Gamoc]

I think that forced registration should only be for boards that have a lot of members.

The only use that I can find for having guests must log in and limited accounts is if you don't want certain guests seeing any of the board, but you want others to be able to and accept them. I really can't find any other reason for using the guests must log in feature. A little pointless, if you don't want members to post, then just put it in maintenance mode.

toddwhite said:

I'm new to ProBoards, so forgive this question regarding this topic: Our board was setup where guests had to register to view (although I still see "guests" shown as online at times) - how do I set it up where guests can view but not post?

Well, this is a support question, not a discussion question, but you would go to each board, and select that only registered members make start threads, start polls, and reply to them.

[$hØ©Këyë]

I got something to say about guests must log in only.

The good thing about them is that they can be used for like forums involved with busnesses or private forums.

The Bad thing is that it can be a thing to prevent people knowing if the forum is breaking the Terms of service.

[Gamoc]

Well, if the forum was breaking the Proboards ToS, then the admins could go in and see it anyway. But I do agree, that does make it a big problem. The admins don't go from board to board, that's true.

Yes, there does seem to be only a few reasonable times when you should use the guests must log in feature.

1. Members only forum
2. Private forum
3. Having problems with guests

I really would like to think of some more reasons, but I cannot. I really can't find a whole lot of use for it. I know that some people do think differently, but I don't think that I will be using it.

[kelendria]

Sorry if I'm off topic, but I hate nothing more than joining a forum where I have to have my account activated.
Some are fairly quick, others are not.
The thing is, I know it keeps troublemakers at bay, but before I've even joined the forum I feel like I've done something wrong & somebody's checking up on me
Does it put anyone else off? I personally don't have that on mine nor do they have to activate their account first.
I much prefer for people to log in & get on with browsing & posting

[designinglife]

I came across this thread looking for an answer. I'm new to PB and wanted to have a Poll available for anyone (registered or not) to post to. After I was told that people couldn't answer the poll, I assumed that polls automatically require that a respondent be registered?

Is this correct?

Edited to add: I also leave my forum open for guests to view, but must register to post, except for one private self-help section that is clearly tagged as such.

I personally like the verification email - mostly due to the fact that I have so many user ids and passwords (4 or 5 pages of them) that I can't keep them straight. So, being able to just double check an activation email (if I can't find my list), is a quick way to recall my id and password.

[eagletalon]

I believe that, with spammers, hackers, and virus link posters increasing by the day, sometimes shutting unwanted guests out of your Forums is good.
However, only do it if your Forum already has many members, quite a few affiliates, and, though not necessarily, a place on a popular search engine.
If not, then let Guests see it, and perhaps post, though you may prevent posting to make it more sensible. Of course, you could still be hacked, but those are mainly rumours, as most of the time ProBoards are fairly secure, and people are just cracked.
Btw, I'll PM Designinglife the answer to her question, so as not to go off-topic.

[Gamoc]

Well, this is a debate, so I am have a rebuttal to what you said. If you have many members and posters, then you don't want to close it to guests, you just want to make the boards to where guests can view, but they can't post, start thread, or start polls. It let's people see if they want to be a member of your board a lot easier. Usually, guests must log in is for when someone only wants invited members joining, that is the only time that I can see using, oh wait, you can have the things that I had before.

You should wait until you have the problem with crackers, hackers, nasty guests, and bots until you put it in those, that is always something to think about. Not every guest is going to be someone who does that sort of thing, some of them want to actually post without joining.

[eagletalon]

That's why I said that you could just stop them from posting, unless there were actual hackers around...

[Gamoc]

I rebuttaled with the guests must log in part, turning it on for those reasons. I didn't know that you suggested that in it.

Guests Must Log In:

I have seen it scare away so many members from so many places, it also makes it hard to support sometimes when people ask for support and they want people to see something on their forum. I actually think that they people are trying to get people to join by doing that, which is wrong, member count is not nearly as important as post count.

PS: Your posts in this board have to be at least 4 sentences long, remember, I'm sure they'll let you go easy.

[Miss Adventure]

There are some boards where I do have the guest have to sign up for an account in order to see it's content, but most of the content is fan fictions and stories that my members have written and it's a bit of a protection against some unknown from copy cating my members hard work and efforts. Not that it'll stop such a thing from happening but it does help to narrow the field from just who was the one to do such a thing.

For the most part I hate being told to visit forums and only finding the login feature telling you, you have to sign in before seeing what the forum is like. I mean I love to see at least a little bit just to see if it's worth it join. And 9 times out of 10 most of those kind of forums were NOT worth it.

As for the having to have your account approved first I can see the pros and the cons to it. I don't think that this feature should be installed on a chat kind of a forum, but for a role-play forum where you want serious and committed role-players I can see the benefits of having this. It makes it a lot easier to keep unwanted accounts off of your forum as well as unwanted posts from those who haven't been accepted into the role-play.

For my forum I only have one spot that is open to guest posting and it helps because it's easier to mod against spammers. And if they have a question to ask I have an e-mail form that sends the message directly to an e-mail account that I set up for that purpose. So far I haven't seen any problems with it. And have gotten a lot of questions through the guest form.

[animeanimal]

I would probably make the guests log-in. It does get kinda annoying when the members don't log-in and they just sit around waiting for an invitation. I don't get why they don't log- in rights after they arrive into the forum. But having it on may make them mad and delete their accounts, it has happened before. Yesh, they have pmed me saying 'Hey! Why do we have to log-in?!?' So, usually I would take it off, but it's my forum after all.

Most members don't like it, but really. Because some people ask 'Hey, guest join!' and then they find out it's their member. That has happened on more than one occassion. I made a poll asking if they should have to log-in and more than half votred yesh.

[Everlyn]

On the board I'm an admin on, I know I'd prefer having people look and simply pass on signing up then being forced to sign up just to look and leave. I'm not going for the member count; just active members, because it's part of a sort of community cyber pet site.

I personally have it set so guests can see, but not post - and one board open for guest posts, just for questions and such, though it's yet to be used.

Actually, it seems to be a rather cheap way to up your member count - though I rarely pay attention to that, unless there's hundreds of members and little to no posts that day. That truthfully looks worse to me then an active forum with fewer members.

[sheepish]

I have only the general chatter board open to visitors. Otherwise, you have to log in to view the rest. I have a Mom site though and with people posting about their kids and posting pics, it gets tricky. People want to know that a bunch of pervs don't have access to their pics. I know that anyone can claim to be a Mom and seem sincere but it's kind of the price you pay for being online. So, I will try to protect my board from the pervs, but honestly, you just have to be careful as to what you put on the internet. JMHO.

[Snoopy]

i think that guest should log in everytime they want to read something.

[Enchant]

bluejays said:

i think that guest should log in everytime they want to read something.

Welcome Jets to the Discussion board. I think you will find it most informative. I do ask that in the future that you make sure you post at least 4 sentences , so that it is more of a discussion then a comment