Forced Sign In

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

aidan_walsh

No, thanks.

If people want to sign up, let it be because they want to contribute something rather than because they were forced into it. It would be annoying and offputting to lurkers.

Besides, who are they hurting?

I never browse this site logged out and find it annoying when the 'Users currently active' feature shows 20 users, 2 logged in.

Why?

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

seamus

No. When faced with a "please register" page on any site, 99% of the time I will close the window and go elsewhere.

Lurkers and unregistered browsers make up a good deal of the site's traffic, and one has to assume that they will eventually sign up in their own time. If you try to force them to sign up, you'll turn them away.

aidan_walsh

The Scientist wrote: »

Lurkers provide nothing of use to the site/Community.
Most get/take information without giving anything back.
Goes against the whole purpose of a Community IMO.

No problem there, let them enjoy it. They may tell other people or share links, opening boards to a greater audience and more potential sign ups.

Close the door after a short peek and all people will do is leave without looking back.

Overheal

You know when you have a problem, and you google for the answer, and 9 times out of 10 you get directed to some random message board? Boards is a random message board! Some people just want to read the topic and be done with it.

Forced registration with newspaper sites also makes me angry.

Nerin

I wouldn't like forced sign up either. For example-i used to read the gamefaq monster hunter forums alot,then skies of crimson,now skies of croda came out. I lurked there ages,then signed up.the gamefaq board is awful when you read it,great advice,but a bunch of trolls and internet tough guys. Stopping people viewing before signing up probably would annoy people,and wouldn't get them a feel for the site.

javaboy

I wouldn't be into forced signup. However I think if the first post in a thread ends in a question mark, then you should have to be a paying subscriber to see the rest of the thread. Damn you experts-exchange! :mad:

AckwelFoley

The Scientist wrote: »

Lurkers provide nothing of use to the site/Community.
Most get/take information without giving anything back.
Goes against the whole purpose of a Community IMO.

thats where you are wrong.

They provide site views.. which helps boards show traffic, which makes it an attractive place for ppl to advertise.

seamus

javaboy wrote: »

I wouldn't be into forced signup. However I think if the first post in a thread ends in a question mark, then you should have to be a paying subscriber to see the rest of the thread. Damn you experts-exchange! :mad:

Get the user-agent switcher for firefox. Then you can pretend that you're googlebot and all the wonders of experts-exchange is open to you.

It's actually not as good as it hypes itself up to be.

AlmightyCushion

seamus wrote: »

Get the user-agent switcher for firefox. Then you can pretend that you're googlebot and all the wonders of experts-exchange is open to you.

It's actually not as good as it hypes itself up to be.

Nice one! Cheers, Seamus.

Gordon

The Scientist wrote: »

Lurkers provide nothing of use to the site/Community.

But you will simply have the same amount of lurkers, only registered lurkers. However, as noted, it would push people away, so it would reduce the amount of lurkers in total.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Bob the Builder

That and you know when you see 20 active users and only see 2 names, thats also, for a small part, because users have their status set to invisible.

Overheal

I prefer to call it ninja-predator-stalking-cloak mode.

Steve

seamus wrote: »

No. When faced with a "please register" page on any site, 99% of the time I will close the window and go elsewhere.

I agree 100%.

These sites just make me think of the word 'harvesting' every time.

javaboy

seamus wrote: »

Get the user-agent switcher for firefox. Then you can pretend that you're googlebot and all the wonders of experts-exchange is open to you.

It's actually not as good as it hypes itself up to be.

I love you seamus. Maybe we can save up a little money, buy a place in the country. Nothing too fancy. Picket fence. Two kids maybe three.........

Ok maybe that's going a bit too far but that is definitely one of the most useful bits of info I've ever gotten on t'internet. Ironically that solution was probably available on Experts-exchange.

Steve

javaboy wrote: »

that is definitely one of the most useful bits of info I've ever gotten on t'internet.

I installed it. How do I become a googlebot?

javaboy

SteveC wrote: »

I installed it. How do I become a googlebot?

I dunno. I haven't tried it yet.

Steve

javaboy wrote: »

I dunno. I haven't tried it yet.

Let me know if you get it to work.

Maybe seamus will impart his knowledge on us tomorrow.

seamus

I was going to do screenshots, but no, **** you, that'll cost ye.

1. Go to View > Toolbars > Customise
2. Find the user-agent button and drag it onto one of your toolbars.
3. Click on the arrow beside the icon and scroll down to Options
4. Within the options, choose User Agents
5. Import the attached XML file.
6. Presto! (I think)

Steve

That .xml file has nothing in it, thanks anyway seamus.

seamus

By gum, you're right!

I've attached the right one now.

Steve

Cool, that worked. Thanks!

Sam Vimes

javaboy wrote: »

I wouldn't be into forced signup. However I think if the first post in a thread ends in a question mark, then you should have to be a paying subscriber to see the rest of the thread. Damn you experts-exchange! :mad:

on a lot of pages on experts exchange the answers aren't there and it says log in to view but if you scroll down to the bottom of the page the answers are there