Let's put it to a vote...Guests or no guests?

[Jay]

Here it is everybody....your chance to help us decide how we are going to do things around here.  Some of you have expressed your opinions on this matter in the past....so let's vote on it!

The issue at hand is whether or not we are going to allow guests to browse the forum. It's a double edged sword, and amazingly, both ways are right. If you make people register to browse the forum, you might discourage some folks from even checking it out. Some folks are impatient like that.  However, the number of members increases big time when we make them register. Not to mention, some of our lurkers come out of the bushes and actually start posting a little bit.  There is no wrong way here, so put a second or two of thought into it and vote.

Thanks guys and gals!


P.S. Cheese based option was added per MikeH's demand.     

[LongislikeKulwicki]

I say no. For some reason, having more guests than users online bugs me.(And this comes from someone who lurked on this forum for months before registering).

[Jay]

Then you might want to re-read the poll question.

[labontefan43]

There should be no guests. If there going to read things they should register.

[alysia]

i said no for the simple fact that a lot of people outside of this community might view the message board as a reflection of carl longs fan base. we already have to bite our tongues as to keep the character up, why not make it so people have to register to keep the number up?

and to the admins, does this board have a feature where users are deleted if they dont post after a certain time? on most of the bigger message boards i'm on, thats the case. so thats some more incentive to post even if you guys have gotta do it yourself i guess.

[Jay]

No, that's not an option on that board, and if it were here, we'd lose half our members...lol.

[GoMikey]

Like me

[Philliez01]

I think we saw that members came when they had to register, more members the better it looks in my opinion.

[JohnnyB]

What exactly is the point of making a board "private" so that people can't see what is going on? As long as those "guests" aren't posting as "guests" what's the big deal? There's a greater majority of people who surf and never post then there are that post and it'll always be that way. Blocking those people will only hurt in the long run. Just some words of advise from a person who owns some much larger forums.

[mayfield19fan]

I choose the NO option simply because a lot of the members are logged out and only view the board as guests. 

[Jay]

Johnny, it doesn't make the board private. It just makes it to where you need to log in to surf the forum. There is no fee, no secret password, or anything like that.  The point is trying to urge guests to join. It encourages more a "community" type experience and it just simply looks better to an outsider to see a higher member count. As I said in my first post...there is no wrong or right way here. Both ways have advantages/disadvantages. 

[DupontChev]

I think guests should be allowed to view the forum.  I think we would all welcome more registered members to join our discussions.  However, I think that if guests can't even read the forum, they'll register, decide that it doesn't interest them or they have nothing to say, and then never post.  I think it's better that guests can view the board so they will only register if they actually have something to say.

[Jay]

You can also register simply to show your support. I  don't think that registration should only happen if you plan on being active.

[Jay]

By the way, thank you all for all of your thoughts/opinions so far. Keep 'em coming! None of you have been wrong. It's a tough call either way. That's why I am looking for opinions on the matter.   

[alysia]

another thing is... it takes about 10 seconds to register. i mean honestly. and just because you register doesnt mean you're tied down for life to the board, in the case of this board you're not even required to make one post. it's not THAT big of a deal, even for the laziest of us (myself included). i was pretty much recruited here (cough*tom*cough)  and i knew nothing about carl long, iwouldn't have known how to spell his name if it weren't so simple, so it's been a learning experience. guests are cheating themSELVES if they don't sign up...