So many guests

[pblues]

I was taking a look at the front page and was blown over by the number of guests. The guests outnumbered the registered members 3 to 1. I know this is nothing new. There's a lot of hard work being put into the reviews. (The research, the writing, taking one for the team...) I will throw a question out to the floor:

Is it time the review section be restricted to member only?

 

[Goober Mcfly]

The guests outnumbered the registered members 3 to 1.

Does JA have multiple browser windows open without having logged in with her multiple handles again?

 

[MuffinMuncher]

Reviews

If there was a true REVIEW section, I might say yes.... but in fact, there are precious few reviews, so why restrict access? Including guests help to replenish the membership base as folks "retire" or "re-retire".

Besides, shouldnt everyone be subjected to Rusty's gay replies, JA's split personality, badnicks annoying purple font and 11-page discussions of Cheese Dick??

 

[262]

many of the guests are actually members. you appear as a "guest" if you elect to surf in invisible mode. this is a setting you can change under "user cp".

 

[Fred Zed]

many of the guests are actually members. you appear as a "guest" if you elect to surf in invisible mode. this is a setting you can change under "user cp".

Not entirely correct. You only show up as a guest if you are not logged in.
Also, even when you are in "invisible" mode the administrator can still
"see" you.

People generally lurk for a month or more before they are comfortable
enough to post.

Having said this, I would agree that lurkers should be encouraged to post. Sucessful message boards are built on the principle of "sharing what you know and learning what you don't."

 

[Prophet]

I think this message board is one of the more successful ones I frequent irrespective of the number of guests.

Even if people had to join, it would still be difficult to force people to post reviews if they don't want to, or to post at all even if they have become registered members.

 

[Big Bear]

Logging In

Most of the time I log onto this board it is simply to read what others have posted. As the board does not prompt me to log in I go straight to the Lounge or one of the other areas without bothering to log in. If there is something such as this that I want to respond to I click on the user cp otherwise I just read the wit and wisdom of others. Perhaps if the front page had a prompt to sign in that came up automatically I would do so.

 

[zoickss]

Let them lurk - If you force them to register we will be flooded with first time questions and the like. Letting them look for a while before they register lets them know how the board works. I didn't register until I had seen my first SP through this board.

 

[drlove]

I have nothing against lurkers, so why restrict access?? I've known about terb since 1999, but did not elect to become a member until 2001. So what??

It may be that some individuals would rather browse, since they may not be comfortable with registering for any number of reasons.

 

[notenufmuff]

lazy ass

You know, some of you people are so naive. Lurking doesn't make this board better. It means there are a lot of lazy ass people benefitting from the hard work being done by the reviewers. Granted the review section is riddled with idiotic tidbits that have nothing to do with a review. The comments should be moved to the lounge.

We're making the LE job easier by not restricting access. Hasn't anyone thought of this?