MAKING YOUR FORUM INVISIBLE TO GUESTS IS DUMB!

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Stuart Lock
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:05 pm Post subject:

I keep my forum hidden because it's aimed at students at the school I teach in - so it's for security.

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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:15 pm Post subject:

Stuart Lock wrote:

I keep my forum hidden because it's aimed at students at the school I teach in - so it's for security.

Every rule has exceptions.
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SamMax
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:40 pm Post subject:

Well my forum is open except for what we coined the DSPR which members need at least 100 posts before I approve..and even that does not guarantee access. It works well for us... the DSPR is a place the girls (its an all girl support forum) can go to make sure that if it is a sensitive topic - a non member can't just pop on and read it. The bulk of the forum is viewable to guests and I agree that that is a good thing. Many of the girls that have joined were lurkers for weeks before they registered. to see my forum - click on the booty below _________________ GirlsWithTheMostest

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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:15 am Post subject:

i do agree with admin in most cases,however some forums are the target of nutters,for instance some hunting forums get no end of trouble with 'anti's' joining just to cause problems ,so they are only open to new members by reference by a member only. _________________ http://jacksshed.myfreeforum.org/index.php

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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:19 am Post subject:

As I say all rules have exceptions, but it sadly remains the case that an awful lot of our forums appear to think they are exceptions when they are not They think that making people register to see things will make them register, and it does not work like that. _________________ Family Friendly Shareware \| \| Web Design/Services \| Free Forums forum.myfreeforum.org

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Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject:

I disagree somewhat. All our content is hidden from guests and we have 350 members and are one of the most active forums on MFF. It doesn't seem to put people off from joining, or posting, and has stopped all the issues we had with bots posting about viagra every five minutes.

john68
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:39 pm Post subject: Re: MAKING YOUR FORUM INVISIBLE TO GUESTS IS DUMB!

admin (no pm's please) wrote:

I am making this a sticky for awhile.

Quite a lot of forums have gone down this route, in some cases forums where the admins have asked about promoting their forums on search engines!

Points to Remember:

If a GUEST cannot read your forums content, then neither can a search engine.
If by some fluke someone does find your forum, they are much less likely to sign up on the off chance that it is a good forum
Support will often be unable to help unless we can see issues, we certainly are not going to register on your forum just to be able of offer support.

my forum is an angling clubs forum, ive made it private for my members for a number of reasons,

1) my members are less likely to post their catch reports on a public forum where anyone can read it, in fishing if someone says they caught a ten pound bass at a certain venue then before you know it the venue will be packed with other anglers

2) similar reason but comes when collecting bait, members will be less likely to post their "bait hotspots" else the place will be heaving with people next time they go there.

3) anglers dont like other clubs nosing on their club buisiness, booking certain venues, team tactics etc

4) there are personal reasons involved, an example is if a member goes sick from work to go fishing (weve all done it in some capacity) then posts a catch report on the site, people can see that and he or she can end up in trouble at work. in a way its protecting the members from prying bosses or company snitches!

5) my forum is linked to my club website so the search engine picks up the main site amples anyway, the club is more word of mouth now and dont rely on search engines at all. in fact, since i went private ive had more membership requests than i had from before!

basically its horses for courses, its not me being naive but a club decision. if someone wants to read our posts they are welcome if we believe they are not going to upset the applecart, but they must join the forum so we know whos there. our forums doing fine, it may not be suitable for some to go private but in our case its the best course of action.

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john68
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: Re: MAKING YOUR FORUM INVISIBLE TO GUESTS IS DUMB!

john68 wrote:

admin (no pm's please) wrote:

If a GUEST cannot read your forums content, then neither can a search engine.
If by some fluke someone does find your forum, they are much less likely to sign up on the off chance that it is a good forum
Support will often be unable to help unless we can see issues, we certainly are not going to register on your forum just to be able of offer support.

another reason is what another member mentioned, when it comes to hunting (or fishing in this case) we are open to the antis coming on and causing trouble, not everyone agrees with what we do and im not being paranoid, THEY ARE OUT TO GET US!!!

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