An interesting topic over at theezy's place. How do you feel about the forums that require registering before being able to view ANY of the forums. (or at least, hardly any)
I normally allow them to view all member viewable forums but I don't have a dedicated guest area, normally gets spammed and don't really want to spend time moderating posts and topics there.
We had a good discussion about this a good few months ago now.. ~smile~
I've always been a fan of lurking around forums before I join, normally like to spend a good few days reading topics, finding out what members like to talk about etc etc... then I'd have a look at the activity, if it's a few posts a day then no thank you...a few hundred? Yes please. Of course, closing your forum off to guests means that nobody can do this.
Additionally, I don't understand why some people think that by closing their forum off to guests will "increase registrations", because for most people...myself for one just get turned away by a "login to see forums" form.
Now..., what I can understand is those forums with Downloads / Adult areas, who close those specific forums off to guests. After all, you don't want a load of leechers taking your downloads and not giving anything back. ~wink~
