limited guest viewing

What do yall think about the limited guest viewing modification at vbulletin.org? I have it installed on my forum, but I have it turned off most of the time.

 

Is that where it stops guests from viewing the forums after x-amount of views or whatever?

As a guest, I f***ing hate that mod. It's irritating, and makes me remove the cookies for that domain each time I get the message, which is an extra few clicks just to find something on a forum (P.S., that's the workaround, for those of you like me who hate that limit). That turns me off from joining a community, because where there's one irritating mod, there's bound to be more. Plus, it doesn't make me feel like a person, more like some unwanted pest.

If it's not that mod, please explain.

 

I seen this on AK Worms forum and it really pissed me off as I wanted to view a thread someone had linked to but I had previously viewed I think 2 threads it was before getting the message. I didnt plan on registering I simply wanted to read and this obstructs it, pisses people off and probably sends people to your competition where they can read all day without any message to register.

Good to hear it is off, it should stay like that too

 

Hate them, never would use them.

 

Honestly Kevin, you got a very health community and in my opinion doesn't need this mod. Now me on the other hand, I have considered this mod for a long time. I have weighed the pros and cons but still haven't made up my mind yet.

 

That's how I came to find and love AA. Their competition uses that mod, and it pissed me off to no end. Then I found a place that is clearly 10x better, and stayed because they didn't have that mod!

 

I despise this modification to be honest, and I'm damn well glad most instances can be beaten by blocking/removing cookies for the domain. Yes, it may possibly get more members, but I'd say it'll put off most useful members from joining, and anyone who'd actually join would be more likely to simply start reading content than posting.

Yes, I too found out about this from AdminAddict's un named competitor. Pain when browsing their site on a mobile device too.

 

Doesn't really bother me. As soon as I see a forum with it on I close the page down. Same with the read forum rules script that goes into a 20+ second countdown mode. Useless scripts such as these turn me away.

 

I think i just disabled the mod. But what threads were you getting linked to?

 

It was on here a while back in one your threads, one of the penis threads or something.

 

I have it installed on all my forums and change the figures it stops them on quite often. It really does help with member registration rates on popular forums with lots of content.

On newer forums I have the guest message set to 30 threads (so they don't experience anything up to 30 threads) and then the 'lock out' set to about 90 threads. If they don't want to register after reading 90 of my threads they can bugger off! lol

On my popular forum I'll often have a day with the message off and the 'lock out' set to one. So they view the topic they came in on via Google, and then if they want to view any more they have to register. It'll often get us LOADS of new members and they do end up staying. So I like it, and I think it works.

As a guest on anther forum, if I like what I'm seeing, I'll register anyway well before I see the 'locked out' message. So it's fair.

After all, it's my bandwidth they're using browsing it for free and collating all the information at no cost, so why not force them to register?

 

Depends on what your goal is, or how well the turnaround is for each forum.

I personally find it to be a turn-off, and won't register, no matter how well the 2.5 threads I view were written. It tells me that you hate guests.

 

LOL, so long ago.

 

Our primary competitor happens to restrict the number of threads a guest can view. I find it to be ridiculous.

The use of such a restriction may entice a guest to become a registered member, but it's also deterring those who wish to examine the content thoroughly before registering. There is a discussion forum that I happen to frequent on a near daily basis simply for enjoyment. After browsing through two threads, I am automatically locked out. The administrative team must feel that such a limit is 'generous'.

 

Dont help them

I have had the same with an old forum I used to visit, I would view a few threads as a guest then be forced to log back in, nothing but a nuisance especially when youre having a lazy day

 

I don't use the mod in question because I think it's too restrictive on people. I can see the justification on some sites though, depends on the content.

However I have got a different mod, one that only allows guests to view the first post in most threads. I have experimented many times with taking this off and putting it back on. My gut feeling is that I'd prefer it to be OFF and have everything open, but the sad fact is, if I do that nobody ever joins, they just sit there reading everything and that's that. Having it on means some people DO join, many will still just read but every so often one of them is finally tempted to reply to something provocative and that gets them started.

It all depends on your forum and what you want to achieve really.

This method is better than locking guests out of threads completely, because it gives them a "taster"...plus, it lets Google index the first post which is often all that's needed on a site like mine.

 

Nothing but a nuisance when it's a forum not worth joining either.

 

Try searching as a guest on that site, too. How much more annoying could it get? You can't read threads or search? Pity.

I think the point has clearly been made by everbody else, but what's one more?
This modification is annoying, and whatever benefits it may have are far outweighed by the cons. More people will leave the site because of this modification than will join just to see the thread they want.

 

Not to take this off point by any means, but the rules requirement is something that isn't "worthless" by any means. Most people just bypass the rules, blindly clicking "I accept". This assures that they will at least read them. Not all forum rules are the same.

While this is a good point for most forums, there are exceptions to this rule. Example:

I supervise/administrate multiple forums that are paid memberships. People want to know what they're getting before they get the membership, so this mod works perfectly there. We allow them 5 post views, no attachment downloads, and obviously searching. This does two things:

#1: It allows members to see what's in the forums (first post of each thread)
#2: It allows google to index the forums without having to actually open up the entire forums publicly.

I ran this by the site owner a few months back, and he's been completely happy with the turnaround on it, as opposed to being 100% closed.

Sure, you can deal with removing the cookies, but if you're smart enough, you don't use cookie based settings, but IP based. Of course, you can still get around that, but nothing is 100% foolproof.

 

Thats the thing, you should add to your rules that even if you aint read them you have agreed to them, tough luck on their part especially if theyre agreeing to have read them and agree to them upon registration. Its the same as signing a contract you aint read, you still need to abide by it as far as Im aware.