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Is setting your board so browsers have to register and become a member to view ALL content a bad idea?

I have heard mixed opinions some have said it gets you a lot of sign ups others say it just damages your community and I am confused.

Advice?

Rick

 

Many will agree with me when I say that it is certainly not a good idea. The first thought is that restricting access to members only will entice guests to register. This is simply not true, because if there is nothing that attracts or intrigues the guests, they have no motivation to register.

Would you buy a new car if you didn't get to test drive it or even see it first? Neither would anybody else. The same goes for registering on a forum. If you don't know what's on the other side, you don't care if you register or not, because as far as you know, you're not missing anything good.

The simple fact of the whole matter is this: any restriction on guests, whether it be hiding all content from them, showing only the first post, allowing them to view only 10 threads then forcing registration, etc., is a major turn-off and doesn't work. If you have good content with interesting discussions, the members will come! Don't worry about forcing them.

Let the flow go naturally, and you'll see the positive results (that is, if you have interesting enough content ).

 

I restrict certain areas, and keep what is really important visible. I do this because 1) members who visit my forum almost always know that it is a Halo 3 clan and 2) I have tons of pages worth of content that they can view on my main site with a FAQ as well.

 

some sections are hidden from guests, but most of it guests can view.

on the most recent forums i have joined, its cause i read the forum as a guest and was interested by the threads

 

I hide certain sections of my site, but that's only because they need to be.

Hiding your entire site is a major turn off, and definitely not necessary. I also read somewhere that bots can't properly index your site if sections are hidden, and you get fewer spiders?!

I really don't know how true that is though

 

I restrict areas that are more personal, and general, rather than informative. I keep the informative forums open.
I think closing a forum completely to either those who need to register to view, or else pay to view, is a very bad idea.
It's good to give potential members a idea of what they are signing up for, if they don't know then if and when they do register, they may be disappointed and never return. Whereas if they knew what they were registering for, they will register if they are happy, and you will have a better chance of them returning.