You have to have an account to see content

So, I understand how some forum owners like to keep their content to members only, but I don't see the point of that at all. Especially if you're trying to build a community in the long run. Not only are you blocking out search engine bots and guests, you're just inflating your members base with users who just want an account to see the content. Is that what it's all about though? Building your members-list?

How does everyone feel about this though? Are you turned off by forums that do this or does it not matter to you?

 

Some forums, like mine, have to be that way to protect content.

I usually join any forum that I'm going to get something out of. I might be irritated if it's blocked, but I guess it doesn't bother me.

 

That's just not letting your forum reach it's full potential in my opinion. If you truly wanted your forum to grow, you'd allow search engines to index all the content.

Who really cares is someone steals some forum posts if you got hundreds of thousands of posts?

 

I get what you're saying, but my forum is very specific for Coast Guard spouses. That's why it's protected. Folks who are searching for that specific info really do find us. It really helps that I have a website along with the forum.

 

I've always made content public to both members and visitors. Getting new members wasn't really a problem in my forum; the amount of posts they made was. If we made them create an account to have access to something, then I'm sure most of them would have only logged in for that and then never came back. I don't see any point of having a large amount of accounts with no posts at all.

 

How does someone steal forum posts? I've seen this mentioned on a few admin forums.
I mean if i see a topic posted elsewhere and posted on my forum is that considered stealing?


as far as the OP, i can understand people having private forums/communities.
for instance before i came out, i joined quite a few gay support forums and with that kind of community, some people were not ready to come out and site's like that did provide some anonymity.

God forbid poor Johnny siad something only to be indexed on google and then find out.
So i don't think there is anything really wrong with making someone a member before they can read the content and if you are worried about search engines, then i guess you wouldn't have the forum closed off in the first place, you know.

nor do i think it really inflates a community's memberbase because if most people can't see the stuff in the first place, how/why would they join?

 

Do you word it in your own words? Or do you simply copy/paste that post from elsewhere? If it's the latter, then yes, it's stealing. And some people will copy from one forum and paste it to a bunch of other forums, which is even worse.

If you're simply getting inspiration from other topics somewhere else, then no, it's not stealing.

 

oh yeah, i see now. Yeah I get the topic from another side but i do usually wind up typing my thoughts instead of outright copying.

 

Yep, then that's perfectly fine. That's no different than writing up a blog post about a topic that has already been discussed elsewhere. You're simply expressing your own opinions and possibly asking other people for theirs. If you were to flat out copy it, though, then that's the line for stealing.

 

I believe when you copy a thread word for word its stealing. There's nothin wrong with taking a thread and putting your own twist on it. Especially if everything is worded your own way without copying that other topic.

News sites and bloggers do it all the time.