What do you guys think? Should users on the SLBoards be required to register in order to post?

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

Did you ever require users to register? And if so, how did the figures change when you started no requiring it? I think we should, because you can see how many other sites have been immensely successful with it. I think if people are going to take the time to post, they will take the time to register before they do it. However, I don't know if it will have any effect on whether they return or not.

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Aaron Dahlen - Gaming Editor
aaron@slcentral.com
SLCentral - Your logical choice for computing and technology
http://www.slcentral.com

Athlon XP 1800+ ... K7V DRAGON Plus ... 256 MB PC2100 ... GeForce3 PowerPack !!! ... Sound Blaster Audigy ... IBM 60GXP 40 GB ... Samsung SyncMaster 950p ... Windows XP Home

So many boards where you're not required to register just become overrun with troll posts of the "dude, you suck" variety. I see no problem with requiring people to register to post.

I would like to see a registration requirement, so I know who I'm responding to. Sometimes it's helpful, since over time, you begin to get a feel for people's personalities and backgrounds based on their responses, and I think it prevents misunderstandings when you reply to a post. If someone is overly sensitive to certain issues, or already has a certain level of knowledge in a certain area, you can avoid inadvertently offending someone by making light of a subject the originator is quite serious about, or giving "newbie" advice to a veteran, or vice-versa.

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It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.

Personally I don't have a problem with registering, as long as it's a quick process (ie. fairly instant so as not to turn away the potentially very useful one off post). What are your reasons for wanting to do this?

I am in favor of registration since it will help to keep "flamers" from posting, also a registered user indicates that the indvidual is more likely to follow up in a thread started by the post.

I think registreation should be required in order to post otherwise the forum/discussion will be flooded with crappy threads which will totally kill the reason of having a tech forum in the first place..so yeah registration is a welcome step in ensuring control and order in a forum.

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Feel the Force

I have voted no.... however, on other boards I have found that one forum is enough for non-registered members

Its always best to have registered for more important forums to erradicate the trolls and troublemakers

I see nothing wrong with having to register, if only to keep the "wannabee's" out! If you have a legitimate posting or reply, then you should have no qualms about identifying yourself as a registered member.

PurplePearl '98 C-5

"There are Corvettes.......and then there are those other things with wheels"

I agree that you should have to register. Not only will this hopefully increase site traffic, but will eliminate flamers from acting stupid as Unknown.

Yeah basically the reason I'm asking this is because recently there have been some issues with people just posting crappy stuff and trolling...registering will hopefully eliminate this problem, but it may also decrease the amount of posts on the boards....

As you can tell, our boards aren't HUGE yet so basically I have to weigh both sides and decide which would be more advantageous, at least for now. In the end, registration will definitely be required, it's just about should I turn it on now or not.

It does look like you guys do want it on, but then again, I don't see many of you post on here anyways.....Lets wait for a few more responses and I'll make a decision from there.

Thanks for the responses guys!

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

I believe people should have to be registered to have the right to post in these Forums.
Although I dont believe that users should have to have posted a minimum amount of Posts in the Forums in order to have the right to respond or Post in the classifieds Forums like some lame Forums Web site we all may have come across.
I understand that on that site it is meant to discourage Trollers (Rip of artists) from posting or responding to posts in the classifieds Forums to search for thier next victom to rip off.
But at the same time it also is a inconvienance to the honest guys out there who want to just sell there unwanted hardware.
So those measures are more of an inconvienance to members than they are to the potential Trolls.

Dave, I think you're too worried about making sure that people see big numbers when they come to the forums. What we need to create is a better experience for them. That's why I brought up topics such as smilies, avatars, message icons, registering, and so on. The numbers will go up when we don't have so many jackasses like the one who's been posting in the Wireless forum today

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Aaron Dahlen - Gaming Editor
aaron@slcentral.com
SLCentral - Your logical choice for computing and technology
http://www.slcentral.com

Athlon XP 1800+ ... K7V DRAGON Plus ... 256 MB PC2100 ... GeForce3 PowerPack !!! ... Sound Blaster Audigy ... IBM 60GXP 40 GB ... Samsung SyncMaster 950p ... Windows XP Home

hello everyone i think the registration before posting idea is the best, it gives one a responsible approach to the boards and a sense of belonging.where i come from it is considered unlawfull to offend family.

Based on the overwhelming response to require users to register in order to post, I have made the decision to do this.

In order to post a user must be registered now.

For those of you that we haven't seen posting here for a while, check out the threads you've been missing out on and come and join our community once again!

Thank you all for your responses.

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing