Opening up the forums

[Duke]

I'd like your thoughts on opening up all our forums so registration is no longer required to view with the only exception being "The Inner Me" Forum. The only reason for asking is that we have a tremendous amount of content in the "Off Topic" Forum and none of it is indexable to Search Spiders from Google, MSN and Yahoo as they too cannot access hidden areas.

The only catch is that a guest can only view 5 posts maximum before they receive an error stating they have to be registered to view any more forum content. From what I understand, this does not apply to search spiders as they do not use cookies when accessing a site via web browser as the rest of us do.

What this means is, all currently hidden forums except "Inner Me" will be un-hidden and publicly viewable to everyone up to and including 5 mouse clicks. Any more site browsing will require the user to clear their cookies to gain another 5 clicks.

The benefit will be that the search engines (in theory) will now have access to these additional areas (except Inner Me), will index them and hopefully add to our traffic number which to this day continue to fall.

It's likely that we'll see less and less traffic around here until late this fall or maybe into the New Year given the software change. Much of what we had indexed took a few years to accomplish and all that work was lost in this site transformation.

Rest assured, we will eventually come out ahead, right now it's just a waiting game for Google, MSN and especially Yahoo, to get their sh1t together an re-index the entire site.

Thoughts?

[PepsiChic]

if it helps, go for it

[Vautrin]

Sounds like a good plan. But that also means less fooling around in the Off Topic area. Are members willing to behave?

[Luba]

Originally Posted by Vautrin

Sounds like a good plan. But that also means less fooling around in the Off Topic area. Are members willing to behave?

Really? That's going to be tough with less fooling around...I don't know if I can do that!

[Duke]

Originally Posted by Vautrin

Sounds like a good plan. But that also means less fooling around in the Off Topic area. Are members willing to behave?

Actually I'll be more thorough about this but the Off Topic area is meant for fooling around. I just have to find a way for visitors to be educated on this fact quickly so I may actually post a news item about our forum categories as well as include said info in our FAQ.

[Vautrin]

Originally Posted by Luba

Really? That's going to be tough with less fooling around...

And how long are you married? Sorry could not resist .

[TKDLady]

I don't have a problem with that. Go for it.

[Luba]

Originally Posted by Vautrin

And how long are you married? Sorry could not resist .

....but I LOVE your wit!

[Duke]

OK, all member forums are now publicly accessible to anyone who wants to see them but there is a limit to how much browsing can be done. Currently, as a guest or non-logged in user, you can view 2 posts before receiving the following message above the post body (message will be edited shortly):

Hey there!

It looks like you're enjoying Lifesupporters.com Forums but haven't created an account yet. Why not take a minute to register for your own free account now? As a member you get free access to all of our forums and posts plus the ability to post your own messages, communicate directly with other members and much more. Register now!

Already a member? Login at the top of this page to stop seeing this message.

After a guest or non-logged in user has viewed 7 posts, they will receive a page with this message only (message will be edited shortly):

Hey there!

It appears that you've exceeded the maximum number of posts you can view, but wait, there's a simple solution. To unlock the forum and continue viewing messages, all you need to do is sign up for a free account. The entire process takes just a few minutes so create your account now and view as many threads as you like!

Already a member? Login at the top of this page to stop seeing this message.

If you're curious to see how it works, simply logout and try to view a forum topic (any forum topic) more than 7 times.

[Duke]

Edited:

Dear Valued Guest,

It looks like you're enjoying Lifesupporters.com Forums but haven't created an account yet. Why not take a minute to register for your own free account now? As a member you get free access to all of our forums and posts plus the ability to create your own messages, communicate directly with other members and much more.

Please register here, after all it's free and only takes a minute of your time.

Already a member? Please login at the top of this page to stop seeing this message.

[TKDLady]

I think it is good. I have seen similar when I was playing on other sites.

[Luba]

I like that!