Lock Out Guest

[SeK612]

A chunk of those will be search engine bots. A forum this size will have bots from many engines (Yahoo, Google, Google Adsense etc) constantly indexing pages. Disabling guest might be an idea, but as far as I know, vB boards aren't good at handling bots and they're just treated as guests so they'll also be restricted.

[{I}{K}{E}]

We should not disable guest viewing, we should give them more info on the frontpage why they should register.

[RealitY]

A chunk of those will be search engine bots. A forum this size will have bots from many engines (Yahoo, Google, Google Adsense etc) constantly indexing pages. Disabling guest might be an idea, but as far as I know, vB boards aren't good at handling bots and they're just treated as guests so they'll also be restricted.

Thats alot of Bots...
Currently Active Users: 128 (19 members and 109 guests)


Not to metion the majority of them are in the BT area now which seems eXeem is the new topic of the net and generally the count is lower when there isnt a popular topic so I think its mostly lurkers.

Also I thought there was a way to make a googlebot member and so forth as members so that they would be auto logged in and be able crawl whatever need be although Im not sure about how thats with vb though.

[SeK612]

I've yet to find a way to make bots members, as you can do in other boards such as Invision's. There may be a way I guess but it wasn't too obvious.

You're right though plenty of the guests are just that. If the admins wished they could grab a list of the most common bots and input it into the adminCP, that way most of the bots visiting the site would be shown on the "Online list" so a better picture of guests and bots could be formed

[{I}{K}{E}]

Maybe make the thread titles viewable for guests but let them sign up to read the thread.

[manker]

We've already had this discussion - and a poll. It was decided to leave the forum open to guests except for the verifieds and poll section.

We're getting new members at a higher rate than before. Will any change really be beneficial or is it that some members are getting precious about the information they provide on this public forum.

It really makes little difference to me personally if the forum is completely open or totally locked down -- but please ensure that whatever is done is for the purpose of attracting more participating members; rather than to appease current members, who will stay (or not) no matter how the forum is presented to guests.

[sArA]

I would like to see a return of the guest forum.

I would happily keep an eye on it for spammers...in fact it might even help keep some spam off the main board if spammers don't have to sign up first.

[jetje]

I would like to see a return of the guest forum.

I would happily keep an eye on it for spammers...in fact it might even help keep some spam off the main board if spammers don't have to sign up first.

i second this idea

[{I}{K}{E}]

but what kind of posts should be allow in the guest section? because in the past we closed everything with: register and check 'this section'.
I dont see why we should have a guests section.

if people have troubles register the can email the admin. if they wanna post they need to register.

[100%]

A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year.
Polish Proverb

A pretty woman is a welcome guest.
Lord Byron

make your guests feel welcome and at home. If you do that honestly, the rest takes care of itself.
Barbara Hall

Nobody can be as agreeable as an uninvited guest.
Kin Hubbard


The first day, a guest; the second, a burden; the third, a pest.
Edouard R. Laboulaye