Guest Posters

[Kevin]

I know this poll isnt official or anything, as Paul and the moderators decide whats best for the forum, but this is just to scope what the members thought about guests posting on the forum, should guests be allowed to post, or should they have to sign up, and sign in to post?

Please say what answer you voted if you do vote.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I think guests shouldnt be allowed to post, as generally its just to post something irrelevent, or to moan or insult a member of the forum.

[LisaLQ]

I voted no - despite feeling guest poster status is a useful thing (ie for those having problems logging in or just checking out the board), recent posts - especially by this Spud retard - are ruining the site just because some troll/child on their school break thinks it's funny to hide like a coward behind the guest status.

Please can we have a temporary ban on guest posters? Pleaaaaase? Maybe we could put an admin/mod email address at the top for those having problems, then there'd be no real need for posting as a guest?

[gastropodgirl]

I voted for no guest posters as sometimes they are such a pain in the butt and post things without even thinking about what they are saying or having evidence to back what they are saying.

[teresa]

i vote no guest posters as well as i find some of them annoying and really rude and they can get really nasty towards the members i think if they want to post they should join

[coyote]

I voted no. I belong to another (non-snail) forum which used to allow guests to post, and the only guests who did so were there to make trouble. Once the admin required only registered users to post, the troublemakers didn't want to bother with official registration and left us alone.

[Guest]

i vote no

[katherineh]

I don't see any need to allow guest posting- it's easy enough to register if you are seriously interested.

[Paul]

I voted yes, for the simple reason that I am not convinced about the benefits. Consider...

Guest posts that are out of line are deleted with no real hassle.

The most damaging/out of hand threads that took time to moderate and to accommodate have involved member disputes and disagreements that got out of hand.

It takes 2 mins to get a new email address and people with domains or subdomains can have as many as they want. People say it's very easy to sign up, which is true, but it is also true for people causing trouble. Having a member account doesn't make you any more accountable in real terms. As I said before, IP banning is unreliable, particularly to community resources like libraries and schools and that's not good so I'd only resort to it in the worst of circumstances.

Having an email address on the forum header wouldn't solve anything. If there were proboards issues, there isn't anything we could do. In the case of prolonged problems we'd post something to the site and the forum if it was available. If the issues are at the individuals end, then it can really only be one thing. Cookies disabled or not working. All of the login problems have been resolved easily or a new account had to be created.

If I'm looking for information in search engines and end up on a forum with information I can add to, I'd consider contributing or correcting if there was a simple guest post feature. I can't be bothered to go through the whole sign-up process on a site that isn't to my interest but I could share some information if the thread is relevant to something I happen to know about. People have done this here and it's something I do from time to time. As an example of that, I may post on a reptile forum about Hypoaspis if someone needed help but I'd not sign up to do it.

I just think we'd lose something for the sake of a few annoying posts. I don't want to give the abusers that satisfaction.

[Val]

I actually voted yes, because I happen to agree with what Paul said, someone might just be able to help us with something but not want to become a member. I also don't like the feeling of the forum being too 'closed'.

Val

[xyz]

I have just seen this thread,and although a member here I don't post much, what Paul said made sense, but the more I thought about it I found myself wondering what are the actual benifits of having memberships on a forum ? if after all, anyone could lie about their details anyway ?
I have not voted, because I am undecided.
I myself have wanted to post a quick question on a forum but was put off by having register ( yes I am lazy !) so it may stop some impulse posters.
It is a difficult question .

[boone]

I don't post much here (as I'm not an native speaker), but like to read a lot here... and so I voted for no guest posters, too...

Some reasons were already mentioned, another one which lead to my decision were spam posting with dreary links which annoy me while reading some postings...
(sorry, can't explain better)

Best regards,
boone