Forums that only members can see

[Sougen]

Many times when I'm looking for a server, I like to check the community and see how is their activity, so I check the cP to see how many members are usually playing and the variety of characters, and also the forums, but then when I go to check it.. T_T only members can see it, if I want to evaluate the server, I have to join the forums and will probably end with my inbox full of spam e-mail.

Why server managers do it? I mean, it's annoying, if you want to hide some parts of forum, make it so that guests can't view them instead of locking it completely to non-members.

[Guest]

well i can see making it so only members can see things like the report section, tech support, bug reports... and ect i kinda like that =P

having the guest see SOME of the posts can be a good thing but theres a bad side to that too if you let a guest see everything then they might get a bad impression~
but at the same time if u let them see to little they might get annoyed kinda like u XD

[Zone]

I see that alot...

[NikitaDarkstar]

Personally I set up my forums like this for the last server I admind: Guests can see pretty much everything except the bug reports, creativity section (Cause some pepole tend to post stuff for the server there also) and a "Help the server!" section (A place for players to offer their help to the server, so that if someone actually wants to help there's atleast a forum section for it.. was quite popular).
Guests can read everything except those sections, but can't post, only section thats open for guests to post in is "Emergency support!" which is a section for stuff like client blow up's, patcher issues etc. (I feel it's kind of unnessicary to force someone to sign up for the forum just because they're not 100% sure how to install their patch or something)

All in all I feel it's stupid to hide the intire forum from the public. I mean seriously whats so seceret about a eneral chat area?

[Jayne Cobb]

Yeah, i get that alot aswell. I usually just give up on that server if their forums arn't visable (mainly because i like active forums) unless there is something specificly that stands out.

[Franpowah]

To avoid advertising bots, spamming and stuff like that.

But wait... they could just forbid guest to post instead 

maybe they just wanna get a high number of registered users?

[superja]

imo it probably backfires.... i know when i'm server hunting, a server that makes me register for their stupid forum before i even find out what the server is all about is not worth looking at to me.

[Zone]

I agree, if I see a forums for a server that you have to register for just to see what the info is about it, it isn't worth it.

[Kylee]

Oh my god. I thought I was the only one who hated this! If I see this when searching for a server, I automatically close it. If you don't want to show a guest your forums I automatically assume it's crap. =[

[Jinxess]

Oh my god. I thought I was the only one who hated this! If I see this when searching for a server, I automatically close it. If you don't want to show a guest your forums I automatically assume it's crap. =[

Lol, 90% of the servers I've seen (more than 20 servers I've checked so far) do this. I register anyways and look at the activity and post count. If it's low I check around the forums to see for user-based activity. Other than that, yeah, you're right. They're basically dead or just not putting any effort into it.

[Aris]

If you need to register to just see the server info then pass kthx. I'm not going to take the time to register if you don't want to to take the time to make it so the server info is available for guests.

[Lantis]

I completely agree, if you are checking out a server and need to waste time registering, it's a real put off IMO.

[Acrued]

Well, I've seen this problem around a lot~

What people tend to do a lot, is just have forums. they use something like ipbfree and leave it like that because its an easy solution... News can be updated frequently, gives a good indication of how many people are interested in your server etc...

Now having a website with all the information ready available to you without much effort encourages people who like to "window shop", people who just walk by to have a look at the front window. They want you to come in to their shop and buy something (play your server). If they had nothing up front of the shop, you're forced out of curiosity to take the trouble to walk in to that shop to see what they have to offer! You are more then less likely to give the server a try since you took to time to sign up, and thats all they want you to do... the minimal requirement is to try their product and see what its like.

At the same time you get the lazy ones who aren't bothered to sign up to your forums, and that is pretty much cutting off most of your market... So DON'T DO IT! And if you can't get a site up then the least you can do is allow free viewing of your forums except maybe some parts like NikitaDarkstar said in her post.

Verdict: It's a no go for servers to close their boards to guests.

And that is my psychoanalysis for today.

[Ansuz Isaz]

xD As Acrued puts it, I like to window shop. Honestly, I think I've at least glanced at every server's websites that have been in the front page of the server ratings. However, as it's been said, the mass majority of the sites tend to keep their forums from the view of the public. It is very troublesome. o.o

To me, the window shopping thing is slightly more than just a matter of laziness, though I admit that has a lot to do with it for me. xD Rather, think of it this way. Most people who look through site websites have some idea of what they want, even if it's vague. Thus, that shopper, if put in the real world, knows roughly what they want. So, if they see a big building with nothing but a name, and no windows open to show you what's there, it almost looks kind of like they don't WANT you to see what they have. Since you can't tell if they have your desired product or not, you move along to the next shop.

Of course, real world situations and online ones are slightly different, but it's the same principle. =D

[Acrued]

Lol Viert xD

But He's also right. You want customers? then open up or you aint gettin any~!