Why do we need to register to view most of the forum boards

[ninwa]

if you can't be bothered spending the extra 2 minutes it takes to sign up (5 minutes if you can't think of a good username) then you probably shouldn't be doing VCE... or studying in any way shape or form... or working...

[the.watchman]

if you can't be bothered spending the extra 2 minutes it takes to sign up (5 minutes if you can't think of a good username) then you probably shouldn't be doing VCE... or studying in any way shape or form... or working...

+1, signing up is an art form, and if you haven't perfected that, then you might have a good career as a vegetable

[ninwa]

I'm not sure why someone, who can't expend that tiny bit of effort to sign up to something which could potentially benefit them a lot, would bother going on a VCE site in the first place. I guess you could think of it as a filter - the effort required, however small, is a deterrent to those who have no interest in doing well and rather just want to make trouble.

That said, I think it could be a good idea to make all boards viewable, but if you want to actually post, you need to sign up.

[Collin Li]

so how about making them visible then?
I'll settle for that.

That way everyone wins.

Admin anywhere?

Yeah, SMF (the forum software) would allow that.

The forum paradigm can't support anonymous posting, I think. You're right, it's convention.

You can read all about how the StackExchange platform was designed to revise the forum paradigm, and the success of sites like StackOverflow.

The open Web is a new paradigm that not everyone gets... (technologies like OpenID and Gravatar don't make sense to so many people!)

Links:
http://brian.moonspot.net/forums-are-crap-help-us
http://engineeredweb.com/blog/09/11/are-forums-thing-past
(This comes from a crappy Google Search... there's a really good speech at Google HQ about this, but I can't find it and I'm in a bit of a rush, sorry!)

[slothpomba]

If there is anonymous posting, im afraid the forum will degrade in content and tidyness somewhat. I think its a good idea to have a profile and a user account.

I do however like the idea of unrestricted viewing, however to post, you need to sign up.

When i first came on the forums, i had a quick look around without registering.

It said register to see more, i thought... there cant be all that much more so i didnt register.

It's just that i came back around 6 months later and needed to ask a couple questions, so then i finally registered.

[*ryan777*]

If there is anonymous posting, im afraid the forum will degrade in content and tidyness somewhat. I think its a good idea to have a profile and a user account.

I do however like the idea of unrestricted viewing, however to post, you need to sign up.

When i first came on the forums, i had a quick look around without registering.

It said register to see more, i thought... there cant be all that much more so i didnt register.

It's just that i came back around 6 months later and needed to ask a couple questions, so then i finally registered.

agreed, people should be able to view without registering