Should DN.ca open to registered users only? (1.Viewing)

MapleDots

MapleDots

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When not logged in the system will now show you the above error message.


Looking at the board stats I see hundreds of visitors lurking about and not logging in
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I am running an experiment to see if I can encourage more people to sign up by restricting access to the board without logging in.


Not sure if it will become permanent, but I will run with it for a while to see how it affects the board stats and membership levels.
 
I confess I'm one of the lurkers and I seldom log in.

You caught me.
 
Give it a shot Frank…see what the numbers tell you
 
Hi!

Long time listener, first time caller lol

I think it's a good idea, it'll form more of a closer community. Good luck!
 
Groot said:
Hi!

Long time listener, first time caller lol

I think it's a good idea, it'll form more of a closer community. Good luck!
Click to expand...


Glad to see you finally sign up *THUMBSUP*

This having to sign in may just work.
 
haha yeah I've been too lazy for too long. Finally got the kick I needed.

I think it'll help weed out random traffic and bring the community together (if that's what you're after). I've built forums before in the past, so I may be biased :)
 
I have over 100 posts and am still not promoted to trusted member
 
Might take more than just 100 post number...

"PS. You cannot post 100 junk posts, you must have contributed Topics and Quality responses."
 
Groot said:
"PS. You cannot post 100 junk posts, you must have contributed Topics and Quality responses."
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And you need to request the trusted member status I believe. It's not just automatic once you reach 100 posts.
 
Plus a current trusted member has to vouch for you.
As in someone has to know you and has done business for you in the past.

Remember that Trusted Members are certified by DN.ca to be trustworthy and should therefore have a commerce history.
 
MapleDots said:
Looking at the board stats I see hundreds of visitors lurking about and not logging in
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From all my years of forum management, I've noticed a lot of guests constantly online as well. This puzzled me for the longest time as it seemed like forums were busier than they really were, but they weren't.

You should look into options to see who the guests are to determine which path to take as this way may have a dismal unseen future effect.

Usually, the guests are bots that are in the process of spidering the website which leads to ranking for keywords that drive real visitors. Having disabled viewing of threads for everyone has the implication of ruining the established ranks that you already have and will eventually make DN.ca fall from all search engine results because there's "nothing of value here" (that the search engines, or bots, that you blocked can see).

One thing to consider is allowing guests the option to post, with manual reviewing of course, and then later converting those posts from guests to members. Another could be letting the bots through but denying the real visitors access or denying them access after X page viewes. You could also open up one section of the forum just for some rankings.

I can't delve too deep into options that will help -- over hindering natural forum growth -- as I am unfamiliar with the tools you have at your disposal.

I'd love to help more, but I kind of have a 'no compete' (as I'm building a forum network to hopefully, one day, rival VerticalScope) and it would also be a conflict of interest. But, I hope this reaches you well!
 
Appreciate the feedback and yes a number of visitors are definitely bots and crawl spiders.

That said we have had more lurkers join since the change and I find that if someone registers an account they are far more likely to post.

PS. [notify]amplify[/notify] I have given you Service Representative status which is yellow and shows other members that you represent a service.

We are happy to have you here.


You can see the listings here:
https://dn.ca/userlist.php?username=&show_group=7
 
amplify said:
From all my years of forum management, I've noticed a lot of guests constantly online as well. This puzzled me for the longest time as it seemed like forums were busier than they really were, but they weren't.

You should look into options to see who the guests are to determine which path to take as this way may have a dismal unseen future effect.

Usually, the guests are bots that are in the process of spidering the website which leads to ranking for keywords that drive real visitors. Having disabled viewing of threads for everyone has the implication of ruining the established ranks that you already have and will eventually make DN.ca fall from all search engine results because there's "nothing of value here" (that the search engines, or bots, that you blocked can see).

One thing to consider is allowing guests the option to post, with manual reviewing of course, and then later converting those posts from guests to members. Another could be letting the bots through but denying the real visitors access or denying them access after X page viewes. You could also open up one section of the forum just for some rankings.

I can't delve too deep into options that will help -- over hindering natural forum growth -- as I am unfamiliar with the tools you have at your disposal.

I'd love to help more, but I kind of have a 'no compete' (as I'm building a forum network to hopefully, one day, rival VerticalScope) and it would also be a conflict of interest. But, I hope this reaches you well!
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Some very good points raised above. I have to add that our .CA community is small. Whether it’s indexed or not will not bring in hundreds of users. If you’re lucky you may attract 1 new registration a month. The problem I see with it being public is the fact that you cannot openly express some ideas because it could hinder you one day from a potential sale.

To me it seems like if we are going to be private it should be permanent and not just a reason to have the few that didn’t register to register now. The .CA community is small and it will always be small. It will not miraculously grow just because of people posting. We’re just not that big of a country and no one else but Canadians can register .CA’s.
 
theinvestor said:
To me it seems like if we are going to be private it should be permanent and not just a reason to have the few that didn’t register to register now. The .CA community is small and it will always be small. It will not miraculously grow just because of people posting. We’re just not that big of a country and no one else but Canadians can register .CA’s.
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Also good points! :D

The forum looks like it's going well. I just didn't want to see the momentum completely stop because search engines can no longer see it. However, I feel as if this forum will still grow at a steady rate because of the community and word of mouth it brings; it may not be exponential, but the slow and steady fight will always be superior.

Good luck!

Edit: This forum has one thing going for it. I've visited DNForum more often than DN.ca and this now auto-completes when trying to navigate there.
 
I don't think I will be switching back anytime soon.
Registration numbers are up nicely since the change and now everything stays off google because google cannot log in.

So moving forward, anyone that want's to read has to sign up.
We are all word of mouth anyways and this will keep us a tight group interested in .ca

Now we can say and post things without having them forever on google.

Not as tight as boardroom.com but definitely a bit tighter than before.
 
Word of mouth is best.

I was just trying to remember how I stumbled in here, I think it was me trying to find a 2 letter domain for my name to see who "stole my soul", then went checking a bunch of other 2 letter ones, one thing led to another, here I am at DN :cool:
 
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Ok tried that for a couple of weeks and now I am going to try it this way..

Guests can view the board and forums but cannot ENTER the Buy & Sell section unless they register and login.



So the first way a guest cannot see anything unless they register and now they get a taste of everything but cannot view the domains for sale until they register.



I will try it this way for two weeks and then compare the stats for...


1. Totally Open Board

2. Closed Board

3. Partially Open Board
 
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