[Article] - Continuously Prompting Members to Join

[Stormraven]

I wasn't sure wether to call this a discussion or an article, but in the end the I decided on an article. This is my first article, so please go easy on me and if you spot any errors or spelling mistakes please don't hesitate to point them out. This article is exclusive for XenFans.

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I've been running online communities for a few years now and as much as I love seeing new members registering on my community, I try not to continuously prompt guests to join or to limit them to what they can view or can't view. What I mean by this is only allowing guests to reading 10 threads only, disallowing them to visit pages like member lists, viewing signatures and any other add-on pages that a community admin may add such as a member map .

I once knew a community owner who was constantly looking for ways to force guests to join, for example, hiding the forum statistics in order to hide the fact of how many members were logging in each day, and to hide the true values, member list and allowing them to only read 5 threads then they would be presented with a login box or a register form. Even when members had joined he would remove phrases from watched thread emails so that when a member got an email notifying them that there was a reply to a thread they posted in, he would make it so that the member could not see the actual reply, until he or she logged back in and visited the thread.

Some may think that this it was a good way of keeping members coming back, even though his community was full of spam, but the lengths he went to just to keep members coming back was, in my opinion ridiculous.

I believe in a bit more of a relaxing community environment. I believe that if a member likes your content regardless of how little members or discussions you have, they will think it is work joining. Potential members aren't stupid, it's easy to notice a community that prioritises money and statistics above making their community a nice, pleasant community to be a part of.

Some may also think that disallowing guests to view pages like member lists and profiles is good SEO practise so that bots don't crawl pages with useless information on them, but in theory, any website will get indexed regardless. SEO only speeds up the process.

I think there is a point where you have to draw the line. If your content makes good reading, then a member will spend time and join your website. Focus on content rather than forcing guests to join.

 

[Floris]

Excellent! Thanks for writing and posting on XenFans, opened it up on my iPad to read on the couch in a bit.

 

[Nix]

Nice article and a pleasant read thanks

 

[Stormraven]

Thank you Nix I got an idea for my next article already

 

[CurveGotti]

Nice article, I agree that some people go way to far to try and get new members to join. If a site blocks content when you are not registered most of the time I will either register to see what I want and never come back or just leave.

 

[Stormraven]

Nice article, I agree that some people go way to far to try and get new members to join. If a site blocks content when you are not registered most of the time I will either register to see what I want and never come back or just leave.

Thank you CurveGotti I refuse to join those type of websites too

 

[Mopquill]

Nice article, I agree that some people go way to far to try and get new members to join. If a site blocks content when you are not registered most of the time I will either register to see what I want and never come back or just leave.

If a site treats me like that, I will generally look for a login online to get what I need so I can leave.

I definitely agree with the tone of this article, but at the same time, you have to do what you can to manage bandwidth and such. I certainly do think that the site should be largely usable by a guest, but I find that, almost unequivocally, sites that allow guests to post are filled with spam. Additionally, where do you draw the line? Can guests download attachments? If so, how large of attachments can they download? Any download of attachments could make you more liable for publicly providing file downloads, assuming a user posts something illegal, and you have no disclaimer. But the line is important. For instance, I joined this site to get access to a style, and I ended up looking around the site a bit because I'd joined. Chances are, if attachments were allowed to unregistered users, I'd have left without giving it a second thought. Our browsing habits are fickle. =[

Either way, good article. The net would be much better off if sites followed a more open policy. At the same time though, there are plenty of closed off sites that are very successful. A large part of it seems to be whether the site ends up portraying itself as overly-restrictive, or exclusive. Accomplish the latter, and all of a sudden people will be clamoring to do the same things they ordinarily loathe. Even given the opportunity for the latter, though, I still prefer things to be opened up.

 

[Lucifer_imported]

Thanks for writing this, good job.

 

[Stormraven]

Thanks for writing this, good job.

Thanks Lucifer

 

[CycleChat_imported]

Good points, and I agree, a site owner that conspires for "force" me into registering is unlikely to get me as a member - purely for that reason.

I prefer "open" sites that allow you to participate as a guest and get the majority out of them without having to register; but equally understand the need to reserve some content for registered members only so that there is something "extra" for members who take the time to join.

Communities are built upon interaction and the more you let people see before they join, the more likely they are to want to be a part of that community.

For example, I've join XenFans today. Why? Well, because I've seen posts and add-ons and comments from Floris over on the official XF site, but also because a general read here before registering, showed me that it is a community worth registering on (with the added bonus of making the add-ons easier to get at!! ).

Cheers,
Shaun