Hey, that's what I wanted to say, but didn't find the correct wording... <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Well, then a co-author's credit to Frenchy <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Agree with the others? sentiment. IMO, allowing folks to lurk before registering helps to create a more simpatico group. Unquestionably, many folks here ? myself included ? lurked before registering. And as was mentioned, mandatory registration does little to control trolls ? they?re most effectively dealt with by forum participants and moderators.

Even academia supports lurking. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> One of several studies, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior: "The Top Five Reasons for Lurking: Improving Community Experiences for Everyone."

My real issue is not so much I don't like having to register...groo points out
why there is no security in that, but rather lack of accessibility.
Meaning I rather use google to search all forums then have to go
register with all relevant website then use their crappy search engine
To maybe find what I am looking for. If anyone can
read the forum then Google can index it,
which means I can quickly search them all.
Also in some work environments you cannot register or sign up to hobby sites
(for a variety of reasons), but quickly viewing them for
a bit of information is ok. Folks will vote with their feet. Ultimately I
guess the thinking is by the site ops is that lurkers don't really make
the site more valuable, and having a nice long list of valid email
addresses is as good as money in the bank.

Ooooh. Good point. There's a popular web site for cataloging open source software That Shall Remain Nameless, who's search feature just plain sucks. I think it's funny that I can find stuff on that site easier with Google than I can the site's own search function.

But you may have hit on another reason for registering to read. If I find what I'm looking for using Google, I may not have to visit your site AT ALL (Google's cache). And if I do find something, I only view the desired page, and not all of their intermediate pages, which probably affects their ad revenue.


When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse
is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel
is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

-- Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough for Love")

Point taken. Good thinking.