SHOULD LURKERS *HAVE TO* REGISTER ON THE FORUM?

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Roy Hersh
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SHOULD LURKERS *HAVE TO* REGISTER ON THE FORUM?

Post by Roy Hersh »

Someone sent me an email this morning with this suggestion. Their opinion was that if lurkers could not access the site without registering first, two things would happen:

a. less lurkers would visit the Forum
b. more lurkers would become active participants.


I have strong opinions on this topic, but would much rather hear what you, the FTLOP cognoscenti have to say about this. I am keeping an open mind and this is definintely a topic where your viewpoints will weigh heavily into ANY decisions made (or not) down the road. So please, use your influence and speak your mind!

Thanks,

Roy
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Ronald Wortel
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Post by Ronald Wortel »

NO.

Internet is a powerful source of information for many, and one of the key principals is that information is easily accessible. Let's say I've been given a bottle of port as a gift, and I want to collect some info on this. I google the name, and several threads on forums pop up. This information is very useful to me as a consumer.

If you do not want the FTLOP forum to be informative for anyone other than registered members, you should definitely make registration compulsory. If you do, keep it as it is.
But enough about me, what do YOU think of me? -- Johnny Bravo
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Glenn E.
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Post by Glenn E. »

I also vote no.

Many lurkers simply have nothing to say and just want to follow the action, as it were. Over time some of them will register and become active participants while others will simply disappear.

I detest web sites that require registration just to view their forums. *cough*NYT*cough. I actively try to steer people away from those web sites. Registering generally requires that you give the web site your email address, and who knows where they'll sell it in order to make a buck?

Requiring registration in order to post makes sense. I just don't believe in requiring registration simply to browse.
Glenn Elliott
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Erik Wiechers
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Post by Erik Wiechers »

I also vote no.

Like Ronald said, information should be accessed freely and people should be given the chance to roam this forum.
Lurkers come and go, those who really become interested or have anything to say will register is my guess.
Todd Pettinger
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Post by Todd Pettinger »

Roy,

I've sent you emails on this before, so you know my opinion. I am also in the "no" camp. I like that you can google info up and link directly to FTLOP and I have a couple of friends who do that on occasion. Whenever I try to get them to join and participate in some of the discussions, they refuse for various reasons, but ones that Glenn and Ronald have mentioned above. They simply don't feel like they can add anything to the discussion.

Honestly, I would recommend that if they sign up, that their account does not have to be in their real name (or even a shortened version of it for a USER NAME, such as Todd P.) but that the real name be a value that is accessible only to yourself and the forum admins. Or to the signed up users of the forum.

Mind you, you do have a right to do with YOUR forum what you like, so either way, I supPort your decision. As you've noticed and as I've stated before, I don't mind my real name being attached to this forum, which is why I am still using the full name as my user name. If someone googles my name and discovers that I like Taylor '70 VP more than Noval '03, who cares?

My :twocents:

Todd
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Roy Hersh
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Post by Roy Hersh »

OK, this is enough of a reality check that I am very satisfied by what I have heard. I am in TOTAL agreement with all of you gents. I really hated the idea of having folks register ... in order to read the Forum.

BUT ... I promised this guy (who IS a lurker himself, albeit a Port trade person) that I would ask the question. Even with just a very small sampling, it is clear that we all see the value in no making this like some exclusionary club.

Thanks for your feedback and I've sent him this thread. It will be interesting to see if he adds his two cents! :lol: But I think he likes wearing these: 8--)

Roy
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Todd Pettinger
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Post by Todd Pettinger »

That's too bad. We'd love to hear from more Port Trade folks. We even promise that we wouldn't inundate them with TOO many questions for them to answer! 8--)

Seriously though, if you do pass this thread on and it IS read by some in the Port industry, I can tell you [them] this: many of us are enamoured by Port because of its tradition and history. People like this [us] often place a high value on hearing from the members of the Port trade and through dealings with these folks on a more personal basis than "hey, I bought a bottle of XXXXXXXX VP and really liked it, so I'm going to try to buy other Vintages as often as I can" and these Port Trade folks could perhaps gain some loyalty from some of their customers if they were able to interact with them a little more often.

I know from personal experience and meeting Cristiano van Zeller in person, and having spent nearly 2 hours chatting and sampling some of his wines and Ports, I am a lot more open to trying/buying any and all labels that he is involved with. This might not be the case had I not met him as the majority of his involvement is with the "smaller" labels and therefore may see less exposure on the mass market.

Just two cents from this guy! :)

Todd
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Al B.
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Post by Al B. »

I'm late onto this thread but feel strongly enough about it that I wanted to reply. I also support the view that people should not have to register in order to view the forum. I am perfectly happy for others to read my posts and, if my posts are of interest to them then perhaps one day they will choose to register and become an active poster as well as being an active reader.

Other folks may simply not have the time to post and so choose to only pop by occasionally to spend a few minutes reading the latest threads and then run-off again to get back to work.

And there are also a handful of people who we know read the posts and then participate in a second-hand way through Roy.

I would actually argue that perhaps we might benefit from finding a way to allow non-registered folks to post on the forum, even if their post has to be moderated before being visible to everyone - but I accept that this may not be practical to implement.
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