Tighter restrictions on guest access.

[na golfball]

My hopes are always crushed every time I am on this site and see "6 guests online" only to see them viewing some topic that only a bot would view, or potentially being a person and just taking the info they want from this site and leaving....
Do you think putting member only access to most of the forum would encourage or discourage people from becoming members?

Is there a way to distinguish bot traffic from human traffic???

[GE Master]

What I've done, is essentially shut out visitors to seeing the more helpful sections. You can browse, but you can't see what's in the threads. It's why there are a lot of registered members, but a lot don't post. They register, read, and don't post. That's the way it goes. I'm still not sure about the guest counts and the hit volumes that I get from the stats. I will try and get some better info on that. Stay tuned.

[Ponked]

What I've done, is essentially shut out visitors to seeing the more helpful sections. You can browse, but you can't see what's in the threads. It's why there are a lot of registered members, but a lot don't post. They register, read, and don't post. That's the way it goes. I'm still not sure about the guest counts and the hit volumes that I get from the stats. I will try and get some better info on that. Stay tuned.

Exactly, we want to get members that contribute and who don't just leech all of the stuff on here. I noticed we're on the first page of the Google search results for "Halo Reach tips" so that's really cool.

[GE Master]

Cool! I didn't know that Ponked. I think though, so long as we keep semi active here, people will be part of the forum. It just takes a while. Hopefully you guys hang in there. I know from other sites, it can take a while before a few more new regulars join a forum. Once they do, we are back!

[na golfball]

So I signed out and checked the guest restrictions for this forum, it seems like they're not functioning properly. I was still able to view threads in the restricted forums. The only thing I could not do was post.
Am I missing something? or am I crazy?

[GE Master]

Okay, let me double check with you. It's only the tips sections that have the restrictions. It's been a while since I last tested, but please let me know what it was specifically you check. Thanks!!

[na golfball]

Well, as a guest I was still able to read all the threads in the forums that said they were restricted.