White Peak Software Forums / User-Supported Forums / General Discussions / Should anonymous users be allowed to post? / Latest Posts

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 05:03:25 GMT

[quote][b]Anonymous (7/13/2006)[/b][hr]This post is an excellent example of problems with allowing anonymous postings. This person is slandering a company and individuals within a company[/quote]

Point well taken, Anonymous. Because of this and the increase in spam postings anonymous postings is now turned off. It's not a wide spread problem with this forum site but I have seen an increase in activity.

-KIRBY

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:55:14 GMT

I believe the point of the previous post is that anonymous posts should not be allowed because it allows individuals (and spammers alike) to post ads or randomly mention other sites, forums, products, and so on. While I agree it is a concern it has not been a problem...yet. And the previous does provide a URL to what appears to be a very interesting online game called Army Commander. It looks like an interesting game that I might have to play some day. So until spamming becomes a problem for this forum site, I will leave anonymous postings on. The day will come, I know this. But for now I'm happy to have people, anonymous or not add to the content at the site.

-KIRBY

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:17:30 GMT

[quote][b]Anonymous (8/25/2005)[/b][hr]But maybe you need to set up the forum to support a quick post that allows the anonymous user to provide a name.[/quote]

That's a good idea. I'll look into it.

Thanks,
-KIRBY

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:20:38 GMT

Two things happened today. One, someone tried to send me a question about SMTP Diagnostics from a download site but the redirect to my website failed. [The affiliate included a query string that is not supported. I'm fixing the problem now.]

Second thing that happened today...my wife told me she went to the Lance Armstrong web site to read about the duping charges from 99. To read the article you must setup an account, which she didn't want to deal with so she left the site.

These two things along with other feedback I have received have prompted me to change the forum settings to allow anonymous posting.

Anonymous users can now start a thread or reply to a posting. Anonymous user, however, still have some restrictions. They cannot start a poll. They can't use emoticons or IFCode. And they can't subscription to a thread or forum.

If inappropriate posting or regular spam abuse occurs, I will change the forum setting back to require accounts for posting.

Thanks,
-KIRBY

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 07:37:55 GMT

Good point, Jeff. I'm leaning towards opening the forums to anonymous posting as I think about it more. Of course I find it funny that anonymous users cannot voice their opinions on the topic just yet.

-KIRBY

RE: Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Jeff Clark — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:09:41 GMT

Allowing anonymous posting is probably a good thing. I found the process of setting up my account, then waiting for the confirmation email, then clicking the activation link too time consuming for posting a simple question to the support area. I'm sure there are some people who will not take the time to setup an account.

Just my 2 cents...

Should anonymous users be allowed to post?

Kirby Turner — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:24:21 GMT

Here's a question to the handful of forum readers out there. Should the forums be configured to allow posts from anonymous users?

I'm torn on the issue. On one hand, allowing anonymous posting might encourage more people to paparticipaten the forums. On the other hand, it increases the chance for spam. Of course I don't think the later is a serious concern right now since traffic is low.

As you can probably guess, I am considering allowing anonymous posting to the forum. If regular abuse occurs I can change the site configuration to require user accounts to post.

Your thoughts?

-KIRBY