Why the forum needs registration even for reading?

[Xenakios]

I find it a bit curious the forum can't be read without registering first. That makes this forum somewhat less useful as an information source.

[simonk]

Good point, I had been wondering about this.

I set the forum up in this way to try to avoid the hoards of spammers and pests that infect the net these days.
Otherwise I would have to manually add each new user in order to check they were actually a human. Which might slow down registration. (I'm busy!)
I have been moderating another forum for some years where this is the case & even so the odd bot gets by me.

However, I would like to solicit opinions on this issue, so please lets hear them!

[lynx]

I'm personally in favour of leaving it as-is.  If nothing else, I rather like that the forum is "closed" as an exhibit for search engines and other "drive-by" traffic (i.e., what is posted to the forum basically stays in the forum).  I also think that it encourages users to join a community of CDP users.  As a "social enterprise," this community will be vital to sustaining CDP in the years to come.  While I feel that people shouldn't be forced to participate, I hope would, too, that they would be subtly encouraged to apply a different ethic to CDP than they might with commercial software, especially as the core CDP software is now maintained and distributed without charge.

I suspect most messages posted in the forum will also have limited significance a few years down the line, especially as bugs are corrected and the system evolves.  I suspect a FAQ, for example, might be a more valuable source of information for new users.  If there is interest, perhaps a Wiki system of some kind might play this role.  A one-stop shop for manuals/documentation, known bugs, idiosyncrasies, and other bits might be preferable to wading through the "noise" of old forum posts.

[simonk]

Thankyou Lynx for a quite accurate summation of our rationale so far and for the long view.

It would be quite easy to set up a Wiki or FAQ, I'd be very happy to facilitate that.

[afta8]

IMO the forum should be public to view but need a sign in to post messages. I get the point about spam but the forum requires a captcha to register anyway so I don't see how making it public to view is going to reduce security (other than making it a more visible target)

I think a lot users tend to read forums a few times before deciding to sign up so if you want to attract more users then make it easier to access.
Also making the forum public and 'indexable' by search engines will mean more people are pointed here with queries and discussion on CDP.

[emre_k]

IMO the forum should be public to view but need a sign in to post messages. I get the point about spam but the forum requires a captcha to register anyway so I don't see how making it public to view is going to reduce security (other than making it a more visible target)

I think a lot users tend to read forums a few times before deciding to sign up so if you want to attract more users then make it easier to access.
Also making the forum public and 'indexable' by search engines will mean more people are pointed here with queries and discussion on CDP.

I agree. This is probably the first forum ever I've signed up to read as it's usually too much of a hassle to register just to be able to do that.