[Oni]

Thread with no body content --> Bots would index less content from Sinister.ly --> Will be less results of Sinister.ly on the SERP of Google --> Less views and possible future members.

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

[Jiggly]

Thread with no body content --> Bots would index less content from Sinister.ly --> Will be less results of Sinister.ly on the SERP of Google --> Less views and possible future members.

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

[Defeat]

Thread with no body content --> Bots would index less content from Sinister.ly --> Will be less results of Sinister.ly on the SERP of Google --> Less views and possible future members.

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

I can't really comment on SEO - I know the big boards are usually fully open access but I've seen quite a few active boards do everything needs registration to access and they seem to be growing steadily as well. Perhaps there are modifications to be done to address that concern. @Dyne may know more about this than I. I'm just talking shit, just some observations I've seen elsewhere.
When was this done and was it a simple register to access the SE forum? I think I might have been here, can't recall this being tested though.
and 7 pages here - https://sinister.ly/Forum-Suggestions

[Oni]

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

I can't really comment on SEO - I know the big boards are usually fully open access but I've seen quite a few active boards do everything needs registration to access and they seem to be growing steadily as well. Perhaps there are modifications to be done to address that concern. @Dyne may know more about this than I. I'm just talking shit, just some observations I've seen elsewhere.
When was this done and was it a simple register to access the SE forum? I think I might have been here, can't recall this being tested though.
and 7 pages here - https://sinister.ly/Forum-Suggestions

Around 2013, we made the forum invite-only and it lasted about a year. There were some perks to this, but it affected the site's growth that year. I could limit viewing to search engines and threads would be indexed. But again, I have no interest in gatekeeping regular content. If someone is too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute anything meaningful.

Guests are limited to a set number of posts they can view before registration is required (or cookies are cleared). This is normally enough incentive for anyone that intends to participate. The primary point is that requiring registration and upgrades is not going to stop methods from becoming saturated.

If you have a information that you only want to share with upgraded members, it goes here:
https://sinister.ly/Forum-Advanced-Hacking--56

[Defeat]

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

I can't really comment on SEO - I know the big boards are usually fully open access but I've seen quite a few active boards do everything needs registration to access and they seem to be growing steadily as well. Perhaps there are modifications to be done to address that concern. @Dyne may know more about this than I. I'm just talking shit, just some observations I've seen elsewhere.
When was this done and was it a simple register to access the SE forum? I think I might have been here, can't recall this being tested though.
and 7 pages here - https://sinister.ly/Forum-Suggestions

Around 2013, we made the forum invite-only and it lasted about a year. There were some perks to this, but it affected the site's growth that year. I could limit viewing to search engines and threads would be indexed. But again, I have no interest in gatekeeping regular content. If someone is too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute anything meaningful.

Guests are limited to a set number of posts they can view before registration is required (or cookies are cleared). This is normally enough incentive for anyone that intends to participate. The primary point is that requiring registration and upgrades is not going to stop methods from becoming saturated.

If you have a information that you only want to share with upgraded members, it goes here:
https://sinister.ly/Forum-Advanced-Hacking--56

Ah invite only. I've never logged into my account on mobile because I can just go private and view as many threads as I can when I'm not home/away from my PC. I guess others may not know that but still, I don't have much faith in this post limitation. Perhaps those who don't bother registering may not contribute but that's not always the case. 1 of the sites I mentioned that are full open, I registered an account on one 5 years ago and I'm just accessing it now and posting here and there. Had I never registered then I probably wouldn't do it now and start posting.

[Oni]

I can just go private and view as many threads as I can when I'm not home/away from my PC. I guess others may not know that but still, I don't have much faith in this post limitation.

I'd argue that takes about half as much effort as the act of registering. If that's what people prefer to do, I don't blame them. We have 150k+ members and it's never been my goal to force anyone to register.

That said, if people can give me actual examples of content they would like limited to upgraded members... I can consider adding an upgraded-only section specific to Social Engineering.

[Defeat]

I can just go private and view as many threads as I can when I'm not home/away from my PC. I guess others may not know that but still, I don't have much faith in this post limitation.

I'd argue that takes about half as much effort as the act of registering. If that's what people prefer to do, I don't blame them. We have 150k+ members and it's never been my goal to force anyone to register.

That said, if people can give me actual examples of content they would like limited to upgraded members... I can consider adding an upgraded-only section specific to Social Engineering.

I'm confused, upgrade-only? I've only asked about registration needed to view threads. I'll have to reread this thread at some point.

[Dyne]

I'd argue that takes about half as much effort as the act of registering. If that's what people prefer to do, I don't blame them. We have 150k+ members and it's never been my goal to force anyone to register.

That said, if people can give me actual examples of content they would like limited to upgraded members... I can consider adding an upgraded-only section specific to Social Engineering.

It does put you in a tough spot.
Another option would be the [hide] tags that are only visible after a post/action.
But then, on the other side of the coin, you get a bunch of accounts who's only purpose is to write "Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks" on every thread.

From a statistics point of view, it makes sense, but from a quality point of view it just creates more work for yourself and @mothered having to scrub all of these threads and posts.
But, then again, in counter argument with myself, it gives the poster of the thread control over which members see their posts and/or methods--which at the end of the day, giving your members slightly elevated control privileges makes them much more comfortable to post what they wish.

[hide] tags may be your answer. Or at least worth a market research test.

If someone is too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute anything meaningful.

Guests are limited to a set number of posts they can view before registration is required (or cookies are cleared). This is normally enough incentive for anyone that intends to participate. The primary point is that requiring registration and upgrades is not going to stop methods from becoming saturated.

I applaud you for your logic, leadership and critical thinking skills.

[Andrea Bags]

if one section requires registered status does it impact SEO for the whole site?

---

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

I can't really comment on SEO - I know the big boards are usually fully open access but I've seen quite a few active boards do everything needs registration to access and they seem to be growing steadily as well. Perhaps there are modifications to be done to address that concern. @Dyne may know more about this than I. I'm just talking shit, just some observations I've seen elsewhere.
When was this done and was it a simple register to access the SE forum? I think I might have been here, can't recall this being tested though.
and 7 pages here - https://sinister.ly/Forum-Suggestions

those different big boards use hide tags so to see stuff you register and post so it's even more work

[LawDogUSA]

Thread with no body content --> Bots would index less content from Sinister.ly --> Will be less results of Sinister.ly on the SERP of Google --> Less views and possible future members.

This is one of the many reasons. We did this not only with the SE section but the entire forum years ago... We took a direct hit on SEO and it actually resulted in less registrations, believe it or not. Other reasons are that we do not want to inflate our user numbers, send unnecessary emails, or subtract from the pool of available usernames.

People find the forum based on the information it provides (i.e. Google). If they're too lazy to register, they're too lazy to contribute. We might add an upgraded section solely for Social Engineering (it's been discussed in the past). If your method is that valuable or sought after, you shouldn't be sharing it with people on the basis of upgrades/registration though.

@mothered runs an excellent blog, open to the general public. Our forum should be the same.

I can completely understand the appeal of this suggestion, but I think Oni has brought forward some good points about the unintended impacts of doing something like this. Some users may not have been here when we tried something like this previously, but it was bad. There was huge consensus at the time for doing it, but the negative affects didn't outweigh the benefits and the site took a hit. Nothing we didn't recover from, but if Oni hadn't opened up the content again, I am not convinced SL would be still be here.

There's a few things on this forum that manifest as the "lesser of two evils", and I think this is one of them unfortunately.

Also, really random comment, but why did you say there were 7 pages @"Canadian Moose" ? There's 3... I feel confused xD

Sorry for jumping in late here, but I cang see doing anything that makes the site take "hit" and anything that has been seen as "bad" in the past. I just can't see why we can't learn from these to keep this the best it can be. You guys know what it takes to keep this place as awesome as can be. I see a lot of new people asking a lot of the same things and I admire how it never gets old for @mothered, and how the right answers and positive attitude towards the newest to the oldest are always there.

I can't see doing things that you guys know didn't make this place better. If it had a negative impact here, then why do that. It's just my opinion and I don't think I ever want to see this place slip a bit, especially if it doesn't have to. - G