register unregistered users?

[tuffsheet]

Why do you allow unregistered users to post threads? If someone decides to chop somebody up or post offensive threads how can you tell who is to blame and prevent that person from doing it again? Yes, I know they can change their name but at least there is some form of keeping track of who is saying what and to whom...and also gives the website some form of protocol in participating in the forums. I don't like answering to 'unregistered' because I don't know if the correct 'unregistered' user got the message or not! Unregistered users should be able to read the posts but not contribute unless they register.....

[forum_admin]

Thanks, those are all good points. We may reconsider all the issues in the near future.

When we decided to allow unregistered users to post the main reason behind it was the privacy concerns -- some questions are quite 'personal' and some people may feel more comfortable to post as unregistered. We can track offensive conduct through IP and other methods.

Anyway, we are suggesting to everyone to become registered -- just don't use your real name or your email address as your username. Without registering you can't use all the great features like automatic subscription to threads, email notifications, private messaging, etc.

[sunlover]

I am an admin for a forum site. All users who post must register. We edit or suggesting editing by poster of any info that could ID poster. We also have a topic area called Protect yourself. In this topic area we give helpful hints to posters to protect their anonomity. Its important (on our site) that we dont have users posting under several names and we can identify posters (by username) to address the questions asked. I feel allowing users to post as "guests" etc creates more probelms than solves. thats my two cents worth