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      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Maybe there is a reason for this, and I'm missing it, but it seems to me there should be no reason for people that don't have an account not to view the forum. Especially since they can see the main page, but if they click on any of the threads from the main page they get a nasty "Discussion not found" error that just makes the site look sloppy IMO. (clicking on discussions shows "No discussions found" which makes it look like the forum is 100% inactive) Is there something I'm missing?
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      CommentAuthorLobsterMan
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Well, in the beginning, we did it to keep the spies and trolls out, it is going to change soon.
    • CommentAuthoraanimo
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Good :) I've wondered about that, just because I know a lot of people lurked on the OWD forum, and keeping them from reading it seemed kinda pointless. Nice to know it will change!
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      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Alright, thanks for the explination :) Makes sense I guess. But it still wouldn't help but so much considering registration is open to everybody.. I guess. I dunno.
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      CommentAuthorLobsterMan
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Posted By: JoshBut it still wouldn't help but so much considering registration is open to everybody.. I guess. I dunno.

    Yes, but if you're registered, we know you're visiting, and your IP is tracked in case something goes wrong...
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      CommentAuthorJeremyD
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    *covers myself up* gasp stop staring at my IP! i feel so violated

    updown
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Sean on the 07th January 2007 at 10:09:59 EST
     
    It was actually my idea that people need to be logged in and have an account to read, use, comment and access the forum and my reasons were exactly for what LobsterMan and Josh said, so we knew who is using the forum and commenting.

    Registration is free and your email address isn't visible anywhere on the site. We have a nice spam free forum in place.

    People can download your designs and templates without being logged in.

    Do we really want anonymous people commenting and possibly leaving trolling type posts and comments? I guess that can happen with registered users too but why not have this in place to try and keep it to a minimum?

    If there is a way to view the forum without being logged in, I am ok with that personally, however, I strongly feel that if someone wants to partake in conversations by posting or leaving comments, we should have them logged in. Even the WordPress forum and other popular forums are like this.

    @JeremyD: Sorry to say, with being logged in or not, your IP information is being logged. Everyone's is. WordPress does it by default and so does vanilla. I also have logging on the server for stat purposes, but don't worry, your IP address won't be showing up on some porn site... unless you go visiting there on your own swingin
  8.  
    The benefit is that registration avoid people who's negative and even insulting comments have brought down other design forums. Those kind of negative comments can kill a community like this. So: keep registration in it's place and just mention on the forum page that "to read the forum or to participate in it, it is necessary to register".
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    J.D. Couper, that's already in place. Log out of your account and go to the forum. You will see it says in the sidebar:

    Welcome, Guest
    To view, comment or to use the OpenDesign.org forum, you need an account.

    If you already have an account, log in now.

    If you don't have an account, registration is free, so sign up today!
    • CommentAuthorJ.D.Couper
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Sean on the 27th June 2008 at 01:37:48 EDT
     
    Sean: Sorry, missed that. But thanks for explanation. bigsmile
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    No problem J.D. Couper... and you're welcome too bigsmile
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      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    I absolutely think that people should signup to post.. a lot of trolls and spammers wont bother. But now that everything is up and running I don't see any reason to not have guests be able to view, but not post, in the forums. If that's not possible I understand. But it's not like there is anything top secret going on.

    I mean, if I linked a discussion here about some new CSS trick or something from another forum people might be interested in it but most likely wouldn't bother registering just to view one topic.

    cool
    •  
      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Sean on the 07th January 2007 at 11:20:13 EST
     
    Well I'm not a master at Vanilla and I know others in the forum are, so if there is a way to make it so people can view without being logged in, I'm perfectly ok with that for the reason you mention Josh.

    I just want to keep the spam and troll issues to a minimum for the good of the forum and the sanity of the admins and the soon to come moderators.
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      CommentAuthorChristopher
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Christopher on the 07th January 2007 at 11:49:58 EST
     
    Right, you can edit it so that non-members (those who are not registered) can view the forum. To make a post or reply to any threads and so on, you must however be registered. But at least if we changed it to non-menbers can view the forums and any topics it doesn't look like a ghost town ;)

    edit: the setting in Vanilla can be found in "Settings > Application Settings > Allow non-members to browse the forum"
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Christopher, I adjusted the setting and did a test. I was unable to view the forum while not logged in.

    I think maybe we'll need to tweak a few things since we have the WordPress and Vanilla stuff merged together.

    Some of the normal Vanilla stuff isn't working anymore since the way we've put things together but I've added it to my to-do list to figure it out and will discuss with LobsterMan as well.
  16.  
    "Settings > Application Settings > Allow non-members to browse the forum" if unchecked, forces one to the login page in not already logged in.

    To allow users to view forums while unauthenticated, go to:

    Settings > Categories > [Category Name] > Edit

    Below "Roles, Roles allowed to take part in this category", check "Unauthenticated".

    Hope that helps.
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Sean on the 07th January 2007 at 12:47:03 EST
     
    Thanks Brent. I actually did a new test after adjusting the settings you mentioned and it worked.

    I need to talk with the other admins about this now and see what our game plan is... but I know for now, until we have moderators in place, I want it to stay the same way and even with moderators, I'd like people logged into comment or post.
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      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007 edited by Josh on the 07th January 2007 at 12:50:28 EST
     
    I'd like people logged into comment or post.


    I agree... guest posting is usually not a good idea. Very few forums have guest viewing disabled though.
  19.  
    oh well im wrong then, so what does the setting i mentioned do then? i could have sworn "Allow non-members to browse the forum" let anyone (registered or not) view the forum, thats confusing :o
  20.  
    "Allow non-members to browse the forum" unchecked forces users to the login page. For this site's purposes, this should be checked (see below). The settings for which roles may participate in categories is in Settings > Categories > [category] > Edit.

    FYI, trying to view the forums when unauthenticated at the moment results in a 404 error. I'm guessing Vanilla is trying to force a login as discussed above, but with the Wordpress integration, getting sent to a nonexistent page.
  21.  
    "Allow non-members to browse the forum" unchecked forces users to the login page [snip]

    haha i'm confused now... it was unchecked to not allow any guests to view the forum, i meant we have to tick it, to do as it says and allow non-members to view. also when you said,

    Below "Roles, Roles allowed to take part in this category", check "Unauthenticated".

    I'm sure that means that allows them to take part, as in post comments etc. doesn't it?!

    oh well... *sighs*
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      CommentAuthorLobsterMan
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    OK, I guess we'll figure it out soon enough wink
  23.  
    on a lighter note, i do agree with this though:

    FYI, trying to view the forums when unauthenticated at the moment results in a 404 error. I'm guessing Vanilla is trying to force a login as discussed above, but with the Wordpress integration, getting sent to a nonexistent page.

    as we're not using the vanilla login pages, but the wordpress, so the above what you said, Brent, makes complete sense.
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    I just fixed it so we don't have a 404 error on the forum.

    Lets leave it be for now having it so you need to be logged in to view and use the forum.

    We can work it out a little later... we have a lot of other things to get going at the moment bigsmile
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Ok, now people can view the forums without an account but if they want to comment or add a post, they need to be registered and logged in.
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      CommentAuthorNeuen
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Sweet.
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      CommentAuthorgnome
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    Yay!
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      CommentAuthorcoollew
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    WAY cool!
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      CommentAuthorSean
    • CommentTimeJan 7th 2007
     
    We aim to please cheer
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    whorship
  31.  
    perfect :o)
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      CommentAuthorJosh
    • CommentTimeJan 8th 2007 edited by Sean on the 27th June 2008 at 01:38:02 EDT
     
    Posted By: seanOk, now people can view the forums without an account but if they want to comment or add a post, they need to be registered and logged in.


    Awesome bigsmile

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