Registration required?
 

Ok, I'm not going to beat this to death. I just want to post my opinion on this topic. Mind you this in my personal opinion. Please, lets keep this a friendly debate. If it turns ugly, I will punch the thread.

If I was a casual surfer who was browsing the web, a search would pull up the OSO site. When I click on the link to OSO I wouldn't know what to expect. If I see that I'm not allowed to view the site because I'm not registered I will move on. No matter how easy the registration is. No matter what the cost is to register. Why should I bother to register to view the site? I have no idea what the site is about or if it's of interest to me. How do I know that I can trust OSO to not sell my info or spam me? Oh, yes you can call yourself the premier boating information site, but is it really? Or is it just a wanna-be site? There are many guests on a site like this one that would rather lurk than become a member. That's fine. What harm are they causing? On occasion you even find the new member who's initial post admits that they used to be a lurker but are now happily a member. Thats cool. Really cool. But, if that person was required to become a member immediately, would they be on the board today? I rather doubt it. I know why the registration was added. It's amazing how one member can change things. But I don't see the advantage to having even viewers need to register. Now this not my site, I'm only a privileged user, but I know that this is a decision that I wouldn't of made. Discuss among yourselves...

cord you hit the nail on the head

Iwas a lurker for about 1 1/2 years

I lurked for a while too. I joined shortly after the board was reset. I wasn't interested in being a member with all the bashing that was going on.

even as a registered member i can't view attached images! [see question/comments forum for more info]
forget trying to show a friend a page on oso. i don't have my pass memorized so i have to reset it whenever i need to show anyone a thread!

I have to agree too. I dont know why that was done, but I tell alot of people about this site and if they come here to browse, and cant until they register, they may just go away. I think register to post is ok, but not to browse.

I was going to post something on this topic in the suggestion area. I'll put my $.02 in here though.

I agree with everything that's been said. If I hadn't been able to read to begin with, I wouldn't have seen the benefits of registering.

There is another large, non-boat related forum that I frequent. On this site they allow you to view the forum something like 10-15 times before you are not allowed in anymore. This allows the person on opportunity to see if they like the forum and care to join. I was going to suggest we do that here. Allow someone to view a handful of times to at least see the benefits.

Not my site, just a suggestion. Carry on.

Buck

I lurked for a little over a year before registering.

buck183 - Best answer yet, especially to the whole argument of the pictures also!

I have no problem paying for the white meat but let'm browse without the registration hurdle for the dark meat.

Conversely, generally the good or high value threads are the longer ones. Why not let browsers only view a portion of each thread...show 'em some leg;)