To register or not to register

Forum Moderators: rogerd

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To register or not to register

That is the question

bateman_ap

12:43 pm on Aug 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

Been pondering something in my head. I have a newish site with growing traffic. It's mostly articles and news driven, and we want to add the facility to comment on a article.

However we can't work out whether we should make a user register to make a comment, by registering we can have a nice system where you can see a users posts, reduce the spammy commenting, have a "user profile". But on the flipside it might put people off commenting (although registration would be exceptionally simple)

Any thoughts?

jbinbpt

12:54 pm on Aug 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

Try pre-moderating all comments. I suspect that the spam will increase to the point that you will want the registration.

bateman_ap

1:26 pm on Aug 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

Yeah, writing something to auto-moderate to a decent standard isn't the worry. I feel though if it doesn't put people off by registering you can offer everyone a much better experience with, well things you can see on WebmasterWorld. ie the user profile, recent comments etc.

Scooty

10:15 pm on Aug 3, 2009 (gmt 0)

Many many pro sites require you to register prior to posting comments and that is largely related to spammers. If people really desire to comment on article that interest them, they will register. and yes keep registration simple as possible.

janharders

4:52 am on Aug 4, 2009 (gmt 0)

Or, offer to register but make it optionally at first. Let people comment and establish a relationship with your site. When spam is getting too much, require registration.