Can't get to High Sierra Topix without first logging in

[Mike M.]

Hey! Just in the last day or two the site has changed and you can't view threads without first signing in. Is this intentional?

I don't like it at all -- there are many times I just want to see what's going on without logging in. Plus, the only way for friends to see your trip reports is for them to open accounts. Not everyone wants to join. Also, I wonder how this affects google searches and if a link will even come up now that the site whips you over to the log-in page?

Mike

[Mike M.]

The answer is you can't view links via google searches without first signing in. This will cripple the site. Sad.

[ERIC]

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5850 (you must have missed the thread just below the new one you created)

Good Lord, Mike...the sky is not falling. And anyway, wasn't it just a month ago that the sky was falling because you couldn't login?? The Fishing Hole has been the same way for months now, and we've had more traffic than ever with almost no complaints. The Backpacking/Hiking/Camping forum is the only other one I've implemented the setting on.

I'm not sure how many forums you visit, but this is not exactly something new.

And no, this does not affect Google searches one bit. Links and queries will be fine. Only change is you have to login to view/post - oh, the humanity!!

But in any case, nothing's set in stone; just playing around with some of the settings right now.

[rlown]

I like the new settings. Most of my friends who view stuff i post get a log in.

[Mike M.]

Well, I don't like it and I think this change, if it continues, will in fact serve to decrease traffic at the site.

Why would you want to require a user to log in just to view a thread?? That makes no sense to me.

And to Eric: your reaction to my post -- "Good lord!" and the "sky is falling" comment -- strikes me as inappropriate and out of line. If you don't want feedback, just tell us. My posts regarding log-in problems a month or two ago were reasonable and respectful. If the site has a problem, you want us to report it, right? So why be so defensive??

After i posted my thread I noticed the other one.

I in fact visit many, many forums and almost none require you to log in before reading threads. Examples of forums I visit almost daily include dpreview.com and pentaxforums.com. Other sites, like slate.com have user comments (forums, if you will) attached to articles. To post to these sites and forums, you have to register and log in, but you can browse threads at will without logging in. E-bay is another example -- you can browse anytime but can't bid unless you're logged in.

One of the things I like best about this site is the absence of "flaming." Let's keep it this way.

Mike

[markskor]

Bit confused here Mike -
What is wrong with having individuals who want to glean information from our HST, having to log in first? How will that decrease participation? it is not like logging in is a major chore.

Sure, there are many sites where you can just pop in and take; to give though (to post), you usually have to log in first. Most of these sites are non-personal, somehow business oriented. We are a gregarious social community, entirely non-commercial, dedicated only to all things mountains. I see nothing wrong with someone having to say hi - log in - before entering our "house"... then freely partaking of all the choice Sierra morsels so generously offered here.
Mark

[Cross Country]

I don't like to have to log in every time but it seems to be a positive thing to me.

[Carne_DelMuerto]

I don't like to have to log in every time but it seems to be a positive thing to me.

You can check the box "log me automatically" and be done with it. I cruise the site so much that's what I do.

[Cross Country]

I tried doing that but there is apparently a trick to it that I don't know.

[Mike M.]

Mark wrote:

Bit confused here Mike -
What is wrong with having individuals who want to glean information from our HST, having to log in first? How will that decrease participation? it is not like logging in is a major chore.

Sure, there are many sites where you can just pop in and take; to give though (to post), you usually have to log in first. Most of these sites are non-personal, somehow business oriented. We are a gregarious social community, entirely non-commercial, dedicated only to all things mountains. I see nothing wrong with someone having to say hi - log in - before entering our "house"... then freely partaking of all the choice Sierra morsels so generously offered here.

Mark, the issue for me is it fences off the site from casual browsers. They have to join to see. Say I'm some guy in Colorado looking for information about Cartridge Pass. I do a Google search and up pops a link to a report on HST. If I click on that link, I won't be able to view the report unless I first register with HST. I've never heard of HST and have no idea if this is a con or a commercial site trying to lure me in, if the site is worth my while, or if it's just a dead end. If I do decide to register, I'm taking a chance my personal data might be compromised -- I don't have a clue who I'm dealing with until I've read through some of the postings on the site and gotten a feel for it.

HST is a great clearing house for information about the Sierras, populated by people who love the area and are eager to share their knowledge of it. I want my posts to be freely available to even the most casual viewer. I don't see this as a private club. Let's try to keep it as open as we can.

Note that summitpost.org, another active and highly successful site devoted to hiking and climbing, does not require log-ins just to browse. (I think HST is a much friendlier forum and prefer it.) Cruise around the web and you will find that most forums -- the great majority -- welcome lurkers. What better way to attract participants?

Mark, the better question for me is: why would we want to require people to log-in just to browse? How does this advantage HST?

Mike

[sirlight]

Oh no, here we go again. This feels just like the discussion we had when “the fishing hole” went private. While I admit that was a slightly different situation, this thread will end up covering some of the same ground. I think that this all boils down to what do we all want this site to be? I have actually been very surprised at lack of commercialization. The “incompleteness” of the site also had me scratching my head and wondering when I first came here. It seemed like just a shell of a site with a great forums section (and great people), but the main page had mostly dead links. Even some of the sponsor links were dead. It really had me wondering who was paying for all this. Now, I don’t even think about any of it, I just participate.

I think that it is important to keep this site as open as possible. Most people (including me), start as lurkers. It’s a try it before you buy it type of thing. But the time comes when you want to know something specific that can’t be found by lurking. Then is the time that you join. As is the case in much of life, you need to build a reputation before you are trusted. You do that by posting.

There is real value in leading the lurkers here by keeping this site very open. Why is it valuable to lead people here to “steal” all that we have contributed? Because many of these people are just beginning in their enjoyment of these mountains that we cherish so much. This is our opportunity to get some of the ethics that we have to rub off on them. The more things are closed off, the less new traffic will be led to this site. We will miss the opportunity to educate, inform and yes, learn from these people.

[ERIC]

And to Eric: your reaction to my post -- "Good lord!" and the "sky is falling" comment -- strikes me as inappropriate and out of line. If you don't want feedback, just tell us. My posts regarding log-in problems a month or two ago were reasonable and respectful. If the site has a problem, you want us to report it, right? So why be so defensive??

Wow. Mike, sorry guy, but if you're really going to point the finger at me for being "defensive", and for coming across as "out of line", perhaps you should go back and re-read your own posts, which in my opinion were not as respectful as you would like to think they were. But in any case, I had hoped the inclusion of the emoticons in my own post would convey the fact that I was jokingly ribbing you. Apparently not, so my apologies.

Of course I want feedback, and others who have been here for a lot longer than you have will probably tell you that I constantly encourage it and usually do what I can to please the masses (time, money and technical ability aside). But if this is the way you go about selling your advise to an Admin of a free (and MUCH smaller than the examples you gave) site, then I'm afraid I'm not buying.