114 replies to this topic

[DanielWhit]

Viceroy, on 21 July 2011 - 06:26 PM, said:

Readers of this thread should be aware that the "guest" postings on this page are from no more than two people, one of whom is quite a prolific poster under his/her registered name.

But hey! Keep it up! I anticipate that the pair of you are hastening the end of guest posting. The decision is imminent.

Curiosity now asks which poster under a registered name. How long until this two week "trial" period is over?

[Pharaoh's number 2]

Well the two weeks started on Monday 4th July, so it has now well past.


And re this prolific (guest/registered) poster, yes, do tell!!!Or maybe we should follow their lead....

[Honoured Guest]

Pharaoh, on 22 July 2011 - 11:01 AM, said:

And re this prolific (guest/registered) poster, yes, do tell!!!Or maybe we should follow their lead....

I refer all enquiries to Yesterday's post at 08:02 PM.

[DanielWhit]

Honoured Guest, on 22 July 2011 - 11:18 AM, said:

I refer all enquiries to Yesterday's post at 08:02 PM.

Yes, I did spot that - however thought it seemed too obvious a case.

[Alexandra]

Honoured Guest admits to pretending to posting as a guest to try to obtain compulsory registration, yet people don't believe him/her! I can see why you all find guest posters confusing.

[Whatsonstage.com]

Hello all

Just to keep you up to date. We've been analysing the data and discussing plans with the moderators this week.

We aim to make an announcement publicly on the Forum early next week.

Thanks,

Terri

[Pharaoh's number 2]

And now a (sort of) spamming registered user.

[Matthew Winn]

Pharaoh, on 22 July 2011 - 05:07 PM, said:

And now a (sort of) spamming registered user.

A Colombian spammer, reposting part of an earlier message in the hope it won't be noticed.

[Whatsonstage.com]

Hello again

So here's where we are. As you know, following the introduction of the plug-in to disable spammy external links, our two-week phase of allowing guests to continue replying to topics ended last Monday.

At that time, I shared the results with the board moderators and opened a discussion with them. Fyi in a nutshell, the headline results were that, with guests banned from posting, there was a slight (less than 2%) overall decline in traffic to the Forum, and an approximately 13% drop in the number of new posts each day. On the positive side, the policy compels more people to register - with about a 38% rise in registrations.

We believe the slight short-term drop is worth swallowing in the long-term interests of board maintenance and atmosphere. So, with that in mind, we have decided to make it permanent policy going forward that users must register in order to post in the main Forums - General Chat, Plays, Musicals and (as has been the case for some time) Performers.

Guests can continue to read content in all Forums and can still reply to - but not start - topics in niche forums such as Fringe, Edinburgh, Regional and Opera.

The above has now been implemented.

Thanks for bearing with us during the past month.

Kind regards,

Terri Paddock
Managing & editorial director
Whatsonstage.com