Guest Semi-Identification Scheme

No, dammit; I don't want folks to guess who I am.

(Uh-oh, do I now get a number?)

I think everyone should be required to register! Really, aside from being able to insult people anonymously , why shouldn't a legitimate user register. I'm registered, and I insult people all the time.

I also think you should be required to post proof that you have already searched for the answer to questions like, "i want know about hormonics" and other absolutely inane questions.

We may have to live with imperfection though, because we don't make the rules.

I think we've been here before. Nothing changed last time either.

Sorry,

I didn't mean to not help someone. I answer as many redundant questions as anyone. Let me quote from:

"Tips for Posting on CR4:

Look for answers before you post. The answer to your question may already be on CR4."

The point is there are many redundant (how to size conductors) posts that do not require asking the same question over, and over, and over, and over.

Cheers.

Well, what's the answer? Why is there air?

The way I see it all who post should register. You could even have a temporary registration that would be open for 6 months then the user would be prompted to "PLEASE REGISTER AS A PERMINENT USER". Once you register as a permanent user, all of your activity as a temp reg user would be transferred to your permanent account. If you choose not to register permanently your temp account would be deleted after, say, the third prompt.

In addition if there is no activity on your account for an extended period, perhaps the same 6 months, the account would be deleted or suspended.

Along with this we could also have a feature where you could temporarily suspend or freeze your account during a period where you may be away for a while. Such as the time when I took that space shuttle flight for 2 months. (Oh, right, that didn't really happen)

not so smart said

""PLEASE REGISTER AS A PERMINENT USER".

BTW It's "PERMANENT"

I for one don't really care if a person is registered or not.

I am registered

I also post as a guest

This discussion keeps popping up on a regular basis

Sorry, I forgot to spell check.

Yes, but if posts on a thread were identified Guest 1, Guest 2 etc it would be helpful in following the discussion. You may or may not be the same guest who posted #1. Not particularly important in this case, but in a long thread it might be.

Cheers..........Codey

We should have the option to skip the guest comments

We have the option to skip "off topic"

I agree, what's the big deal with registering? Slinging insults carries a lot more weight if you've identified yourself. Seems like it's pretty standard practice on other forums, that guests are welcome to look at all posts, but can't post themselves unless they are registered. If someone registers, and just can't take the heat of the occasional insult, it's just as easy to opt out.

I second that Tornado! It need only be within a particular thread, so no real loss of privacy. Make it easier to follow a discussion.

Cheers......Codey

Maybe include the I.P. Address Number for those not registered.

Every post is time-stamped. If you wish to refer to a specific 'Guest' just say, for example, "Guest @ 3:57PM on July 10" for example.

There may be guests who only come by on rare occasions, who don't want to be registered on yet another website. I don't see any reason to discourage them. Also there may be guests here looking for info from one of the companies who advertise via Global Spec and want to see what the blogs and discussions are about. I'd think the advertisers expect a certain amount of casual traffic, and wouldn't want to see anything that would discourage that traffic.

I agree that guests should be allowed. However, the scheme of "Guest 3:57PM" wouldn't tell us if he/she was the same as "Guest 6:42PM." Nor does "Guest Post 12" versus "Guest Post 17." But if guests had numbers just like member numbers, we could easily see if two or more posts were written by the same person, and thereby follow the train of thought better.

Why does this discussion sound so familiar? Ah, that's right- I just came from the thread about registering cell phones...

Happy Now?

Actually, I think it's a good idea to have a way to track guests on the posts. I have no problem with someone wanting to post anonymously … nothing wrong with that … in fact in some cases maybe a very important factor for them. But, when reading the threads it is very difficult at times to know 'who said what'. If Guests could somehow be identified as Guest 001, Guest 002 and such, it would help to keep the posts straight. Just my two cents … Kind regards ……

Agreed.

- Guest #3?

I really don't think posts by "guest" is much of an issue, given about half are members posting anonymously, and you can tell easily enough who it is.

But I do think guests or members posting anon, should not be able to post threads.

I think that there are so many 'quite guests' lurking and learning is a good thing.

That they are not registering is, I think, because they are not aware of the advantages in searching and notification and facilities that membership opens.

This is more a failing of marketing than any small conversation confusion their odd guest post might make.

Right now 404 on line of which 70 are registered.

Or rather than patch the identity symptom - spend the dollar on addressing the root cause of not registering.

But given Savvy has no $ - it might be worthwhile doing some sales welcoming ourselves when guests with promise venture a comment.

A little recognition go's a long way.

The membership advantages could be slipped into responses.

Most of you will have forgotten how hard it is to navigate as guest.

Bad enough when you know the damn thread exists. Hopeless if you don't.

And, given English is a second language, even for many around here with no other, a bit less picky-ness, until they're at home enough to stick it back?

And see - most of you know who this guest is.

This reminds me of the tv series the prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. To quote I am not a number I am a person.

Unless you register you are a series of characters:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/599148/Re-Guest-Semi-Identification-Scheme