Bait and Switch

I think the term you're looking for is 'clickbait'. Thousands (millions?) of websites use it to increase the number of visits to their websites; and visits = cash from their advertisers.

I've seen waaaay worse websites (everyone has) than IHS/CR4. I can't blame them too much for trying to use CR4 as a revenue stream. As the saying goes 'It's all about the Benjamins.' (Money, for those not familiar with US currency.)

But I agree, posting an article here on CR4 that's closed to comments seems pointless. So far I've seen 1 (one) article that inspired me to go to LiveFyre and register there. I likely won't go back, though, since the place seems empty of visitors. What's the use of posting a comment if no one will ever see it?

I'm thinking - if the article is worth commenting on, you can post it yourself here on CR4.

I don't comment on those articles that require me to register.

Nope, me neither, and I suspect a majority of readers don't - which may explain USBPort's experience of seeing no one there.

If IHS wants to shoot this forum in the head, this is one way to go about it, short of pulling the plug outright. A slow death, and if it's a funeral they've got planned, at least they've dressed the site for the occasion.

Just reprint the article here if you want to discuss it....what's the big deal...anything of interest we probably already have discussed it anyway...

I think I've addressed some of your points in other posts, but here it is again with more detail:

1. CR4 is now part of Engineering360. Engineering360 has a lot more to offer because there are original news stories and resources for you.
2. There are no plans for CR4 to go away; in fact, it should grow because it's being more prominently exposed to Engineering360 visitors that it ever was to GlobalSpec users in the past.
3. The Engineering News links are now pointing to Engineering360 News & Analysis stories. This is to introduce you to more content that you might be interested in reading. Engineering360 is very new (just a few weeks old), so we'd like to help people find those articles. (Edited to add: the old style of Engineering News also linked away to news stories if you wanted to read the whole article, so the real change here is that you have to comment somewhere else. There's no "bait and switch" because we always linked to the full article on Engineering News.)
4. The Engineering News stories on CR4 (blog posts) are closed to comments because those stories already have their own pages for discussion on the Engineering360 News & Analysis tab. No other threads/blog entries have been closed for this reason, although some may reference Engineering360 stories.
5. Yes, it's a little quiet over there right now, but we'd like you to help kick-start the discussion and encourage new people to get involved! The same terms of use apply on that site as on CR4.
6. Right now, separate log-ins are required for CR4 and the Engineering360 News & Analysis tab:
1. Your CR4 log-in will work here on CR4.
2. You'll need a Livefyre account to comment on Engineering360. We realize that it's frustrating, but CR4 and Engineering360 are set up on two separate platforms. There are plans to integrate all of the log-ins at some point!
7. You can view comments on Engineering360 without having a LiveFyre account. You only need the account to add a new comment.

Another goal, apart from merging the log-ins, is to replace the existing Engineering News section of CR4 with a simple feed to the Engineering360 News & Analysis stories. So in the future, you'll just see links directly to those stories. This is currently being reviewed for development.

I hope this helps. There's no "master plan" to get rid of CR4. In fact, we hope that CR4 will grow!