For the past several years, it has been suggested that the site should be private (i.e. registration should be required). While this seems on the surface to be a good idea, it actually isn't. I'll use this thread to explain why.
Firstly, I need to explain the main reasons for privating the forum. The most cited reason for privating is the prevalence of IT and similar here. While they are annoying as fuck, there may actually be a benefit to IT users reposting: exposure. Our posts reach more people. While most of the time these will be people there to shit on us, occasionally it'll be someone who is a genuine incel who decides to join. A few users here like @PvZcel found this site because of that.
Another reason that's related is certain discussions that we don't want IT/feds/family seeing. In order to solve that, there are already private subforums on this site. Of course you can't post to these immediately. Plus it's likely that feds are on this site anyway, which is why I'm so anal about the glowposting issue (Saying "in minecraft" won't help your case at all btw).
So then, why shouldn't the forum be private?
The main reason is once again, lurkers. Those lurkers will just end up registering for the site anyway and just not post. So the problem isn't going to be solved. If you want evidence for this, it has been tried before and this is what happened. Ask any of the jannies about this.
It seems the status quo is just the least bad option. However I feel an improvement could be made:
Why don't we private The Lounge (and possibly all subforums other than must read and ID?)
My rationale is that IT rarely screenshots outside of ID. They have plenty of content on ID and the threads on must read need to be seen by all users regardless. Gaming, A&M, and PPR don't get much traffic anyway either. I'll make a thread in Suggestions and see what happens.
Edit: Here is the Suggestions thread
Firstly, I need to explain the main reasons for privating the forum. The most cited reason for privating is the prevalence of IT and similar here. While they are annoying as fuck, there may actually be a benefit to IT users reposting: exposure. Our posts reach more people. While most of the time these will be people there to shit on us, occasionally it'll be someone who is a genuine incel who decides to join. A few users here like @PvZcel found this site because of that.
Another reason that's related is certain discussions that we don't want IT/feds/family seeing. In order to solve that, there are already private subforums on this site. Of course you can't post to these immediately. Plus it's likely that feds are on this site anyway, which is why I'm so anal about the glowposting issue (Saying "in minecraft" won't help your case at all btw).
So then, why shouldn't the forum be private?
The main reason is once again, lurkers. Those lurkers will just end up registering for the site anyway and just not post. So the problem isn't going to be solved. If you want evidence for this, it has been tried before and this is what happened. Ask any of the jannies about this.
It seems the status quo is just the least bad option. However I feel an improvement could be made:
Why don't we private The Lounge (and possibly all subforums other than must read and ID?)
My rationale is that IT rarely screenshots outside of ID. They have plenty of content on ID and the threads on must read need to be seen by all users regardless. Gaming, A&M, and PPR don't get much traffic anyway either. I'll make a thread in Suggestions and see what happens.
Edit: Here is the Suggestions thread
Last edited:
