Logged in as guest
- Thread starter Prairie Dog
- Start date
You don't have to be a member to read. It's all public, with the exception of the Marketplace I believe.
Strewth
New member
It changed; if you log out and then come back to GOC, you can see posts. It kinda bugs me, but really, it's just like any of the other forums I Google; Rimfire Central, S&W forum, CZ forum, etc.
The only part I wonder about is if this makes the site more or less attractive to become a member of; I've signed up for a couple of forums because they were hidden, the open ones I just read, and don't sign up to.
I kinda think CGN has the right balance; as a Guest you can see the sponsor's forums, and the rest of the site is Googleable, but not immediately accessible like it is to members.
Just tried that, no go. I had to log in to see the forum. Could it be browser specific? I'm using Firefox.
Try again. It's the same for all browsers. I can read all but the Marketplace and the GOC Issues section when logged off.
Rusty Shackleford
New member
I can look around without logging in. IE 11. Not the off topic area though.
I too am one that thinks it would be better to have to log in to read. Give a few things out but not the good stuff. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
Like most things that come out of the hole under my nose....just my opinion.
I too am one that thinks it would be better to have to log in to read. Give a few things out but not the good stuff. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
Like most things that come out of the hole under my nose....just my opinion.
Lord Vader
New member
I want to bump this topic.
As of right now, there are currently 219 users online. 104 members and 115 guests.
Why don't we privatize a few more sections so that people are forced to log on? We might even see a few new faces.
As of right now, there are currently 219 users online. 104 members and 115 guests.
Why don't we privatize a few more sections so that people are forced to log on? We might even see a few new faces.
Strewth
New member
harbl_the_cat
New member
I can't speak for the mods/site owners, but when it comes to website development, search engine optimization and page ranking is the key to attract traffic to your site and locking your site off is a great way to kill off search engine web traffic.
You'll notice CGN locks all their forums EXCEPT vendor forums. You'll notice CGN's ribbon bar has an enormous amount of sponsors and I'm pretty sure they still have a user base in the 100,000 range - ergo, they can probably (for now) get away with locking down their forums for non-registered users. They have a huge base of users and revenue sources and not much need to aggressively grow their forum.
If the GOC founders/owners aren't locking off their forums it's because they are actively trying to grow their site - which I think is a good thing.
So as an example, if I'm a gun loving brony googles "AR 15" "My Little Pony" and sees 10 threads started on GOC by a guy named Harbl_the_Cat, including thesis length analysis of individual episodes with philosophical analysis of each different pony and how each of them personify a particular technical feature of an AR 15, they are inclined to visit the page.
If they can read through Harbl the Cat's detailed and insightful posts and from each one they find a thorough comparison about the ballistic characteristics and terminal performance of apple pies versus party cannons, they are inclined to join in on the discussion, further contributing to increased page rank, greater short and long teal search engine hits, and more traffic drawn in, along with registrations.
In other words - more people need to write mega posts, at least 2000 words long, so that if someone does a search on Google for a related topic, GOC will be page ranked higher. I suspect that's one reason the mods only give me the occasional light flogging about posting random BS in huge quantity.
Case in point. As of today, Google search: "Canada Guns Bible study" guess what's page ranked second?
That's right: http://www.gunownersofcanada.ca/showthread.php?13569-Bible-Study
Perhaps Jwire and Zulu have me on payroll as a GOC shill...
Seriously though - I don't think the sight owners should close off the forums - I don't think most of the members should want them to either.
Remember, the Tavor contest REQUIRES 12,000 members to join by December. GOC's at about 8500 and the year's half over - so there's quite a way to go...
You'll notice CGN locks all their forums EXCEPT vendor forums. You'll notice CGN's ribbon bar has an enormous amount of sponsors and I'm pretty sure they still have a user base in the 100,000 range - ergo, they can probably (for now) get away with locking down their forums for non-registered users. They have a huge base of users and revenue sources and not much need to aggressively grow their forum.
If the GOC founders/owners aren't locking off their forums it's because they are actively trying to grow their site - which I think is a good thing.
So as an example, if I'm a gun loving brony googles "AR 15" "My Little Pony" and sees 10 threads started on GOC by a guy named Harbl_the_Cat, including thesis length analysis of individual episodes with philosophical analysis of each different pony and how each of them personify a particular technical feature of an AR 15, they are inclined to visit the page.
If they can read through Harbl the Cat's detailed and insightful posts and from each one they find a thorough comparison about the ballistic characteristics and terminal performance of apple pies versus party cannons, they are inclined to join in on the discussion, further contributing to increased page rank, greater short and long teal search engine hits, and more traffic drawn in, along with registrations.
In other words - more people need to write mega posts, at least 2000 words long, so that if someone does a search on Google for a related topic, GOC will be page ranked higher. I suspect that's one reason the mods only give me the occasional light flogging about posting random BS in huge quantity.
Case in point. As of today, Google search: "Canada Guns Bible study" guess what's page ranked second?
That's right: http://www.gunownersofcanada.ca/showthread.php?13569-Bible-Study
Perhaps Jwire and Zulu have me on payroll as a GOC shill...
Seriously though - I don't think the sight owners should close off the forums - I don't think most of the members should want them to either.
Remember, the Tavor contest REQUIRES 12,000 members to join by December. GOC's at about 8500 and the year's half over - so there's quite a way to go...
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I'm not sure I agree with you. In my opinion, we won't gain new members if we let them access everything without registering. To be clear, I'm not proposing this just to reach the win-a-gun number. I sincerely want GOC to grow. Of course, with growth comes the inevitable barrage of nonsense, conflict, trolling and derailing. I don't want to attract the riff raff that pollute other forums. Such members only attract bad attention. What I would like to see is a place where we can have civil discussions; a place where like-minded people can share stories; a place where butting heads can share opinions and hopefully come together as one.
Granted, the site does benefit by allowing people to read everything without posting useless jibber jabber.
We have had it open in the past and we have seen more growth since we opened the forum for most sections to read. People see how we conduct ourselves and join because they want to join in, not because they have to.
We would rather have open communication with those that want to be apart rather then those that are only members because they have to.
We would rather have open communication with those that want to be apart rather then those that are only members because they have to.
Strewth
New member
In light of of comments made in the recent Search Function thread, I'm bumping this old thread.
As of right now:
Call be cynical, but while I understand the rationale as explained by jwire above, and while and it's obvious that we're being watched by our overlords, my impression is that these 420 "guests" aren't here for open communication or even to be a part of the community. I don't believe that asking people to sign up and be signed in to read the forums is much to ask. But maybe that's just me. As explained, they join because they want to join. If they don't want to, then they probably don't really want to read our conversations all that much. If they're just here to snoop and gather intel, so be it. At least registering helps cut down the what might be a whole lot of bots harvesting data.
Aniest
Well-known member
I would guess that about 320 "guests" are bots of some type from Google, Bing and others, as well as those set up by anti-gun people and organizational agencies. The other 70 "guests" are likely people who got sent here by a bot, someone searching a topic and GOC ended up one of the links. The last 30 will be the individuals here, as you say, not to be a part of this community.
Don't kid yourself though: needing a log in doesn't change the fact that everything on CGN is logged by Anti-gun people, groups and organizations. I don't doubt that one of the reasons the names of logged in people is hidden now (I believe years ago the logged in names used to be bottom of main forums page with the other stats) is because active members got curious of the organizational bots, the names that were on 24/7 but had a zero post count. I can also say that a log in doesn't keep the anti-gun people from being on the site and taking notes as I got one of those in the family. Oh, and that person is here too taking a lot of notes about certain members and what they say, more than happy to bring select quotes to the people who write anti-gun legislation.
In the end the decision to make what parts of the site open and what parts limited is up to those making the decision based on readership, participation, sustainability, image, revenue and so forth. If anti-gun people and organizational agencies are reading, recording and/or quoting everything will not be stopped by a membership log-in so that should be on the bottom for reasoning; and only Google bots and the like will be stopped by it, and that may not be a good thing to stop in every case.
spider69
New member
Posters,whether members or guests,would do well to remember that there's no such thing as a closed internet site,especially,ones such as these even with a "secure log-in". All "anti" organizations regularly monitoring these sites is well known. Also,intel gathering security organizations have unfettered access to every aspect of sites and forums such as this simply from the standpoint of tracking people whom may be regarded as risks to national security after some of the sketchy posts against political figures and/or posters or even lurkers from out-of-country networks. There's no such thing as privacy on the internet.......period.
