June 7, 2012 at 2:06 pm
I would humbly suggest it would be beneficial to not require registration for merely reading articles.
I know that registration is swift and simple, but it is still a barrier for some. Earlier today, I referred someone on Stack Exchange to an article I had written myself and published on this site, and his response was that he did not want to register and so couldn't read it.
I have also, occassionally, found this annoying when trying to show an article to colleagues when at their computer since they didn't always have accounts and I didn't want to log in with my account on their machine. Removing the need to register would encourage browsing and remove this barrier.
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Timothy A Wiseman
SQL Blog: http://timothyawiseman.wordpress.com/
June 12, 2012 at 3:18 pm
We've done this on and off.
I appreciate many people don't want to register. We have found pros and cons for registration, and are currently forcing it to read articles.
That may change, and your opinion is noted, but thousands of people don't object. It's debatable that those who do are significant in number or not
June 12, 2012 at 3:22 pm
It seems that it would be nearly impossible to have an idea of how many potential readers you don't get because they don't want to register. I know that from time to time I will point my wife to a post or an article but she can't view them and has never bothered to register. She works as a development PM so her depth of knowledge about sql does need to be very deep, but she does need some level of understanding.
Of course you have reasons to enforce it just as people have reservations about registering. I am usually able to figure out a way around it but it would be nice.
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June 12, 2012 at 3:49 pm
We have turned it off a few times, for months, to test what happens. It hasn't really resulted in more traffic for us.
June 13, 2012 at 7:33 am
Yeah I would think you might get a couple dozen more page loads in a month span. Not even a drop in the bucket for a site with as much traffic as this one.
_______________________________________________________________
Need help? Help us help you.
Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
June 14, 2012 at 3:04 am
Registration is a pain!
There are many times when I have wanted to read an article on a site, but gave up when it asked for registration. Every new site needs a new password, and every new site wants to send its spam.
My vote is that this site should be open for reading, but need registration if you want to follow a thread, do a post, etc.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
June 14, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Your vote is needed.
I agree that registration is a pain, but it's also part of the "cost" of many sites.
If you think passwords are a pain, then you're doing it wrong. Go get Password Safe or KeePass and store your passwords (and use different ones all over).
October 4, 2012 at 6:35 am
I know this is an old one but maybe allowing users to log in with Facebook or LinkedIn would be a happy middle ground - most people have one of these accounts already and those who can't be bothered to register a new system with a new password could simply log in with an email address and password they already have and you'd still be able to track info on who's reading articles.
This is a nuisance to me as I sometimes forward useful articles to colleagues who, although are in tech services, are not database people and refuse to join yet another forum so I have to copy and paste the articles into a word doc and email it to them so that they can benefit from the info.
Ben
^ Thats me!
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October 4, 2012 at 7:56 am
I have to 2nd the sentiments of Ben and the OP. I don't use FB but that may be a nice middle ground. It may not result in more traffic but it makes sharing much easier. There are many times that a fine article on here recommends a good practice or way of accomplishing a task. I attempt to share it with co-workers or colleagues only to but up against the registration issue. Then I have to go digging to find another article that makes the same recommendation. I should be able to email or IM a link to someone and be done with it.
October 9, 2012 at 11:07 am
Fair points. We were trying to get OpenID to work, but adding a LI/FB/TW might make sense.
October 11, 2012 at 2:03 am
I think LI or FB makes more sense than OpenId personally. At least in the areas I wander in, OpenId tends not to be supported or is supported along with FB and LI. Ask.SQLServerCentral.Com is the only site I use OpenId on personally. LI or FB just seems more painless.
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Timothy A Wiseman
SQL Blog: http://timothyawiseman.wordpress.com/
October 11, 2012 at 9:58 am
Fair enough. I wouldn't use FB myself, and wasn't aware of LI, but I'm asking for all of them. Lots of people use OpenID on other sites, especially non-MS focused people, of which we have a fair number (especially devs).
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