Lurkers | Sign In Changes?

[JohnSprinter]

I was just in the observations section and noticed how rapidly the topics accumulate views. I just posted one a day ago and it already has nearly 200 views. A lot of topics seem to get hundreds of views before anyone comments. This leads me to believe that the large majority of people reading our posts are lurkers and not even account holders because if all of those hundreds of people were signed in I would expect some feedback on what they've just read from a few of them at least as it's just a couple taps away. I kinda feel like if they aren't willing to sign up and contribute back to the community after 'using' our content that they shouldn't be allowed to view what we share with each other. They just hop on the site to pleasure themselves using what we have shared with the community in the relevant forums as their material then leave. That's how I feel anyway but others may be happy to share with everyone. I just don't like the thought that anyone can find anyone's latest posts through google in 5 seconds. Not to mention other non fetishists who come to the site just to exploit us to the rest of the internet, I'm not saying it happens often but I have seen a couple articles on other sites referencing to us here and copy/pasting posts to make us out as freaks. People who haven't heard of the fetish don't understand then leave negative comments on said articles about us. However maybe the more people that learn the fetish exists the better, I don't know. I feel it would be much more appropriate if one had to first sign in to be able to access the site. As is the case with many other fetish sites. 'Fetlife' has a system like that but to prevent people quickly making an account to view content you must use a phone and get a code by text message and email too for validation. I don't this this will deter genuine fetishists from signing up as this is pretty much the only active place for them to go. If they're genuine and want to contribute then they will sign up.     

[Kenzarty]

I agree with you to some extent. I just recently registered and this is mainly because for a while I was really nervous to actually join a fetish community and just wanted to test the waters. But, now that I have signed up I totally see your point, I would definitely prefer it if outsiders could not see content from here. I'm not sure exactly how this could be remedied. I most likely wouldn't have joined if I couldn't view a few works first but maybe that's not a huge issue for most people. Maybe there should just be just a few posts should be available to those who have not signed up yet so that they can get a feel for the site. 

[JohnSprinter]

Welcome! Ah yes. You have a valid point there. Now that I think back, I too was nervous about signing up and tested the waters for a little while to see how the community worked and what people spoke about to see if it was for me. It's just the people out there who exploit the content and exploit us with no intention of signing up and giving back after taking really grinds my gears as a lot of people here work very hard to write the stories and obs to share with like minded people. The site does work on a rank basis though where you can't access a lot of areas until you are ranked high enough, which is a brilliant idea. I think most lurkers just come for the fiction and obs though. Hmmm..   

[bloom]

If we made the whole forum so you had to sign up to view it there would probably be basically zero people joining up for it because there would be no way for them to tell what goes on here before they joined, and thus no way for them to gauge their potential interest in the forum. The result of this would be that the entire forum would stagnate and die, which would be a problem because activity's been on the downward turn for quite some time to begin with; the last thing it needs is fewer people signing up for it. Fetlife's format is entirely different - it's basically Facebook but for fetishes - and what works there isn't going to work on a forum.

It's really not that big a deal. If you're not comfortable with lurkers viewing your posts, you shouldn't make those posts. Alternatively, wait until you're validated and make those posts in the adults only subforums where only validated people can see them.

[levinelover]

So, obviously, I have an account, but I usually just view the site as a "lurker" because I use my private browsers, and I don't want to sign in every single time I come on the site unless I specifically have something to say (like right now) or want to look at the adult board. I suspect that you have a lot of people like that. 

I also think that it will absolutely stop genuine fetishers from joining. I 100% have the fetish but it took me YEARS to get up the courage to join the site for fear that someone would know I'm joining. I would just use the site as a lurker to read all the stories/obs I wanted. 

[blowlovinaspiegurl]

2 hours ago, levinelover said:

So, obviously, I have an account, but I usually just view the site as a "lurker" because I use my private browsers, and I don't want to sign in every single time I come on the site unless I specifically have something to say (like right now) or want to look at the adult board. I suspect that you have a lot of people like that. 

I also think that it will absolutely stop genuine fetishers from joining. I 100% have the fetish but it took me YEARS to get up the courage to join the site for fear that someone would know I'm joining. I would just use the site as a lurker to read all the stories/obs I wanted. 

I come here via InPrivate browsing and sometimes don't login myself. I login only to post. And on the lurkers, I feel Observations, Stories and Art's all they should be able to see. As a preview of sorts.  I was a lurker once and as I recall, I stuck to stories then.

[aderyn]

First of all, does # of views = # of different people? Forum software systems may differ with regard to how they count that.

Like Junia said, it doesn't seem entirely logical. If the forum became totally private, what would they do  -- ask for application essays from people making new accounts? Anyway, some people just don't feel comfortable writing as much for whatever reason. (For instance, my account has existed for something like 2 years now, and I don't even have enough posts to be eligible for consideration for validation, if I understand correctly -- which is why I can't view my own profile and check how long it's been…)

I do the same as levinelover -- I'm always on private browsing in case someone ever borrows my computer in the future (heh), and I only bother logging in if I'm actually thinking of posting something. (A lot of the time I delete the post anyway, because I'm like "is this really necessary and not just a rehash of something someone else already said better?" In fact, the only reason I'm posting at all is to demonstrate what I, as someone who reads way more than I post, was thinking; how many such people there are is maybe sort of relevant.) I think I mostly post in General Discussion, for what it's worth.

I'd comment more on things like obs, but often I feel like all I could contribute would be the equivalent of "i liked it" or "more plz". And I feel like that would be insulting to the original poster, in a way, cluttering their thread with contentless posts. (The "like button" discussion went on during a time that I wasn't actively reading the forum, but I would have been in favor of it for that very reason.) I know this is a minority view, but I feel as though I have to say something at least a little bit insightful or else I'm just being a big phony and there's no point in my making the post. It's part of being a shy person, maybe? (Also, I'm terrified of coming off as creepy -- just in general -- and it's easier to seem creepy in a place like this than most other milieux I can think of.)

I'm gradually mustering the courage to maybe post an obs or something someday, but I have this irrational fear that somebody I know is going to stumble upon it randomly and go "this is obviously my friend Bob being described here…hmm, who else was there at the time…oh, I know who wrote this!" Like I said, an irrational fear. But a fear that's easier for some people to get over than others, nonetheless.

Anyway, I have no idea if this post is useful at all, or if I'm being a whining jerk who's trying to justify freeloading (like those people on the internet who proudly go on about how they're always pirating video games and You Should Too!). And I'm sorry for writing such a long rant -- it's just that the word "exploit" is associated with malicious intent, at least the way I most often use it, so after stumbling on this thread, I wanted to demonstrate the lack of malice from this particular lurker (and, I suspect, others). This is a post that completely sucks, and I know it. But I'm going against my instincts and actually hitting 'post' nevertheless.

[SleepingPhlox]

I get that its nice to know that people are enjoying your work and the best way for them to let you know that is to have an account here and leave a comment, but I am not sure why people would feel "exploited"?  Or why it would be necessary to "give back"?  I'm confused on that one, like only people who create content should be allowed to enjoy content?

  Dude, I read fiction all over the internet with no intention of signing up to the websites they are hosted on.  That's just how the internet works.  Ideas and content available to anyone all over the world. I read stuff here for years and only signed up because I wanted to try sharing a story or two.  I actually love it when I see a guest is reading one of my stories.  It feels good to know that somebody out there with a common interest managed to find my silliness on the vastness of the web!

[Vetinari]

6 hours ago, aderyn said:

 

I'd comment more on things like obs, but often I feel like all I could contribute would be the equivalent of "i liked it" or "more plz". And I feel like that would be insulting to the original poster, in a way, cluttering their thread with contentless posts

As someone who has posted both obs and stories in the past, I'd like to state here that I love ANY feedback. Even if it's just an emoticon!

Yup, confirmation of my need for attention!

Also, I would never have signed up if I hadn't been able to read huge chunks of the board. I only joined in when I was no longer able to resist.

 

[NoV]

I pretty much only sign in when I'm on my laptop, but spend quite a lot of time browsing content on my phone, for which I pretty much never sign in for. Therefore I suppose that quite a lot of views are probably from members who have not signed in. if I have really enjoyed some content, I will make a point of going to leave a comment when I next log in on the laptop. Typing long comments on phones is tedious in the extreme!