Non-registered users can reply - but are asked to sign up to save their reply
 

If this mod existed it would increase sign-up rates to forums significantly.

Here's the basic thought process:

• User comes to site via specific thread
• User clicks reply and is presented with the reply form
• When user click 'post' they are told to save their reply they need to register
• User registers and reply is posted (reply is posted after email confirmation if being used)

I thought of this while attending a talk on sign-up by Joshua Porter (wrote designing for social web) at Web 2.0 Expo

--------------- Added [DATE]1221703277[/DATE] at [TIME]1221703277[/TIME] ---------------

good idea, yes?

Already possible with default vBulletin if guests are allowed to read threads, but not post replies.

There is no mechanism to save a post and then post it after registration is complete.

Anyone have any ideas?

Sounds like a frustrating feature. I think it would drive more folks away than in.

My first reaction would be Whoa! Where's all that I just typed? I'd be frustrated if I really didn't want t register and expected to post as a guest, and leave.

You might want to explore that side of it and handle it so people have more options.

But that's me.

I disagree - if people are presented with a reply form (quickreply) before registering, they are more likely to start typing. Then all they have to put in is an e-mail and password to 'save their reply'. If they don't want to save anything then that is up to them.

I can agree with that....

It's a great feature idea and something I've been toying with the logistics of...

A few questions for the community...

Can someone only start one reply or can they have multiple?

Where does the reply show up in chronology (is it saved as if they had posted it for real when they hit "post" or does it post when they finish registering)?

How is it saved (cookie, ip, same session) and for how long?

I'd got with setting a limit, lets say 5 replies before you must register!

I'd put it which ever was easier/more posible to do. Ideally it should go when they are made before the registration.

Cookie would probably work best. Since everyone will have to have cookies enabled any way to login/use the forums. IP address change and so do sessions I beleive.

1 post - then they are immediately asked to "save" it by registering. If you had this set to 5 posts, this would confuse the guest as to why their post was not getting posted. It would also make it less likely they they would actually post 5 times to get to the register page. In turn those posts may never actually get posted, creating a queue of unposted posts.

The new reply (or new thread), should have the date of when they activate their account. If the user doesn't activate their account for another day, their post could potentially get buried. It wouldn't make sense if that post suddenly appeared before others.

The mechanism for saving the post should probably be stored in a temp database table, no? The time it is saved should probably correspond to how long unactivated accounts are saved.

This brings up a new issue, and in essence creates a new user group - users that haven't activated their account and have unposted threads/posts - These users should probably be told that they have not activated their account, and have unposted threads/posts via some kind of notification (added conditional, email, etc) that will be deleted in x number of days.

Well now things are getting more complex... :D

Any other thoughts/ features on this one from the community?

any new thoughts about this?

I was hoping to get more input from the community on this (or just interest) before putting any work into it...

Building the basic structure (guest makes post, post gets saved in temp table, post gets made when they register) isn't that big of a task. It gets more difficult when you want to deal with things like email validation first and what not but even then it's fairly straight forward.

That said I'd want it to be useful for as many people as possible so additional input would really be nice.

I just noticed one site that does this well - it's not really a forum, but a q & a site: http://fixya.com It's simple, and straight forward - you type an answer or 'I have the same problem' before you give them info. They reeled me in!

As a side note it looks like new forum platforms are starting to include better q & a support, like community server, and even answer forums for vB. Something like this would work even better with a proper q & a setup.

FYI, if anyone is interested in this modification for vb4, please let me know. I had it custom made and it is working pretty well.

I would be interested in it and if you have a link where I might be able to see it in action that would be great as well!!!

Both of the sites in my signature have it enabled. I'm using a solve media CAPTCHA, but it should work with any CAPTCHA you choose. Here are the features:

• Compatible with 4.1.7 + (untested on lower versions but it should work without a problem down to 4.1.4, when CKEditor was introduced)
• guest posts are saved in the moderation queue under 'unregistered' until the system automatically removes (admin setting) the post or the user registers
• works with quickreply
• has settings to change which editor is displayed, including a basic text box (without loading large CKEditor files) to cut down on page load time for guests
• e-mail verification compatibility
• when gust post is published (before or after e-mail verification)
• CAPTCHA on/off for quick reply/advanced reply & post
• user is only asked to enter one CAPTCHA - they will not have to enter another one on the register page
• header message to users that they have a 'saved post', even if they come back later (cookie based)
• If a user posts, creating new posts is disabled until they register - notification of this is in the header
• compatibility with spam-o-matic
• reporting feature that tracks total posts / replies, abandonment (users create a post but never register), posts marked as spam, and successful posts / replies (register)

So far with the mod being enabled for a month and a half I've seen a 9% increase of new registrations. Results will vary depending on your traffic and subject matter.

Since I paid a lot of money have this modification custom made I will be selling it for $49.99. I will provide support when necessary (upgrades and unforeseen bugs). Please PM me for details.

$50 one time is not bad if it's actually updated to work the billion times VB makes updates.

--------------- Added [DATE]1327064251[/DATE] at [TIME]1327064251[/TIME] ---------------

After messing around with it, I see why you spent some money to have it developed. It would be MUCH easier if the ajax autosave functions worked for guests. Without that, it takes quite a bit of modifying.

It's fairly easy to create the quickreply for guests and one captcha after posting to register, but retrieving their post is a whole other problem.

For the time being, I'm just going to create the quick reply and have it go to the register page, LOL. We'll see if it increases registrations despite losing their post. :)

yeah I thought of that - I would think losing someones reply would just make them mad and leave your site though.

with the autosave it's not really viable to use for guests and more trouble than it's worth to change things around in CKEditor. Besides, loading CKEditor js resulted in 4gb more bandwidth a DAY for my site. That's really silly considering it does around 6gb a day of static files.

added a section of my site to support the mod. Check my sig for details.

50 bucks is too much for me. maybe 20.

Sorry, it cost me a lot of money to get it developed.

ok. good luck with sales, seems liek a good mod. should be implemented in vb by default. i just installed guest quick reply and turne don guest posting, changed the register phrase up top to reflect this and tell them to register.