Big Boarders: Search Function for Registered Users only?
 

Just wanting to see what you guys have done in this regard.

Should "Search" be an option for unregistered users? Doesn't this cut down on the number of new registrations?

Thanks in advance.

I hate it when i go to a site and cant use the search if im not registered so i make sure its allowed for guests.

This day and age there are other sources of information people can go jump to if yours is hard to access or get. Thus the reason i never bother to register at sites that require registration to search. Most the time i find it leads to not only registering, but then making X posts, and waiting so long for your account to upgrade :mad:

agreed...search remains open to all users and guests on my site....I know of others that have it removed for guests, and some that have removed it for non-supporting/paying users....I've quit participating at those sites entirely. I can find just as much with Google....particularly if you know the shortcuts to have Google search one specific site ;)

Search is disabled for guests on our forum.

Same here.

Guests and normal Registered users get access to standard searching, paid members get boolean.

We think that search is very important tool for people in a discussion board. For guests as well. It is many times a way for them to find out how useful the board is and serves as a good justification to signing up for a board. Saves them the need to try google (or BoardTracker :) ) instead. As some of you here said, its annoying to find a board with search disabled. Many times though the reason it is disabled for guests is because the built-in search mechanism on boards (on all board software types) is a server killer.

We'd be happy to help out with solving such issues with the help of a mod we developed, which integrates BoardTracker search results into your board, or help with any technical issues you may be experiencing as your system grows regardless of BoardTracker.

You can see big boards such as boards.ie or rpg.net which use this mod happily.
I guess you can also mod that mod to supply guests with search while if you want, keep the internal board search for registered members, although you might find results with the mod somewhat more relevant and responsive for registered members as well.

If there is anything we can help with, we would be happy to hear from you.

We don't allow guests to search, but our current stuff is easy to find, so it's not a big deal for us to disallow it.