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.