[trilljester]

Andreas: Would you agree that if you allow a spider to see content that only registered users (not paying) can see is not technically cloaking? Because all the incoming user has to do is register to see the content.

Maybe a mod on top of this one would be a "snippet" where the incoming visitor could see some of the first post in a thread, and would have to register to see the full content.

If you are charging users to see your forums and using this hack, then I agree 100%, it is cloaking, because you are now requiring a user to pay to see the content.

But for a simple 30 second registration requirement, that's really stretching the definition of "cloaking". One good example of why this could not be defined as cloaking is the New York Times. To see articles, you must create a free account. Yet, NYT articles pop up on search engines all the time. You'd think Google or Yahoo would be a little more inclined to ban a major site like the NYT as opposed to a small site like mine.

We could sit here and debate this until we turn blue. I go with my original edict. If you are worried about being banned from search engines then don't install this hack.