Add-On Releases - Limited Guest Viewing -- Improve community registration rates

Note: This addon works with the 3.6.x series only. Click Here for the 3.7.0 version of this addon.

With vBulletin, forum guests are able to view endless amounts of content without being directly asked or forced to register no matter how many times they come back. The purpose of the Limited Guest Viewing System is to drive in registrations by limiting the number of threads guests are able to view without interruption.

This plugin offers two options which can be used to drive in more registrations. The first option allows you to show a reminder message or advertisement after a guest has viewed a certain number of threads. The second option puts up a roadblock stopping guests from viewing threads altogether after reaching a certain number of views. Both options work together to encourage and ultimately force anonymous visitors to either register or login but can also be used separately based on your individual needs.

Because this plugin uses cookies, few if any bots will be impacted when it comes to spidering your site.

Modifications/ Instructions:
Template edits: 1
Plugins: 1 (adds 1 template and several settings)

This template hack should take under 5 minutes to implement and customize.

Customizing the content / messages
To customize which messages appear or what they say, go to vBulletin options, select the ?Limited Guest Viewing System? group and configure the options as desired. Each phase can be modified by adding translation text.

Through the ACP you can enable or disable each option, specify the number of threads that can be viewed before the option is enabled and input any forums you wish to exclude from being blocked.

About spiders/bots
This plugin works by setting a cookie to track the number of visits from a particular user. As bots do not tend to accept cookies, they should not be blocked. To further insure there is no spider accessibility issues, there script identifies major bots (google, yahoo, msn, aol) and explicitly lets them through -- you can easily add to this list by editing the plugin code should you so desire, however, unless a bot starts taking cookies this should not be necessary.


Welcome headers compatibility
The Limited Guest Viewing is designed to work with the Welcome Headers system without any conflict. To insure that welcome header messages do not show up at the same time as the limited guest viewing message, please be sure you are running welcome headers version 4.1.3 or greater (released 11/19).

Updates
5/9/2008 - Released update to prevent installs on 3.7 boards.
2/18/2007 - Minor update to fix register link. Updates optional.
11/20/2006 - Minor update released to fix error with links in some messaging. Updates recommended.

[Bad Bunny]

Originally Posted by coffee

Thanks for your help, my little forum is here: http://shinqit.net/index.php?langid=1

I turned them off then cleared cookies then on again, but no success on showing the take-over while the block appeared after trying to view topic #12.

It worked for me when viewing your thread on your forum. Just refreshed several times and I was blocked from viewing and urged to register or sign in.

[aky]

i dont have this template

nav_bar template, is this only for 3.6.3 ?

[coffee]

Originally Posted by Bad Bunny

It worked for me when viewing your thread on your forum. Just refreshed several times and I was blocked from viewing and urged to register or sign in.

Thank you. I just corrected the problem, it was all about step#3, which I forgot to apply

This mod is very nice in letting people in for some time then politely telling them to register, which is great for a little forum. While for large ones, I guess it will be okey to block guests upon their first visit.

Some might clear their browsers as a work around but they will still have to register not to lose every thing each time they visit such forum.

[coffee]

I would suggest adding an "O.K." button to the "Register Block" forwarding visitors to the register form like this:

"O.K." -> (Register)
"Cancel" -> (Go to Index)

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by aky

i dont have this template

nav_bar template, is this only for 3.6.3 ?

The template is navbar. The plugin will work in 3.5+ although some of the admin links are only compliant with 3.6+.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by coffee

I would suggest adding an "O.K." button to the "Register Block" forwarding visitors to the register form like this:

"O.K." -> (Register)
"Cancel" -> (Go to Index)

You can easily accomplish this by editing the phrases from your ACP options.

[coffee]

Nope! I'll leave it as is..

They know how to register already

[smoknz28]

Awesome hack!

This works perfect for what I was looking for and waiting for....

Thank you for sharing this code with us.

Installed on 3.6.3 with ease and less than 5 mins.

[Masiello]

I love this Hack, but I need to allow without exception all the web bots (spiders) to access all my forum thread and post at anytime, what I need exactly to do for that, sorry but about that I'm so confused.
Thanks

[Snake]

Thanks for this!