Show Thread Enhancements - Limited Guest Viewing -- Motivate Guests to Register

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 [or membership upgrades] by limiting the number of threads guests [or certain membergroups] 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.

Install Instructions: Read the install file. Customize via admin settings & templates.

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.

Search Engine Bots (Spiders): Anything that changes your forum viewing can impact how search engines treat it. The cookie approach used by this modification is bypassed by many bots and, since people can still view posts, cloaking should not apply. Users with IP logging may face more restrictions although a filtering system lets defined spiders pass. This plugin is intended to limit repetitive viewing and not restrict people from single views.

For a full explanation of the impact on bots read the install file before asking questions.

Usergroup Limitations:
Version 2.1 introduces basic usergroup limiting with the same rules & messages guests get. Based on demand this may be extended to a per-usergroup level restriction and messaging in the future.

Change Log:
- 7.21.2012 - Update to 2.1.0 which adds usergroup limiting, fixes mySQL 5.5 support, removes the need for template editing, cleans up install guide. Upgrading is optional.

Mod Philosophy -- Drive Your Own Success:
All of my mods are inspired by my work in the digital industry and are designed to drive registrations, interaction or other engagement activities the core platform does not address. Each is designed to fit a general need by providing a starting point but it's on you to decide how to make things work to their best possible outcome. Don't stay in the box.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by sweetpotato

How to find css style of this mod message and replace it by notices style?
Thanks,

Open the template, look at the class elements and pick the ones you want to customize.

[rughis]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolDSL

1/2 works

Register Take-Over Message never seems to show.

However, the Register Block Page works fine.

4.0.8 PL2

I've the same problem.

Is it a known issue?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by rughis

I've the same problem.

Is it a known issue?

did you add the required variable to your navbar template?

[DNN]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Held for Future Use

What are you holding for future use?

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by DNN

What are you holding for future use?

As mods grow I use the first post to share common hacks. This one has not had any such contributions apparently.

[K!nG]

When we do limited guest viewing does that affect to search engines as well ? I meant to ask if its a good thing or a bad thing since my forum is new. ? Thanks

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by K!nG

When we do limited guest viewing does that affect to search engines as well ? I meant to ask if its a good thing or a bad thing since my forum is new. ? Thanks

Read the install file as the main thread indicates. Explains this at length.

I'm glad to answer any follow up questions but start with what's already explained.

[Dave84311]

You mentioned not limiting bots by cookies, why not check their USER AGENT? Generally bots have static user agents.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Dave84311

You mentioned not limiting bots by cookies, why not check their USER AGENT? Generally bots have static user agents.

Cookies insure any basic spider makes it through without having to worry about listing every bot known.

With hundreds of bots and evolving names [a smart bot would certainly check with another user agent to detect content gaming] it's not the primary method I went for. 5 or 6 of the biggest are whitelisted this way however. You are free to add as many more as you like.

[BadgerDog]

After expanding the capability of Ted's excellent mod into support our vbCMS extension, we've started to look at ways to ensure people just don't clear cookies and start over using our site research resources without registering.

So, here's what we'd like feedback on ...

Ted offers a method to log users as an option in his mod, but before we turn it ON, we wanted to query ...

Enable Database Logging ON/OFF

This option allows you to turn database logging on or off. When turned on guest views will be stored in a mysql table. This is more effective than using cookies alone for tracking but adds queries to every thread view causing additional server load and may have spider implications. See the support thread for more detail.

Combined with storing the IP log forever (if you wanted), this seems to be an obvious method of getting people who clear cookies (or have that browser option OFF) be forced to register to continue to view our site all, unless of course they change IP addresses.

We get about 600 members logging in every 24 hours with about 3,000 guests (supposedly no bots as per Paul M's mod). Is there anyone here with a medium sized site who uses this option and if so, what kind of performance hit do you get using it? Also, did you find it affected "spiders" in a negative way?

Thanks for any feedback ..

Regards,
Doug