The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

Big Boarders: Search Function for Registered Users only? · **Released**: 06-13-2006

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.

Ntfu2 · #2 06-13-2006, 04:56 PM

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

woodysfj40 · #3 06-14-2006, 07:02 PM

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

Paul M · #4 06-14-2006, 07:04 PM

Search is disabled for guests on our forum.

Erwin · #5 06-14-2006, 11:43 PM

Same here.

ConqSoft · #6 06-15-2006, 12:40 AM

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

BoardTracker · #7 06-15-2006, 01:59 PM

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.

TheEDIGuy · #8 06-23-2006, 11:45 PM

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.

X vBulletin 3.8.12 by vBS Debug Information
Page Generation 0.07007 seconds Memory Usage 2,261KB Queries Executed 23 (?)
More Information
Template Usage: (1)SHOWTHREAD (1)ad_footer_end (1)ad_footer_start (1)ad_header_end (1)ad_header_logo (1)ad_navbar_below (1)ad_showthread_beforeqr (1)footer (1)forumjump (1)forumrules (1)gobutton (1)header (1)headinclude (1)modsystem_post (1)navbar (6)navbar_link (120)option (8)post_thanks_box (8)post_thanks_button (1)post_thanks_javascript (1)post_thanks_navbar_search (8)post_thanks_postbit_info (7)postbit (8)postbit_onlinestatus (8)postbit_wrapper (1)spacer_close (1)spacer_open (1)tagbit_wrapper Phrase Groups Available: global inlinemod postbit posting reputationlevel showthread	Included Files: ./showthread.php ./global.php ./includes/init.php ./includes/class_core.php ./includes/config.php ./includes/functions.php ./includes/class_hook.php ./includes/modsystem_functions.php ./includes/functions_bigthree.php ./includes/class_postbit.php ./includes/class_bbcode.php ./includes/functions_reputation.php ./includes/functions_post_thanks.php Hooks Called: init_startup init_startup_session_setup_start init_startup_session_setup_complete cache_permissions fetch_postinfo_query fetch_postinfo fetch_threadinfo_query fetch_threadinfo fetch_foruminfo style_fetch cache_templates global_start parse_templates global_setup_complete showthread_start showthread_getinfo forumjump showthread_post_start showthread_query_postids showthread_query bbcode_fetch_tags bbcode_create showthread_postbit_create postbit_factory postbit_display_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_start post_thanks_function_post_thanks_off_end post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_start post_thanks_function_fetch_thanks_end post_thanks_function_thanked_already_start post_thanks_function_thanked_already_end fetch_musername postbit_imicons bbcode_parse_start bbcode_parse_complete_precache bbcode_parse_complete postbit_display_complete post_thanks_function_can_thank_this_post_start tag_fetchbit_complete forumrules navbits navbits_complete showthread_complete
Messages:

The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

It is not a VB3 engine, just a parsed copy!