Registration now required to post in forums

[admin]

After serious consideration, the Shetlink team has decided to close the forums to 'Guest' posts.

 

Please CLICK HERE TO REGISTER - Registering should take less than 2 minutes. All you need is an email address. You simply choose a Shetlink Nickname and Password, and an email is sent to you which includes a confirmation link. When you have clicked the link, you can log into your Shetlink account

 

For further info or help with registration and logging in, email admin@shetlink.com

 

(We require no personal information for registration other than a contact email address. Shetlink is not affiliated with any other public and or private body in Shetland or elsewhere. All information about you and everyone using this site is held under trust between yourselves and us and is NOT distributed to ANY third party.)

 

Registered users gain the following extra features

 

Post indicators - Coloured indicators show posts which have not yet been read

Private messages - Registered users can contact other registered users privately

Polls - Registered users can start and vote in polls

Editing posts - Registered users can edit their own posts

Members List - Registered users have access to the Members List

 

 

There were several factors in our decision, including

 

-->Multiple guest postings make threads difficult to follow (i.e. forum users don't know if guest posts are from the same or different individuals)

-->Guests can post under the same name as other guests

-->We have no way of contacting guest posters should we need to

 

 

The subject of guest posting has been discussed in the Shetlink forums several times. Here are the thoughts of some of our registered users

 

It [guest posts] makes it very difficult to follow conversations and you don't know whether you're disscussing a topic with 1 or 30 people

 

guests shoiuld realise that a registered identity IS anonymous to all but the inner most depths of the site/software, so what's the problem guests? What is there to lose in registering, you actually gain, more features work and you gain a cyber-identity you can portray any way you feel like

 

It [guest postings] does make threads difficult to follow though. I'm sure people who begin using this forum will see how friendly we all are and clamour to join us!

 

If you believe in your arguement why not make yourself known?

 

My personal opinion, is that the anonymity of a "pseudo" cyber identity is plenty-fine......I think people should have to register to post, just seems right....

 

I would change it so anybody that wanted to post has to register. It keeps the debates going in a much better manner. We had to close off the North Star forum because some people were abusing the board. Since restricting it to registered users we have no problems.

 

Any further thoughts on this? There have been a few more guest postings of late. Hacksaw says nip it in the bud.

 

I just noticed that you had to temporarily lock the thread about the Music Venue, due to anonymous posters confusing the issue, as to who they are etc.

 

I realise you are looking to keep the forum as open as possible to stimulate debate, but I think you should seriously consider banning guests from posting before too long.

 

There are several reasons for that. An anonymous poster, either using multiple pseudonyms or just posting as a guest has no investment in the forum as a discussion group. It allows someone to troll or create mayhem within the group - even unintentionally. It also makes it impossible to follow a debate as you have no idea whether you are reading posts from the same person or lots of different people.

 

If the forum is to grow and become a good resource for the people of Shetland and others with an interest in Shetland issues, then members of the forum have to feel that it is a safe place to post their opinions. They have to feel that the forum somehow belongs to them and will not be infiltrated by anonymous “outsiders”, who have no vested interest in what goes on in the forum.

 

Guests and anonymous poster will eventually come to dominate the board and will effectively destroy it. They can have the effect of stifling debate far more effectively than any over-zealous mod / admin can.

 

It is not really about stifling free speech, but the point really is that a group left to its own devices will eventually destroy itself – I have seen it happen before.

 

The popular threads are looking really messy and are becoming difficult to follow.

 

.. if you have a vested interest in something and want to post on the forum .. you will sign up if you want to post.. if you don't, what you had to say probably isn't worth reading!

 

Well all I can say is that this has been an interesting debate but the thread is now so bogged down in mindless posts that I intend on having nothing more to do with it until it is locked for registered users only.

[JAStewart]

Good job! This will make sure fit for a better community

[Wheesht]

I think it's a good thing.

 

On the techy help can we post pics in messages on here?

[Njugle]

8O

Yes, indeed you can, i'm surprised you haven't stumbled upon any already wheesht, as a long term and frequent contributer. There are dozens in the "anything else" section, in several threads. Check out "If hollywood came to shetland" or "Cranes" for instance.

 

Your photos need to be uploaded to an online photo host, like Flickr or photobucket. They can't be uploaded directly to this site. Upload them to a host and then copy the "img" tag from there and paste it into a post here, ensuring that it is between " your picture here"

[Wheesht]

8O

Yes, indeed you can, i'm surprised you haven't stumbled upon any already wheesht, as a long term and frequent contributer. There are dozens in the "anything else" section, in several threads. Check out "If hollywood came to shetland" or "Cranes" for instance.

 

Your photos need to be uploaded to an online photo host, like Flickr or photobucket. They can't be uploaded directly to this site. Upload them to a host and then copy the "img" tag from there and paste it into a post here, ensuring that it is between " your%20picture%20here"

 

So I can't just upload from my machine (dats whit it is)?

[Njugle]

So I can't just upload from my machine (dats whit it is)?

 

Not as such. Flickr and photobucket are free and very simple to use though. There is no hidden hassle.

Register with one of them, "browse" for the file on your computer that you wish to display on Shetlink, select the upload button, then once it has been successfully uploaded, they will display a URL address for you to copy and subsequently paste into a Shetlink "post reply".

 

upload to host, (eg. flickr, photobucket)

copy link, (eg http://www.photobucket.....etc, )

return to Shetlink,

paste link,

submit post. (or click preview if your not sure)

 

Easy, really, especially using tabbed browsing.

 

Hope that clarifies the matter.