Participation. It's the lifeblood of a forum, and once you have a group of dedicated members creating and discussing content, your forum will flourish. But there's a barrier to entry when it comes to participation. When a new visitor stumbles upon your forum from a search engine, they may read the content that piqued their interest and then feel inclined to add their own thought-provoking response, but at that point, they are confronted with the dreaded
"You must log in or register to reply here".
,
... at which point, in many cases, the whim disappears and they disappear like a stranger in the night.
The prospect of having to complete a form and go through the rigmarole of signing-up to a new service is quite a turn-off to new visitors, for obvious reasons. Visitors have a reticence to registration because they often consider it not to be worth their time.
So, what if they had something to lose by not completing the registration process?
This is the thought behind Writing Before Registering. When enabled, guest users will be granted access to the New Thread button and the Quick Reply editor and various other tools that are available to registered members. The experience is almost identical to that of a logged-in user, allowing the guest to create rich content before having registered, such that they can compose the message they want without obstructions.
And then, when they've spent time lovingly crafting their message and hit the submit button, then we smack them with the registration form.
Now, the hapless visitor has a conundrum. Are they prepared to have wasted the time they spent composing their message and abandon their contribution, or will they spend a few moments completing the annoying registration form? We're betting that a good proportion will choose the latter.