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This one really isn't for you to post on your boards... more to help you set your boards up.#########################################################################
With UBB.Threads you can limit access to your forums to certain user groups, including users who are logged in.
You can easily limit forums so that users who are not registered or logged in don't even see them.... however, if you are trying to encourage people to register at your site... they may not bother because if they don't see it, they may not know what they are missing. For this purpose, I would recommend a "teaser" forum.
A Teaser Forum is a forum that only the unregistered users see. Registered users do not see it. It acts as a placeholder... to make sure people know what they would see in that space...if they were logged in.
For this example... let's assume we have a forum called "Extended Member Bios" which you want only registered members to be able to see.... yet the option to view the posts there might encourage newcomers to register a username. Here's how:
To limit a forum, so that the user must be logged in to view it: - Select "Edit or delete a forum" from the "Admin" menu.
- Choose the forum you wish to edit (for example "Extended Member Bios")
- Scroll to the bottom, you'll see a chart with read/write access options, and all your user groups listed.
- To limit access of Unregistered/Not Logged in users, change the read/write options for the "Guest" group to "No Access".
Create the teaser forum: - Select "Create a forum" from the "Admin" menu.
- Name the forum (for example "Extended Member Bios - NOT LOGGED IN")
- Enter a description... I would recommend something like: "Only registered users can view the Extended Member Bios. To view this forum, click on "Login" or "New User" above."
- Put it in the same category as the forum you are wanting to "tease".
- Set the read/write access for all groups except "Guests" and "Administrators" to "No Access".
- Set the read/write access for "Administrators to" "Read and Write".
- Set the read/write access for "Guests" to "Read only".
Make a teaser post in that forum: - Enter the forum (as the Admin) and make a new post.
- I would Suggest giving it a subject something like "Not Logged In".
- For the message you can reiterate that you must be logged in or registered to see the forum. Go ahead and tease them. Describe exactly what they are missing. If possible... post few samples here as well.
- If you wish, you can now change the read/write access for the "Administrators" group to "No access" if you don't want to see the teaser forum all the time.
That's it... Now unregistered users will see this "teaser" and hopefully be encouraged to register a username.... or if they simply forgot to login, this will remind them.
For a demo... you can try logging out right here at threadsdev... you'll see some teasers.
I set this up quite a while ago at Measurection.com and we saw an amazing increase in registrations. I also use it there to tease our regular users with forums that only "supporters/sponsors" see. You can find all sorts of uses for these types of forums.
Hope this helps get your member base up!
