Has it ever been considered making the forums unviewable by non-registered people? Meaning you would have to register and log-in to be able to read (and post) in any of the forums?

I've noticed that in the bargains forums (dvds & hot deals) lurkers seem to kill many of the deals that get posted. If people had to register to see them it might keep deals alive a bit longer. This would keep the riff-raff out and reward those who don't just lurk for info.

I know that there are plenty of registered lurkers, but at least it would help a little. Or am I off base here? And the regular registered folks who read and post here would hardly be affected at all. Or is this even technically possible to do?

It is possible if he wants to do that. I'm not usually a huge fan of this (actually I would never register on a board if I weren't first allowed to see the content) but it might make sense for the Other forum too (pretty sure it can be done on a forum-by-forum basis), would cut down on bandwidth used by lurking non-members.

Here's one example:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=208338

It's certainly worth thinking about, but I really doubt we'd do it for the very reason kilcher mentioned about new people not wanting to sign up.

Remember, almost everyone was a lurker at some point before becoming a member. We'd rather not discourage new members from signing up.

Thanks for the idea though, and it will be considered.