[RebelRowdie]

People need to sign in to protect the kids and coaches.

^ This. Out of those 1000+ viewers, how many are players or coaches? If anything's worth saying, it's worth putting a name (or your screen name, in this case) to it.

[zaga_fan]

Yes, you are right. Registered member or not, a person savvy enough can proxy to bypass a ban. I am not aware of any process to reliably capture the MAC address. However, those can be changed/spoofed too.

I do not ban non-spam IP addresses because many schools and workplaces share the same static IP.

IMO, if a person is that dead set on causing trouble, then they will go through the registration process to do so. Realistically, the only way to control all the content is to moderate every post from everyone. That is definitely not an ideal solution.. All we can do is remove the content when it violates the rules, and move on.

This is another reason I want to implement the dislike button. If the community dislikes a post enough it would send it back to the moderators queue to be reviewed. This would allow the whole community to moderate the board. But even that can be abused by somebody dead set on causing trouble.

Got ya

[vundy33]

I appreciate the feedback. This is not meant to be permanent. Football season brings 1000's of readers to the site. Last night, at one time, we had 1055 guests viewing the football forum alone. If I can get 25 percent of those guests involved (interested enough to register), then that will give us over 250 extra people providing insight and contributing to discussions. More people = more diversity. Diversity in opinions is what makes forums thrive.

For whatever reasons some people are hesitant to join in on discussions at communities they are not familiar with. Sometimes all it takes is just one post to "break the ice." My aim is to make it as simple as possible for someone to "chime in."

Also, every one of the guests post(s) are reviewed by a moderator before they become visible on the board.

What I will probably do is assign a unique numbered ID to guest posters based on their IP address, require them to enter a unique name, and only allow them 5 guest posts before they are asked to register if they want to continue to post.

Technically, I can set this process up so no one could tell if they are registered member or not.

I like that idea brother.

[Whatever8]

As one of those (previously) unregistered viewers on Friday nights, I may not have a lot to contribute...but I certainly appreciate the updates on teams I want to follow but can't see each week. Thanks BGR members.

[LWC]

^How much time do you lose by signing up? Don't hate me, but that is a very weak excuse.

[Devil09]

I spend much more time reading than I do posting. I belive that more than not the people who overlook this sight are fair and look out for the kids and coaches.

[Whatever8]

If you're talking to me, I wasn't trying to post an excuse. But thanks for picking on a new member. LOL.

[torQQue]

What about this.
Ballers and I work at SYKES where there are 100's of people running off of the same network. And there are several more posters coming from there.
The network's DHCP server retrieves a new private IP address every morning and all browsing is done by 1 public IP address.

Wouldn't everyone at SYKES be recognized as a single IP address?
Can you track it by MAC address?

^ This. Out of those 1000+ viewers, how many are players or coaches? If anything's worth saying, it's worth putting a name (or your screen name, in this case) to it.

Serious questions here. Coaches and players are now signing up using their real names? Why would anyone choose to do that on a public forum is beyond me? It is also against the rules. Further, anyone can to claim to be someone they are not on the internet.

Unregistered or Guest or RebelRowdie still = Anonymous. You could of logged out and posted this same response as a guest. Your real identity still remains anonymous to me. However, regardless of username, you said what was on your mind which ultimately led to more insight and discussion. That is whole point with the guest reply.

I think it would be beneficial, but if the majority doesn't like it then I will remove it.

[Devil09]

thats what is great about this and other sites like this you can learn and get info about other teams and look forward to next week

[LWC]

If you're talking to me, I wasn't trying to post an excuse. But thanks for picking on a new member. LOL.

You already stated that you were not new and would not become a member

[Stardust]

^ QQ, your intent was for something wholly different with this, but this has turned out awesome! It's just like posting every score, god knows I have been in the middle of many debate over why post so many scores for areas that don't seem to garner discussion! Well, now we have members from those areas and who knows, maybe they were guests then and afters starting to see threads for games in their areas, they converted to members and now active participants. We are beginning to see more new members (hopefully it's not Mods in disguise) almost every day. Giving a guest a reason to join and participate can never be for the wrong reasons. Besides, what's so different if we have someone join as a member, post 10 times, and then disappear. Versus letting guests comment, post ten times, and then disappear. We currently have 6,629 MEMBERS who have less than 10 posts! So how will letting guests post be an issue!!!

[RoShamBo]

Doesn't bother me. I understand what people are saying but I haven't seen any drawbacks yet so I don't care. Like somebody said earlier, if we can get more action in some of the threads I'm all for it.

[Devil09]

Zip code to get an idea of area. No name needed.

[Whatever8]

Actually, LWC...if you read my post, I say I was previously not registered. And I am now a new member. No hating, no excuses...haven't known of the site that long and expressing thanks to those who post items in which I am interested.

[torQQue]

Zip code to get an idea of area. No name needed.

Since when did we start requiring a zip code to visit BGR?

Anyway, a person can always lie about that too. How could anyone positively identify someone if we did require zip codes? A person with a Pikeville zip code would give you about 8,000 possibilities, that assuming they are telling the truth about their zip code.

If I changed by zip code to a Lexington zip code and claimed to be Joker Phillips, does that make me Joker Phillips? If people are naive enough to believe me, never mind, surely people are not that naive??:pondering:

[LWC]

Actually, LWC...if you read my post, I say I was previously not registered. And I am now a new member. No hating, no excuses...haven't known of the site that long and expressing thanks to those who post items in which I am interested.

My bad. 3 posts in and you are already having a fun debate, lol. You are gonna be a keeper (a keeper as a member, I am already married :biglmao: )

[RunItUpTheGut]

ex west Jess. fan here i got booted several years ago by the people who didn't like my post i like posting but not gonna waste my time sighing up again.

Well thats okay.
You could always go milk the cow.
Good luck with that one.

[Stardust]

Since when did we start requiring a zip code to visit BGR?

Anyway, a person can always lie about that too. How could anyone positively identify someone if we did require zip codes? A person with a Pikeville zip code would give you about 8,000 possibilities, that assuming they are telling the truth about their zip code.

If I changed by zip code to a Lexington zip code and claimed to be Joker Phillips, does that make me Joker Phillips? If people are naive enough to believe me, never mind, surely people are not that naive??:pondering:

Joker Phillips - No.

Joke - Yesnicker:

I don't think it's necessary to make it anything more than what it is. There are many reasons why someone wants to be anonymous, one reason is they are not comfortable with what they might say, but more importantly what others will say about them. This gives that potential member complete anonymity and let's them dip the toe in without going all the way under! Not everyone is like I was where I damn near drowned, and that was because everyone on here kept throwing water on top of me!!!!

[Devil09]

Since when did we start requiring a zip code to visit BGR?

Anyway, a person can always lie about that too. How could anyone positively identify someone if we did require zip codes? A person with a Pikeville zip code would give you about 8,000 possibilities, that assuming they are telling the truth about their zip code.

If I changed by zip code to a Lexington zip code and claimed to be Joker Phillips, does that make me Joker Phillips? If people are naive enough to believe me, never mind, surely people are not that naive??:pondering:

just an idea.

[PEOPLESCHAMP]

I went ahead and made a name. I dont like the idea of posting my opinions as a guest. I figure if a person wants to express their opinions they need an "identity" That way if they say something totally off the wall or make a comment then they should be remembered for what all they have said over there "message board career"

[MSU Eagle]

not really a fan

[Stardust]

just an idea.

And a good idea. :Thumbs:

[Stardust]

I went ahead and made a name. I dont like the idea of posting my opinions as a guest. I figure if a person wants to express their opinions they need an "identity" That way if they say something totally off the wall or make a comment then they should be remembered for what all they have said over there "message board career"

Welcome aboard and thanks for joining

[MayfieldCardinal]

I appreciate the feedback. This is not meant to be permanent. Football season brings 1000's of readers to the site. Last night, at one time, we had 1055 guests viewing the football forum alone. If I can get 25 percent of those guests involved (interested enough to register), then that will give us over 250 extra people providing insight and contributing to discussions. More people = more diversity. Diversity in opinions is what makes forums thrive.

For whatever reasons some people are hesitant to join in on discussions at communities they are not familiar with. Sometimes all it takes is just one post to "break the ice." My aim is to make it as simple as possible for someone to "chime in."

Also, every one of the guests post(s) are reviewed by a moderator before they become visible on the board.

What I will probably do is assign a unique numbered ID to guest posters based on their IP address, require them to enter a unique name, and only allow them 5 guest posts before they are asked to register if they want to continue to post.

Technically, I can set this process up so no one could tell if they are registered member or not.

As long as it is moderated and limited to a small # of posts I think it is a great idea. Only time will tell if it adds members but if it does then I think we all win and that is worth the trial to me. My hope is for some WKY members, you guys have no idea how frustrating it is being from WKY on this site where at times I feel like nobody gives a rip. I have thought of leaving the site numerous times out of frustration

[RunItUpTheGut]

As long as it is moderated and limited to a small # of posts I think it is a great idea. Only time will tell if it adds members but if it does then I think we all win and that is worth the trial to me. My hope is for some WKY members, you guys have no idea how frustrating it is being from WKY on this site where at times I feel like nobody gives a rip. I have thought of leaving the site numerous times out of frustration

I can definitely understand what your saying.
The western part of the state makes up a very small percentage of the site and we definitely need more of them on here.
I cant believe we cant get a crap load of Bowling Green, Owensboro, and even Lville area fans on here.
It has to be less known in the west that this site exist than it does in the east with all of the posters we have from the mountains and northern ky.