I've been umming and aahing for a while now about opening up the site so that everything can be read without the need to login.
I've just been improving things on our Facebook page so that more content gets read over and goes where we want it! This has meant that now full stories can only be read on HoL, whereas before the whole thing copied over to Facebook. A HoL Facebook user politely suggested it was about time we stopped being coy and came out from behind our log-in wall.
That's prompted me to think again and even see bigger increases to the number of daily users.
Good thing? Bad thing?
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Hugh, is the idea that anybody will be able to read anything? But that only those with a Ning log-in could add comments?
So would there be any means to hide some comments from general public gaze? (Other than by using private messages?) If not, then people may need stronger advice on not posting some stuff. (E.g. "Can anyone look after our pet puma as we are away for the next month and the house will be empty.)
Thank you Hugh! This is brilliant! - And case and point, i've just signed up to reply to this post which I wouldn't have been able to see before!
Alan - in my experience (I'm a Digital Project Manager) if anyone can read content, it encourages the feeling of openness in the community and shows people a good indication of the feelings of the community to the post. In addition to this, the idea of adding a password to add comments, replies and feedback, provides sufficient filtration that only genuine users will bother to actually signup and contribute (along with moderation).
You'll always get the odd strange contribution, but it wouldn't be our Harringay if there wasn't the odd crazy - We love them for it! :D
Most people seem to be positive on this so far so I will just add my caveat. Four years of 'walled garden' contributions will now be being indexed by Google so if you posted anything using your real full name and you don't want the world to see it or search for it (eg. future employers) - you might want to act quickly...
... and for those with forename and surname as their user name, a Google search will potentially allow an individual to be located by anyone as living on a specific road in a small area of North London, given that "street name" is displayed on personal profiles.
Can't quite work out if this is a genuine privacy risk or not, but I'm glad I've got my persona!
We were pretty much the only local discussion site I know of that was behind a password wall and there's been a steady pressure over the years for us to open up.
I've already thanked Alistair in a HoLMail conversation for his bringing the Google indexing to our attention.
I guess if people are generally uncomfortable, we could put up the drawbridge again. We've regularly changed our sign-up protocols to respond to varying conditions.
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