Public access or not

Hi,

I am currently evaluating whether CityPics should allow public access to its high resolution photos or not. Initially when CityPics started its photos were available to the public without any prior registration.

Shortly afterwards I have read several times the suggestion to make it registration-only to give people an incentive to register and so I eventually switched to the current system. Of course some people opted for public access too and gave other arguments. At the end I'd prefer public access too, but I am worrying that CityPics would become a little loader paradise without getting anything in return.

I'd like to hear your opinion on this matter (please vote too). Would public access be a better incentive for registration and participation? Is mandatory registration a good way to increase the number of users? Would public access only attract more loaders without any real increase of members?

Thanks!

 

Maybe have a free public section with the newest pictures or some subset of pictures, and keep the rest for members only. That will give non-members enough reason to sign up if the free content interests them. If they're not interested, they won't sign up, and you haven't really lost anything.

 

Well me for exemple i register very hard (it takes time) i like to get direct acces
Just my opinion

 

It Depends. What would be the reason behind asking the to join your site?

 

My own experience is that a members only section kills visitor participation dramatically, rather than encouraging ppl to sign up.

I know your site is different to mine but to a degree I think the same will apply. I used to have my whole site open to all users until the spam filth realised this and I ended up spending most my time cleaning up comments for viagra everywhere.

After limiting posting to members only, my user participation dropped through the floor. Web surfers seem to be generally lazy and if they have to spend twenty seconds typing a user name and email to sign up, so they can post a casual comment, they won't.

I know your site is completely different but I think you will take at least a small hit for limiting areas to members only.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments so far.

Thank you, I did not even consider this possibility. Thanks for pointing it out.

To have full access to the site's functionality.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

If I visit a site that wants me to register before I get any value from it, I'm unlikely to register. Honestly that is why I use DigitalPoint over WebmasterWorld. I could use DigitalPoint and see that I like it first and then after about a year I registered. When WebmasterWorld started wanting you to login to view content I stopped looking at their site.

That doesn't mean you can't have a members only area. If you are dealing with photos where everyone can get medium resolution, but you have to register for the high resolution, that might be a good balance. But if everything requires registration, you are going to have trouble getting people to come back.

One idea is to give people public access the first time they visit, but after a few days ask them to register. Some video sites use to do this. That way you already see that you like the site so registration isn't as big of deal because you know what you are getting. (This can be done with cookies).

 

Think about what benefits you get by having somebody register. If its not much then don't force them to do it.

 

Well, its not that the site blocks its content entirely for unregistered users, but it already gives a kind of preview with the thumbnails (I know that this might not satisfy everyone or give enough reason, and this is also part of why I am asking).

Thanks. weaz mentioned previously a similar approach and I am currently considering to offer such a set of freely accessible pictures. It wouldnt provide all photos, but only a few, but these permanently. What would you think about this approach?

Thanks, there are certainly benefits, but whether they are enough is the question.

 

Any other opinions?

 

Thanks for all the opinions. I listened to all of them decided to open up CityPics to the public without any mandatory registration. The major news are that all photos are now accessible without an account. Also the front page was overhauled and has a bigger focus on photos.

Of course registration is still free and gets the user the ability to comment and rate photos as well as to see the satellite location where the picture was taken. Also registered users do not see any advertisement banners.

I'd appreciate any new comments or suggestions about the changes.

 

Nobody else?