locking ther river reports and status threads

[jerry]

hi glenn
just a thought and i hope i,m not out of order here, but as there are always plenty of unregistered guests having a nosy about on here can you not lock the river reports thread so they are only accessible to registered users, if people are coming on here and be unwilling to register/share info why should they be allowed to see it. it would also give members the oppotunity to be a bit more open should they wish. i know people do register to sites and never post but atleast they do take the time to register.
tight lines
jerry

[korumkid]

i know a few sites which have done this due to lurkers and rightly so.

[billyfish]

good idea..jerry..

[JayZS]

But it is so easy to register that I don't see the point. I think that, if you really want to keep the numbers of lurkers down, you have to be a little careful of how and what you post. Lurkers, registered or not, are probably fish chasers, and often become those who litter the rivers and light the fires. Give them what they seek and they will continue to lurk and use the information provided.
How many members do we have who have never or rarely posted?
Remember also that an "unregistered guest" may well be a member who has just not logged in.

I personally would prefer them not to do it in my favourite swim, so I try not to give them too many clues. Which is why you will not find many "show and tell" pictures of me grinning over fish in these pages. But each to his own.

[admin]

The river reports section is locked and always has been but the rest of the forum is not.

If you log out then try viewing the reports you'll only get to the titles of the reports in the river reports section, click any river thread to view the posts and you'll see that you have to sign up

This way the site lets google and others SE read the titles in the section. I would like the SE's to read the post but as you say there's lurkers around

Only reg members can post on barbel hunters

The problem is that if you lock it all up the search engines can not read it and your positioning will drop.

[admin]

I think there's only one way to stop lurkers and thats to charge money and not just a few squid.

Bit saying that if you look in BFW I would say more than a 3rd of its members have never made a post.

[billyfish]

i remember many years ago. the stretch of the goyt up from the bridge when it was free fishing.somebody wrote an article in anglers mail about it.and the following weak the river was over run with anglers from all over.??i ones told somebody about a peg i had made in confidence many years ago. and that peg got hammerd??? never again.. i dont even use a keep net anymore for many reasons .i dont blame anglers for wanting to fish good pegs.but if you advertise these pegs you can only blame yourself????

[drynetter]

It all depends on what you are willing or want to divulge. I'm sure that if i posted that I'd caught a double figure Barbel in my bath, there'd be a queue up my stairs by the time I got home.

There's no night fishing on some of the Rivers near where I live, yet you see images that are obviously shot in the dark (early morning or late dusk???). I have my doubts.

The Internet is a mine of information or dis-information, depending on what bits you are willing to take as gospel.

On the bank I'm willing to give up any knowledge I have of specific areas, it's certainly not cloak and dagger stuff, however online is a different kettle of fish. A 'local' tackle shop is one who I hold partly responsible for the circus that the Tame has become.

If people are willing to trample over each for a few fish, I'll leave them to it. It may mean fewer bites and fewer fish but the rewards for finding out for yourself what works when and where far outweigh a fish that's been caught so many times it gets given a "name".

[admin]

We do have a policy of editing out named pegs.

We let people name areas or even a stretch of river

[drynetter]

I'm not trying to cause waves, but posts 206-209 of the Tame River Reports hardly prove that to be conclusive?

I like reading the reports, especially if they are are a bit more in-depth than:

for example:

went fishing on XXXX River and caught 3 chub and a Barbel.


The above doesn't mean a great deal.

It's a double edged sword, the more informative, the more likely there are to be dire consequences. Pictures are great too but often give the exact location up.