No, I am in-fact not enjoying the discussion, because you won’t let me read any of it.
When visiting the site not logged in, it is impossible to read any discussions without first creating an account or blocking the modal window that is forced upon you with some external extension like uBlock or AdBlock.
Hi @benphelps. That’s a trade-off I guess: Discourse has a lot of advantages when you’re logged in. If you prefer not being logged in, you can still read the original mailing lists in your mailbox or at their respective public archives.
IMO it’s important to not confuse this site with a public mailing list archive. Those already exist and they are accessible. I think the intention here, since it’s a reboot of a long existing site, is to create a lively community beyond mailing lists. That’s my own take though, maybe @john has another opinion.
I see you have joined anyway so that pesky modal window shouldn’t annoy you anymore. 
When you’re searching for an existing solution to a problem, not looking to ask for assistance yourself, and come across a Ruby-Forum link, you’re only presented with a registration modal. I believe this is just going to cause people to hit the back button and move on to the next link (that’s was my behavior).
At least having the option to dismiss the modal would allow read-only access to the content. If read-only access isn’t intended, why have the site open to search engine indexing at all?
100% agree with the sentiment from Ben. I didn’t register on the site because of the annoying modal, I registered so I could participate to say the modal is unnecessary and isn’t user or web friendly.
Edit: I visit a half dozen or so discourse sites. This is the only one I’ve seen with a modal that prevents unregistered users from viewing posts.
I’m happy to adjust this.
We could remove it completely, allow users to close it or only show it after x page views. Would be interested in your feedback.
Showing it after a few page views and allowing it to be closed would be fine. Possibly show it after they have reached the end of the discussion, even on first visit. At that point they may be interested in joining, if they are not, allow them to close it and continue reading.
It’s not necessarily that the modal itself is annoying, it’s just that it cannot be dismissed. Modals, calls to action, exit intents, etc, are common place and I think we’ve all just gotten used to them, and we expect that they can be dismissed.
I reported the issue to Discourse Meta to understand why this modal happens and how to disable it.
The solution came fast:
Pretty sure it’s Guest Gate (Sign Up Popup Plugin) - which is marked as #plugin:broken-plugin, so there may be other issues on that site.
@john can you remove this?
@John granted me Moderator access, and changed the “Guest Gate” plugin settings to not be as annoying: now it will only nag you once and only once after the fourth reading. @benphelps I hope this settles it for you!
I suppose so, but you’ve completely ignored my biggest complaint, which is that it’s not dismissable.
If someone wanted to join the discussion then they would register and do so, forcing people to sign up only gives you falsely inflated user numbers. What’s the benefit in having inaccurate user representation?
You can’t legitimately believe that users read the modal and are instantly motivated to register and start discussions… it’s just a user count booster.
I did not ignore anything: I have no power over this forum – except, now, moderation. What I proposed was to remove this faulty plugin.
This forum is not affiliated to the Ruby language, Ruby on Rails framework, nor any Ruby applications discussed here.
Sponsor our Newsletter | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Remote Ruby Jobs