I like the Community Server registration piece. I think it is smartly designed, particularly in that it asks for essential information only: username, password and email address. It takes the burden out of registering and quickly enables the benefits of CS registration: post tracking among them. Always room for improvement, of course, as I would get rid of a username requirement (replace it with optional first and last name fields) and make the email address the unique user identifier. I would also get rid of the forums verbage at top of the page and with extreme prejudice would eliminate the line "By creating a user I agree to the rules and terms of use published on this site."
Okay, so registration for my CSBlog would be a snap. I could turn off anonymous posting, there would be no need for CAPTCHA, and I simply ask readers (in my sweet voice) to kindly perform a one-time 20-second registration process to enable comment entry. Tempting, but not going to happen for two primary reasons.
- I found through experience that as easy as I've tried to make registration here with a drastically streamlined DotNetNuke registration module, people resist registering. I don't blame them. I'm not going to register at your blog either. It's just too weird. I eliminated the registration requirement here for the post tracking mod I created, in fact. What I did instead was auto-register users as part of the comment entry process when they entered a valid email address and checked "remember me." That really boosted participation in the post tracking function and avoided the nasty concept of registration.
- Apart from Registration Resistance there are useability considerations. Let's say readers do decide to register with the simple CS piece I would provide. All is good until you consider the required login element. CS may retain identity to avoid logins on return visits, but if you're on a shared host like 90% of us you cannot absolutely depend on persistance as I've found with WebHost4Life recently. Bottom line, I don't want visitors to have to login to add a comment. End of story.
So we'll start with anonymous posting and CAPTCHA and see what happens along the way. I'll keep you posted (if you register first.) KIDDING!
