Do you think the links and images should be visible to all?

A friend of mine asked me to write a tutorial on Collections framework and share it in a facebook group created by him. Luckily, I already started a tutorial on that: I wrote part 1 and Rokon wrote Part 2. I wanted to share those but suddenly a problem came in my mind: Links and images in this forum are not visible to non-logged in viewers.

So, I copied my tutorial to Rokons blog (where I am also a author) and shared that link on Facebook. Dont tell me: "Why dont you tell your friends to register in this forum.", I can't tell that one.

I know there must be some counter logics against my idea. I would like hear those, however, I already heard the one about increasing number of users, I think that is a bullshit reason. Tell be if there is something else.
Is there any security issue? Then how are other guys sharing links and images in a free forum/blog?
Is there something else?

What ever. I want to see how many of you think the images and links should be visible to non-logged in users.

Please provide a reason behind your opinion.

I gave veto to both.

I think,there's no point being a registered user of this forum if links and images are visible to everyone on earth.

One can simply register and/or sign in to view his/her matter of necessity. This allows privacy and copyright protection of resources here.

Or one can just get any link shared here straight from facebook and other sharing sites without the extra effort to log in. This allows non-registered users to view almost everything here without registering ever. And we don't want that always.

One option is to give separate permissions to view links and images for distinct sections. This can be done for sections containing tutorials as like the one you've written.

This is just my opinion. You can take it positively.

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:I gave veto to both.
I think,there's no point being a registered user of this forum if links and images are visible to everyone on earth.

Without registering, you cannot post. So there is a very good point. And I said that increasing number of users is not a good reason for me. I heard that before.

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:
One can simply register and/or sign in to view his/her matter of necessity. This allows privacy and copyright protection of resources here.

I dont get it. Specially the copyright thing. Are you talking about sharing link to right protected things?
And what kind of privacy? How does registration resolve that privacy issue?

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:
Or one can just get any link shared here straight from facebook and other sharing sites without the extra effort to log in. This allows non-registered users to view almost everything here without registering ever. And we don't want that always.

I dont understand.

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:
One option is to give separate permissions to view links and images for distinct sections. This can be done for sections containing tutorials as like the one you've written.

This is a good thing you said. I have no problem with hiding things from, for example, academic section. But why programming and brainstorming section? What about the section for Ubuntu when Ubuntu it self is a open-source thing?

Think about wiki. You can even edit almost everything there without login in. Now, check the number of registered users in wiki. I have not checked, but I know the number is huge.
I am not comparing our forum with wiki of course! My point is, people will register here if the contents are good. And people will spit here when they will see that we hid stuffs because they are not registered. I personally do hate such sites with such narrow mentality.

Mohaimin vai wrote:
Without registering, you cannot post. So there is a very good point. And I said that increasing number of users is not a good reason for me. I heard that before.

It's not about increasing number of users.
Ans whoever arose that point,I don't agree. This has nothing to do with viewing links or images without logging in.

I dont get it. Specially the copyright thing. Are you talking about sharing link to right protected things?
And what kind of privacy? How does registration resolve that privacy issue?

There are private sections in forum in which guests are only allowed to view posts. So there can be private links of right protected things that we might not want them to view.

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:
Or one can just get any link shared here straight from facebook and other sharing sites without the extra effort to log in. This allows non-registered users to view almost everything here without registering ever. And we don't want that always.

I dont understand.

Follows the same words above. There can be private links which we may not want non-registered users to view,from anywhere.

The reason behind it is,
say,your tutorial is our forum's own resource. You want your tutorial be visible to everyone.
But there are other sections like academic sections,club sections or noticeboard which contains similar resources that others want to only the members of this foru view it.

However, this issue can be resolved by giving separate permissions.

BIT0220-Iftekhar wrote:
One option is to give separate permissions to view links and images for distinct sections. This can be done for sections containing tutorials as like the one you've written.

This is a good thing you said. I have no problem with hiding things from, for example, academic section. But why programming and brainstorming section? What about the section for Ubuntu when Ubuntu it self is a open-source thing?

You have made a good point. We need to expose more our forum to make it more appreciable to people.

For now, i don't see any clear advantage of making links and images invisible.

Usually, making links and images invisible is a very common convention, because it provides simple yet effective protection against slashdotting. But my point is, the nature of the contents of this forum makes it less likely for that kind of scenario. So i don't see a reason to make them invisible. I agree with Iftekhar on one point. Some sections must be restricted.

Cramming down the signup page to someone's throat who just needs only one link or one image is a very bad way of increasing the member count.
Sorry about that, that was rude.

EDIT:

BIT0102-Mohaimin wrote:I already heard the one about increasing number of users, I think that is a bullshit reason.

This is actually less bullshit than you realize. This is something that i did, so I should probably explain you why this was done. When we started this forum, there wasn't a whole lot of IITians here. So it was only logical that we try to increase the count of IITians here. Making the links visible to everyone would effectively kill that possibility.

The reason doesn't hold anymore, and this restrictions should have been lifted long before. But trust me, it's not a bullshit reason.

BIT0130-Shakkhor wrote:This is actually less bullshit than you realize. This is something that i did, so I should probably explain you why this was done. When we started this forum, there wasn't a whole lot of IITians here. So it was only logical that we try to increase the count of IITians here. Making the links visible to everyone would effectively kill that possibility.

Yes. In that case, this WAS a really good reason. It was important to pull IITians in. I am particularly sorry for the offensive word I used

Iftekhar, suppose the problem you are talking about are really problems. Just give a thoughtful answer to the question:
How does registration solve these problems?

Mohaimin vai wrote:
Iftekhar, suppose the problem you are talking about are really problems. Just give a thoughtful answer to the question:
How does registration solve these problems?

I suppose you are talking about the following one

Or one can just get any link shared here straight from facebook and other sharing sites without the extra effort to log in. This allows non-registered users to view almost everything here without registering ever. And we don't want that always.

A registered user can just log-in,view links and posts,can also reply in a topic.
But I simply wanted to explain the opposite case.
An user who is not registered,can have the thought in his mind like,
"if I can access these thing without registering,or logging in,than what's the need for being a member of this forum?"
However,it also appears from the above discussion,that we don't need more and more people registering in this way.
BTW,just to remind you again,this is an infer of me. So I could be wrong.

I think both should be visible. Its really annoying for a person searching for a help and finds him/herself in a position where s/he needs to register to see the links and images. Just consider the ubuntu forum. If we have to login all the time in there, will it have the same appeal???? Again as Mohaimin says a reigister user have the previledge of giving a post so its obviously an advantage. If someone is really in love with the forum s/he will obviously register. Like we did in case of some other forums. We dont have to make them.
Another thing, we have shared links of some copywrighted things such as books or any software in the forum. Those links must remain hidden.

Well, why don't you suggest in which sections should the images and links be visible and where should not?

And the reason for making them invisible was already explain in Shakkhor's post. Why it was continued? Because it was not suggested. Lets face it. At the very beginning, only a handful was in forum. The forum was young. And some decisions were taken for the survival of this forum.

Obviously, people forget that every thing changes. A decision which seemed good to establish the base of forum will eventually expire when the forum is established, no? that does not necessarily make that decision a bad one. It was a timid decision, if you want my opinion.

BTW, we have a feedback and suggestions section for topics like this.

BIT0122-Amit wrote:Well, why don't you suggest in which sections should the images and links be visible and where should not?

I mentioned in one of the posts that if something is hidden the whole should be hidden, not a part. For example, the secrete section for BIT students is hidden from non-BIT users, I have no problem with this. What I am trying to say is "if a post is visible to some people, the whole of it should be visible to them."

BIT0122-Amit wrote:BTW, we have a feedback and suggestions section for topics like this.

Because it was not a suggestion. I wanted to see people's view about my idea.

Well, why don't you suggest in which sections should the images and links be visible and where should not?

I mentioned in one of the posts that if something is hidden the whole should be hidden, not a part

I think I should clarify this part. It was not asked to a single person. But to everyone. And I went through posts. the closest thing to the above statement is:

I have no problem with hiding things from, for example, academic section.

Anyway, I asked it because apparently some here wants images and links to be hidden in particular sections, e.g. educational sections. But I wanted a specific list. Which sections should be visible to users, totally? Which sections should be visible to users, but will hide images and links?

You and I both know the importance of specific requirements. That's what everyone expects.

Because it was not a suggestion. I wanted to see people's view about my idea.

Meh. if you want to discuss anything about the forum, even if it is about knowing opinions about a particular facility of the forum, feedback and suggestions is still the place.

As the description says,

"Share your opinion/Give Feedbacks about IITDU Forum, right here!"
Are not you sharing your views here? Or opinions and views are two things in this particular case?

Discussing about a particular facility is a simple method of providing feedback, as a group.

Oh, I thought I said that, looks like I didn't. Ok, I am saying it now.

What I am trying to say is "if a post is visible to some people, the whole of it should be visible to them."

And forget everything else I said before

___
I agreed with the Feedback section thing. I actually did not read the description of that section. I see someone has reported this topic so I am not redoing that.

Topic moved from General Discussion to this section

OFF topic:

Did any moderator or admin or Mohaimin turn off the poll? I checked the poll validity days. Apparently it was supposed to run for a bit more than day only.

Was that intentional?

Anyone who is against the decision of making the links and images visible in all visible sections are requested to provide arguments within three days.

Well, the permissions were changed long ago. Hope you guys will provide lots of materials here and will be kind enough to invite your friends here as well