[Omniscient]

I have added a plugin (vibe coded) that only displays the first post of a thread to guests. A few days ago I removed the restriction for guests to view threads but I did have in mind to take this next step. I find it's a more elegant solution than hiding content on each post but also allowing advertisers to get more views. If a guest wants to see replies (which they likely do for sales threads) then joining is just what they'll do.

View HF in a Incognito Mode to see for yourself but it will look like this:



Please note we dropped from 300 registrations per day with required registration to just 100 registrations per day with guest viewing. In a few days I'll update this thread with what the new numbers look like.

Thank you and enjoy.


P.S. Going to be a big dev week, planning on getting things off the Roadmap.

[Terry A. Davis]

Road map stuff would be good to get off the plate

---

Some vibe code missed something, not sure for all threads, but this one did return my content to the browser, so any half decent script kiddie like me could get around this.

Code

"comment": [
        {
            "@type": "Comment",
            "author": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Terry A. Davis",
                "url": "https://hackforums.net/member.php?action=profile&uid=1237824"
            },
            "datePublished": "2026-01-18T20:01:44+00:00",
            "text": "Road map stuff would be good to get off the plate"
        }
    ]

---

Future edit, it does cut off after about 5 posts looking at some Lounge threads.
Doubt there is anything juicy enough in those posts to make it worthwhile, but still good practice to not send content you don't want people seeing if you put walls up to do such things :)

[webdev77]

Big vibes coming soon. New generation is here.

[Hackers]

Nice, glad more people will be able to read content on HF and hopefully join!!

[Omniscient]

Road map stuff would be good to get off the plate

---

Some vibe code missed something, not sure for all threads, but this one did return my content to the browser, so any half decent script kiddie like me could get around this.

Code

"comment": [
        {
            "@type": "Comment",
            "author": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Terry A. Davis",
                "url": "https://hackforums.net/member.php?action=profile&uid=1237824"
            },
            "datePublished": "2026-01-18T20:01:44+00:00",
            "text": "Road map stuff would be good to get off the plate"
        }
    ]

---

Future edit, it does cut off after about 5 posts looking at some Lounge threads.
Doubt there is anything juicy enough in those posts to make it worthwhile, but still good practice to not send content you don't want people seeing if you put walls up to do such things :)

If someone really needs to see the first few posts of a thread and using the schema, would be easier to Register and/or Login to the site.

[Terry A. Davis]

If someone really needs to see the first few posts of a thread and using the schema, would be easier to Register and/or Login to the site.

You are entirely right, my favorite past time is looking for services who put up glass doors like this. Most commonly seems to be News websites that put their paywall up via JS after seeing you're not logged in.

I don't expect it to be changed, or fixed, just thought I'd be that guy and tell you about it.

[Omniscient]

You are entirely right, my favorite past time is looking for services who put up glass doors like this. Most commonly seems to be News websites that put their paywall up via JS after seeing you're not logged in.

I don't expect it to be changed, or fixed, just thought I'd be that guy and tell you about it.

Yeah, always ways around paywalls but it's often more annoying that just joining. Me personally, I often just close the tab and move on. News sites today are almost all paywalled. It's definitely the trend.

[Terry A. Davis]

Yeah, always ways around paywalls but it's often more annoying that just joining. Me personally, I often just close the tab and move on. News sites today are almost all paywalled. It's definitely the trend.

It certainly is, just thought I'd say I noted a thing, wasn't sure if it was intentional or just missed. I'll take it as intentional now since work to fix might need more than effort to join sort of trade off.

All good, I look forwrad to roadmap stuff being knocked off.

[Jamika]

I have added a plugin (vibe coded) that only displays the first post of a thread to guests. A few days ago I removed the restriction for guests to view threads but I did have in mind to take this next step. I find it's a more elegant solution than hiding content on each post but also allowing advertisers to get more views. If a guest wants to see replies (which they likely do for sales threads) then joining is just what they'll do.

View HF in a Incognito Mode to see for yourself but it will look like this:



Please note we dropped from 300 registrations per day with required registration to just 100 registrations per day with guest viewing. In a few days I'll update this thread with what the new numbers look like.

Thank you and enjoy.


P.S. Going to be a big dev week, planning on getting things off the Roadmap.

Hope the best for hf and you 👍

[Moooookie]

I have added a plugin (vibe coded) that only displays the first post of a thread to guests. A few days ago I removed the restriction for guests to view threads but I did have in mind to take this next step. I find it's a more elegant solution than hiding content on each post but also allowing advertisers to get more views. If a guest wants to see replies (which they likely do for sales threads) then joining is just what they'll do.

View HF in a Incognito Mode to see for yourself but it will look like this:

Please note we dropped from 300 registrations per day with required registration to just 100 registrations per day with guest viewing. In a few days I'll update this thread with what the new numbers look like.

Great idea, I'm all for it.

Sucks to hear that registrations have dropped by 200 with the new feature added.. do you have some updated numbers since you've created this post? I thought it would have had the opposite effect, and that guests would be more interested in joining after getting teased by the first post preview. Maybe I was wrong. Look forward to hearing the updated numbers.

[Omniscient]

Great idea, I'm all for it.

Sucks to hear that registrations have dropped by 200 with the new feature added.. do you have some updated numbers since you've created this post? I thought it would have had the opposite effect, and that guests would be more interested in joining after getting teased by the first post preview. Maybe I was wrong. Look forward to hearing the updated numbers.

We actually gained a lot back, over 150-180 per day now with this plugin.

Currently some weird things going on SEO wise. I'm closely monitoring everything.

[SnowRoamers]

i cnat start a convo, where can i contact you?

[Omniscient]

i cnat start a convo, where can i contact you?

You should be able to use Contact Form.

https://hackforums.net/contact.php

But I'll send you a PM and you can reply to it also.

[Carl Elias]

I honestly always thought that's how HF worked. That is how I recalled signing up for HF. Kept googling things that lead to HF, but only could see the first post, or maybe it was just the title, and eventually signed up.

Love the implementation though, because I hate all the paywall that cut the page off mid-article.

Just curious, will guests continue to have access to the marketplace threads? Or will the first posts be modified in any way for guest view (URL's are disabled/redacted unless you sign up first, for example).

Also, just sharing in case it is not known, it also shows individual posts it looks like for guests (https://hackforums.net/showthread.php?pi...id62481329) They would need to know the PostID, but figured I would share if it matters

[Omniscient]

I honestly always thought that's how HF worked. That is how I recalled signing up for HF. Kept googling things that lead to HF, but only could see the first post, or maybe it was just the title, and eventually signed up.

Love the implementation though, because I hate all the paywall that cut the page off mid-article.

Just curious, will guests continue to have access to the marketplace threads? Or will the first posts be modified in any way for guest view (URL's are disabled/redacted unless you sign up first, for example).

Also, just sharing in case it is not known, it also shows individual posts it looks like for guests (https://hackforums.net/showthread.php?pi...id62481329) They would need to know the PostID, but figured I would share if it matters

PID bug is now fixed.

Thanks for reporting.

Guests will continue to get Marketplace threads first post. The whole site is the same right now where guests can view first post only. A lot of the change is for the Marketplace.