I don't understand why we have to sign in to this site before we can read the threads and such. I feel like this must end up making a lot of people that are curious about Elliott turn away.

I'm just curious as to why this was changed.. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we used to be able to browse without being logged in..

We are constantly "hit" by spam bots.

It is a deterrent, not a cure. There are still spam bots that are intelligent enough to "register" but if not, we are preventing an unwanted intrusion from ridiculous ads and x-rated links.

Sk8888

well, I guess that's a good idea then. I just keep seeing posts on the AI boards and someone says "go check it out on Etrainstation" and the poster says "Alright!" and then the very next post is "oh, you have to sign up.. oh well. maybe some other time". It just makes me kinda sad.

look on the bright side, elliottcat. this does force a lot of lurkers to delurk and finally join in on all our fun. besides, registration doesn't take more than 2 minutes. you register a username, you get emailed a code, then you activate your account and you're all set.

and as shelley has pointed out, this keeps out at least, some of those pesky spambots.

I'm curious if anyone else is unable to login and be "anonymous." I can no longer do that (not sure why), but see that it says right now that there are:

14 guests, 37 members, 2 anonymous members

Is anonymous now exclusively for mods only? Again, just wondering.

You need to type in guest instead of your username, then click log in, it will take you to the page where you can click on "Don't add me to the active userlist" with your username and you will show up as anonymous.