required registrations should help to filter out spammers, testers, and kids.

Question

I have question and suggestion to question2answer.org.

Suggestion: every 1-2 days i see test, junk questions asked by anonymous. Maybe it's time to set required registration to post anything so it would be less those who have nothing to do but ask quick questions ?

I think registration will filter those who really needs help.

Question: In my site is registration is not required to post posts and at some point it's good, but in another hand lots of people posting innapropiate questions/answers thinking that they really anonymous with no chance to be banned. Will swithing to required registration will not stop lot activity ?

Sorry for poor english language and thanks for thoughts :)

Answer 1

I've tried it several ways and IMO it depends on the type of Q/A community
you want to build:

• if you want a  consumer oriented help site where users come just to ask one or two quick questions about your product or serice..  anonymous posts with capcha can be good because they are the least "friction" for users.. large horizontal ( many topic) Q/A sites seem to take this approach more
   
• if you want to build a solid professional "community of practice" or a vertical industry site..  it might be better to require login for posts.. which doesn't mean users can't be anonymous ( they can use nickname of course)  but it encourages users who care about the community.. ie, its a sort of filter 
   
• for a real sense of focused, closed community , or sensitive content..  there is the possibility of a required login for both viewing and posting content..  !?

anyway that's my two cents.. others may have different experiences.. 

P.S.  Quora is an interesting case where they are very horizontal ( post about virtually anything)   but they encourage registration.. to the point where you see this when you go to home page.. ( which doesn't seem to hurt their explosive growth) 

Comments

Thanks for helping to decide. I will set registration to required.

However anonymous posting is good for starting sites i think.

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yes.. makes sense because a new site needs all the posting it can get !  even if that means a bit more care and feeding ( ie.. use the admin/email setting to moderate all posts )