[RFC] Require forum guests to enter their name or nickname

[tomer]

I'm running a phpbb installation for quite a long time. We leave it open for guests and want to keep it that way, as there are people who come to ask one-time question, and won't invest enough time to register to our forum.

Some of them are forget to keep the username field, or even prefer to stay anonymous, but we can't handle long threads with few anonymous users, and are unable to distinguish between them. We have implemented a small JavaScript to block users from submitting messages without typing name in the username field, and even save it to the user cookies in order to make sure the user will have his name written next time he want to post something.

We could implement it as a PHP script, but this will require us to dig into the application code, and we prefer not to place patches/mods inside, as this make it more difficult to deal with application updates. We would be very happy if this could come with phpbb itself, so others will be able to use this feature without installing 3rd party scripts, and this won't be as easy to bypass as it is currently is, as with JavaScript disabled, we are not blocking users from submitting messages.


I can provide our current JavaScript solution in case you want to see how we done it.

[callumacrae]

This would be better as a MOD, I don't think many people would want it.

~Callum

[GravityDK]

If you're going to have the feature to allow guest posting in phpBB, why not do it properly to require an avatar/nickname for that guest?
It makes a lot of sense.

[bonelifer]

If you're going to have the feature to allow guest posting in phpBB, why not do it properly to require an avatar/nickname for that guest?
It makes a lot of sense.

A good idea would be have a default avatar but if the users email address(I think they should have to include one, not displayed) is associated with a Gravatar then display their gravatar.

[tomer]

If you're going to have the feature to allow guest posting in phpBB, why not do it properly to require an avatar/nickname for that guest?

gravatar require users to enter their email address, thus they won't be anonymous any more and it is the same as requiring them to register. On the other hand, requiring users to type something in the name field will help others to distinguish between few anonymous persons who doesn't type their names.

[GravityDK]

Agreed. I did not mean to confuse avatar with nickname. They are different.

[keith10456]

If you're going to require guests to enter their name or nickname you might was well enforce the registration.

[Sylver Cheetah 53]

I am searching for this. I need it badly.
How to require guest to enter a name?
My forum version is 3.0.14.
Please...

[DavidIQ]

Resurrected an 11 year old topic to ask about a feature for a phpBB version that is not supported anymore. Ticked all the boxes!