The Lounge not available to non-members
 

IBJoel it appears The Lounge section now requires membership to view. Is this intentional or hopefully just one of the several hiccups expressed recently? I have some friends & family who follow the music posts that can no longer view them.

Must now be a member to see the Lounge. This is something recently installed across all forums owned by IB.

If that's the policy, obv we have to accept it. But does not seem fair IMO.

I don't mind - the lounge is strictly a social place for members. Wanna lurk in Foo? Sign up. I think it's free.

I'm just wondering what the problem would be. They can't post anything so no spam or bot concerns. I always thought the more clicks the better for advertising revenue. One of the most frequented threads on BF is the funny gif thread, and I imagine there are / were non members who checked in from time to time. My music posts averaged 150 - 200 views weekly, now barely in the teens :(

It's not members/non-members that are the issue, it's Google. They recently updated their algorithm to de-prioritize sites with off-topic information publicly available.

If you are logged in, you should be able to see it.

If it’s important enough, or enjoyable enough, lurkers should just sign up as members. Nobody is requiring paid membership at this time. *shrug*

Google algorithm – It would seem to me that this algorithm needs to be reviewed every once-in-awhile.

For instance, the music posting is YouTube sourced.

The position: algorithm to de-prioritize sites with off-topic information publicly available.

The comment: I would think that each and every time an artist allows You Tube to put the music online, perhaps You Tube may get some kind of “compensation” for doing it. Advertisers with their 30 second banners already step in. Maybe these payments trickle down to the artists themselves, even a small sliver. Internet Brands, the owner of bike forums should get in on these payments, even if its small, at least it’s something. Wouldn’t this be a win-win?