How come we have to "log in"?

How come we have to "log in"? 2

I was just curious to know why you have to log in before you can read the posts? I liked it because I would read just a few posts and it would let me read them and when I punched in later it would still let me know which one's I hadn't read. Now, if I log on, it will only tell me which ones are new since I was on before. No big deal, just curious.

Hi Grgranny. In times of heavy use, Golden Skate's bandwidth gets used up pretty fast. Paula has just had to pay for increased bandwidth. If there are too many users at the same time the system will slow down and users will encounter various problems.

Paula is determined to keep all of the services of Golden Skate free to all members. Unlike many other boards, Paula does not solicit or accept donations. So during peak times, like when important events are going on, we have to restrict the board to registered members. So this is why you have to log on every time.

Of course, registration is still free to all. In fact, restricting the board on a temporary basis to registered members has the advantage that it forces long-time lurkers (who are very welcome, of course!) to register. Then once they are registered, a lot of them figure, well, I went to the trouble of registering, now I might as well post. This is part of the reason that we are seeing a number of new posters lately -- so that's all to the good!

Mathman

Thanks Larry, just wondered.