MMario,

Scroll up in this thread, and you will see a number of anonymous guests and guests with handles complaining of being treated badly. Kjell said he/she felt invisible when posting as GUEST Kjell. Many people who are newcomers to the forum quickly realize that they will be treated badly if they don't become members. If you post something of interest as a guest, some member comes in and says "why don't you join"? If you announce yourself as a newcomer, posting as guest, someone inevitably says "why don't you join"? Then, if you decline, you get treated badly.

While some of this scrutiny of guests is well-intentioned, it isn't always well received. Many people are shy and don't want to be singled out that way for attention. Some of us don't want to join, because we've already joined about a million website discussion forums, only to find we rarely participate. Some of those website discussion forums flood your mailbox. And thank you, I know it is an option when joining Mudcat to be on a mailing list. Regulars need to understand that not everyone who comes here wants to be a regular. Not everyone who comes here regularly as a lurker and occassional poster, wants to be a member.

I think there is a lot of bigotry towards non-members here, just as some other guest users who posted previously to this thread have said.

If members choose not to believe that, and continue to harrass and intimidate guest users, this forum will,IMO, suffer in the long run. I feel it already has in the short run.

Your denial about the ways guests are being treated is the very attitude that causes some of us guests to feel like pariahs, to feel invisible, and as though we will never be treated well unless we join.

I don't think that is the way people who care deeply about Mudcat want to be seen. But in recent months, a number of different guests have said that is the way it is for them.

By denying their experience in Mudcat, just because it doesn't match your own, isn't fair to the newcomers.

Peace.