I realise that you are very upset about this issue Max, and I would accept virtually ANY ruling that would keep the "Cat" alive. However, there may be some consequences of instigating too draconian restrictions on guests.

Someone has already mentioned the Lyric and Music required threads. Restricting a guest from replying to these, might mean that a valuable response never gets posted - after all they would be required to join up to do a "catter" a service. How about allowing guests to reply to these postings, but limiting the number of guest postings in such threads to a specific number. If the answer hasn't been received in the first 10 or so postings it's not usually found. It's at that point that the thread is in danger of getting hijacked.

The idea of recording IP addresses, could pose problems for users like me who do a lot of their postings from a workplace network where IP addresses change all the time.
I also access the "Cat" from a desktop at home, a laptop, and my PDA - so this could cause me problems.

I used the "Cat" for several years as a guest (I used my e-mail address) and probably would not have become a member otherwise. I wonder how many prospective members would be deterred if they didn't have a chance to find their feet as a guest.