Require registration to ask a Question

Question

Ok, since people are doing a fuss about rejecting seemsly invalid edits and other quirks, I'm suggesting this again. Why? Because each time we do a fuss about something or other that could be solved implementing this.

Pros:

• No more brain racking each time an anonymous user suggests an edit that adds substantially more information to a question. (Remember: Ubuntu can be boot in a live session, if the user reboots its system the cookie it's lost forever)
• Will stop some drive-by users from posting crappy questions. (Remember: users seeking for help will found it one way or other, as long as they allow to be helped)
• Security that when we comment a post, OP will be able to answer back.

(Possible) Cons (or more like, answering another answer):

It is a boon to Ubuntu users that they do not then have to go through a registration process to get help. It's a strong message that the Ubuntu community wants to make getting help and using Ubuntu as easy as possible.

• Easy, yes. But, for whom? Ubuntu Forums, Freenode #ubuntu, ubuntu-users mailing list, Launchpad, etc. requires registration before using any of those services. Ask Ubuntu as another support channel should do the same.

Furthermore, Ubuntu is supposed to be an operating system for everyone. Even people who aren't Internet-savvy and might have problems even registering an account. Where are they supposed to go for help then?

• Again, but then we have to deal with all the crap that nobody else takes, drive-by users that just ask an unanswerable question, and stuff. I swear I can register any account on SE with just 5 clicks, at worse. If someone needs more than that, maybe they shouldn't be using a computer, really.

So should we change this policy? Should we require everyone to register before posting questions (and answers)? Well, if the current way is not achieving the goal of helping people, then we should. If not requiring registration is actually making it harder for most newcomers to use the site to get help, then we should change this policy and require registration.

Exactly my point. Apparently the users that upvoted this response to my answer didn't notice this, as my petition had negative score for some reason. If for us answerers (aka the blood and soul of any SE site) is difficult to answer questions since OP get lost in the limbo, we of course should do something... ANYTHING to fix it.

this isn't enough of a problem for me to worry about it. I generally send emails via the form to the SE team, and they just handle the merge. Generally, one of the accounts has an actual login. – jrg♦ Sep 1 at 21:21

Users shouldn't waste time just to fix some account quirk. Humans should only worry about asking/answering questions. If humans has to take time to fix the system, then the system is borked.

But I am concerned at the attitude that we should change the policy because it bothers us. This is a minor annoyance.

It shouldn't annoy us. The system should only facilitate us to help others. If we feel annoyed with the system, then we are failing at AX (Answerer Experience). Answerers shouldn't feel that they have to meddle with the system to offer help. The help page doesn't say that answerers have to deal with this. Ask Ubuntu should protect answerers. They aren't that many, and AU needs them.

Answer 1

Due to the amount of spam we were getting the SE team has enabled required registration to ask a question. This does not, however, affect answers.

(It's actually been enabled for a bit now, a month and a half I think?)

Answer 2

None of your points are fixed by requiring registration.

• No more brain racking each time [an anonymous user suggests an edit][1] that adds substantially more information to a question. (Remember: Ubuntu can be boot in a live session, if the user reboots its system the cookie it's lost forever)

This is not a HUGE problem, it's something that occurs from time to time but it's by no means a show stopper. The same problem applies when people create multiple accounts. User creates an account, then comes back after cookies are gone and logs in with Google instead of Yahoo! (for example). Now they have a new account and submit an edit. It'll likely be rejected, since it's not the same user.

• Will stop some drive-by users from posting crappy questions. (Remember: users seeking for help will found it one way or other, as long as they allow to be helped)

This is a weak argument. People will frantically create an account just to get their question posted, then what? They drove by. We don't send them emails unless they explicitly request it. So we have the same situation.

• Security that when we comment a post, OP will be able to answer back.

Again, we don't email or contact users unless they enable email contact for watching threads. This also wouldn't happened unless they were logged in AND visited the site again AND knew what the number in the StackExchange SuperCollider (TM) was.

We're all all inclusive site. That comes with some downsides which you've highlighted. Yes, there is a bit more work for reviews but look at it as an opportunity to rise in the ranks of the site and not as a laborious chore, or massive issue, which must be stomached.

Answer 3

Just wanted to chime in as a long term user and "answerer".

The problem you're describing isn't new but I don't think it's a significant problem... And even if it were, restricting input doesn't fix the retention issues.

A barrier to entry just means fewer entries. That we can have anonymous contributors is one of the major Stack Exchange features. It allows anybody to get their feet wet. That's how we get contributions.

We aren't the only venue with that mentality; ##ubuntu does not require registration.

And finally, as somebody who has been an answerer to the tune of 80k here and 135k network-wide, my help here has never been dependant on people voting for my questions... Which is good because I have (literally) hundreds of ±0-scored answers. And registration won't help... I just checked five random answers in that group and only one was an unregistered account but that answer was accepted!

I know a sample of one isn't very representative but I think you're jumping to a conclusion and trying to solve it with a method that is shown not to improve the thing you're worried about and harms another important metric to us.

Answer 4

No no no for compulsory registration. As one person said, the fact that non-registered users of Ubuntu can ask questions encourage them to do so, simply because registering on a site is cumbersome for most, takes time, have a slight learning curve (Really! I only found out what StackExhange was the day of my registration) especially on this site where so much knowledge is shared.

So instead of making registration compulsory before an Ubuntu-user (or anybody for that matter) can ask a question, the site itself should just place more emphasis on encouraging people to register. Offer them a free ebook ('101 Exciting Things you can do with Linux', for example. Somebody, start writing!) and mention free badges (I love my first badge, by the way) that encourage returning visits.

Non-registered users tend to post more 'bad' questions (no tags, not clearly asked, etc.) unlike registered members who put in some effort and several minutes per question. But that can be largely eliminated by adding a colourful 'helpful hint for posting' next to a person's typing block while he is busy typing his question.