How about a "Ruined Threads" board?

[mrsman]

OT and Sports are visible to guests... Mass Transit isn't, though.

Guests also have access to a special forum us members don't.

This is true.  In our house I usually use one computer and my wife uses the other.  Once, she had used my computer (because it was faster) and so I used her computer to access AAROADS.  I didn't realize that I wasn't logged in (since I have the setting on automatic log-in on the other computer) and I noticed a whole forum for people who were having problems on logging in and getting membership accounts.  It's a good thing to have such a forum and wise to close it to members who have no real need to access it, once they've been accepted.

[hotdogPi]

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

In very old (2009) threads, you will occasionally see ComputerGuy post, who is labeled as a guest.

[Takumi]

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.

One FritzOwl is more than enough.

[vdeane]

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

In very old (2009) threads, you will occasionally see ComputerGuy post, who is labeled as a guest.

Also he who must not be named.  I think it has something to do with being banned or having one's account deleted.  As far as I know, guests can only post in Registration Problems.

[Brandon]

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

In very old (2009) threads, you will occasionally see ComputerGuy post, who is labeled as a guest.

Also he who must not be named.  I think it has something to do with being banned or having one's account deleted.  As far as I know, guests can only post in Registration Problems.

Since when did Voldemort try to get an account? 

[Scott5114]

Guests can't view Fictional Highways. This is by design, so as to not attract users who show up only to post fictional highways scenarios and never contribute anything of substance on actual topics.

This is very interesting and part of the reason why I eventually did join.  I was a lurker for quite some time and then all of a sudden I noticed that I could no longer access the Fictional board, but occasionally I would see a reference for some topics that a mod had moved to the Fictional Highways thread and then discovered that it still existed, and if I wanted to view it, I would have to eventually join, and once I joined I would eventually have to comment.

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

It is because we don't want people to lurk, read the fictional board, and then decide to join solely to participate in the fictional board. Instead, we want people to join because they see discussions they want to participate in on the other boards, and then when they join get the added bonus of having a fictional board they can explore.

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

In very old (2009) threads, you will occasionally see ComputerGuy post, who is labeled as a guest.

Also he who must not be named.  I think it has something to do with being banned or having one's account deleted.  As far as I know, guests can only post in Registration Problems.

This is correct. When a user account is deleted, the SMF changes all posts with that user ID number to be associated with user ID zero, which is displayed as a guest. The user name is stored separately from the ID number, so the old username still appears on the guest posts. This is why we don't allow users to delete their own accounts; if someone changes their mind, a SQL query has to be performed if we want to re-assign those posts to a user account. (ComputerGuy has come back as "Bruce", I believe, so someone really should reassociate those posts with his new account, but it's a pain in the ass and manual SQL queries can royally screw the board if done incorrectly, so nobody has done it.)

[agentsteel53]

Since when did Voldemort try to get an account? 

he actually helped put the forum together in the very beginning.

[Alex]

I still don't know why guests could not access the Fictional Highways.  Could guests ever post anywhere?

In very old (2009) threads, you will occasionally see ComputerGuy post, who is labeled as a guest.

ComputerGuy and Real Life Guitar Hero were accounts that were deleted during the forum reboot of May/June 2009. Any others you see deleted were members that no longer wanted to partake in the forum and deleted their own accounts.

FWIW, ComputerGuy is back on the forum, but under a different account and as a much better member of the board. I could reassociate his old posts with his new ones, but don't think he cares.