WE Branch Fanatic
1. If they are guests online, can they read threads?
Yes.
2. Is it purely numbers that decide whether guests (ie first come first served until a limit is reached) can view PPRuNe, or are certain ISPs banned?
It used to be the case that logged-in members had a priority for server time once a certain threshold of activity was reached, but since the site upgrade earlier this year, these limits have never been reached, as far as I know.
Apart from the AOL issue noted in the announcement, no other ISPs have ever been banned. Certain IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses may be blocked from time to time as necessary to prevent abuse of or attacks on the site.
3. Can someone following a link to PPRuNe read posts?
Yes, subject to above.
4. Are these current restrictions temporary or permanent?
Temporary, but don't hold your breath!
There has been some confusion about forced login, and an inability to view the forum as a guest.
This has been implemented as a simple security measure. It works like this - when you log in to PPRuNe, the IP address that you are connecting from is logged. When this IP address next connects, the PPRuNe server will only allow a valid login to view the forum, and a guest will not be permitted.
So if an IP address has never had a valid login made from it, then a guest connection can be made from that IP address - until a login is completed, at which point it will no longer be possible to login as a guest from that computer.
I hope this explains things.
SD