Subscription site with a message board

What type of login would you prefer....

[Reflection]

Looking for some opinions on this...

If you payed a subscription for access to a website that has 'member only' content, would you want to use the same username and password for logging into the member only areas as you would for logging into the message board?

(Note: the message board has private forums that are allocated to discussing 'member content' that users have payed to access and it also has general discussion forums which guests can read but not post in)

At first I thought it makes more sense, and is more user friendly, to just have one login for the entire site. But then I started to wonder if users would prefer to have a different login for the message board. For instance maybe people do not want to use the login name, used for access to the 'payed content', as their username on the message board?

Thoughts?

Thanks

[RobbieD]

KISS (Keep it simple stupid)

Keep the same login info...Makes it easier and less confusion.

[HughMungus]

If the user login is tied to anything having to do with money, no, I would not want my user login and my message board login to be the same.

[eWhisper]

I think you'll find people who want both solutions. Seems adding a checkbox to the signup page that if someone wants to use the same username for both they can just check a box and continue, and if someone doesn't then they can add thier new info.

[Reflection]

Thanks for the input.

If the user login is tied to anything having to do with money, no, I would not want my user login and my message board login to be the same.

Im starting to think that as well. One of the problems I have is that the message board database is entirely seperate(and is a different system) from our membership database. Tying the two together is a bit of a pain and not really necessary if user's dont want their message board id connected to their membership login. Not having the systems connected also has the added benefit of being able to use all the features of the board software, ie: password retrieval. The downside to that is of course that users would have to use two different logins, one for the membership areas of the site and one for the message board.

Any other opinions?

Thanks

[sonjay]

I'd want to use the same login -- there are a couple of sites that I visit where I do exactly that, a paid area with message board for members only, and a free message board for anyone. I use the same login for both.

I think lots and lots of people are suffering from username/password overload -- I have literally dozens upon dozens of username/password combos that I have to remember. I don't want to have to remember two different ones for the same site!

Plus I really don't want someone else to come along and start using my paid-area login name on the free message board section, or vice versa. People's online identities matter.

Ideally, if resources allow, I'd say offer users a choice to use the same login in both areas if they want to. Really ideally, if they don't use the same login, then flag their username in the other area so that someone else can't come along and use it.

[HughMungus]

The downside to that is of course that users would have to use two different logins, one for the membership areas of the site and one for the message board.

No, they don't. They can use the same info for both. They just have to *register* twice, not just once. Not a big deal (especially if you explain the reason they are separate).

[MatthewHSE]

Having been down the road of having more than one login for the same site, I have to say it's not a good move (at least it wasn't for my visitors). It's just too confusing; too much to remember.

I'm much happier (and so are my users) now that I've changed my site to have only one set of login info per user.