[Fauqs]

I would advise against this, no matter if it would "stimulate" forum participation or not.

I've been in other forums with similar concepts...

You had to have over 100 posts to be able to view content in a section of the forums, so people would just post trivial responses in EVERY SINGLE THREAD in order to achieve 100 posts.

What we have now works. It shouldn't matter if someone just reads threads instead of posting in them.

Maybe they have nothing to add to the thread? I know I did the same thing until I decided I had something to add on several different topics being discussed.

It also helps with the type of members registering on the forums as well. They people who go through the process usually do it so they can provide input on a current topic.

Rarely will people go through registering just to say "Yeah, I agree."

Just my opinion.