I can’t believe this was just turned on by default and can’t be turned off…
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How does it make even any logical sense? What about all the integrations with newsletter providers? What are they for if you are forced to use the membership feature?
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I agree it should be optional to turn on or off completely. Also to edit look and feel of the portal when it is turned on.
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I would really appreciate it, if you could update us on your thoughts on this feature, so that we know if it’s worth the wait or if we need to move on 
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Maybe I’m naive, but I remain cautiously optimistic. Based on the volume of feedback, and how regularly this still gets asked on the forums and elsewhere, it’s a common problem and a reasonable request.
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Who forces anyone to use the membership feature?
You can deactivate the portal button and use a theme that does not refer to “login” and “subscribe”. The underlying Portal is still “active” but is not easily accessible. It’s even less of a problem if you don’t enter a Mailgun API key in the settings!
That being said, I agree that it would be easier if it would possible to properly deactivate memberships, but I don’t see how anybody is forcing anyone to use it.
Well, to be fair, the user would have to opt-in using a theme that does not have this feature which in return might compromise the overall design of the site and what not. The only other option is to manually create a custom version of the theme you want to use and then maintain that theme yourself.
I use the membership feature / function, so for me it’s all good. That said, I fully understand the, in my opinion, fully reasonable request for a “on / off” toggle.
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I don’t always want members or I’m not ready to enable that feature and the ability to enable/disable a feature should core to any software product.
It seems so odd to me that not wanting a forced behavior is a surprise. Many people use ghost as a blogging platform. It doesn’t mean i want to distribute a newsletter or signups or any of that till I’m ready to enable that feature.
Having the simile way of enable/disable that feature lets me control the messaging I’m sending out. Free or otherwise turning off signs up should be incorporated so it’s as simple as a checkbox IMO.
Definitely want that feature personally.
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Adding a toggle button would be great for people (like me) who don’t live in area suported by third party companies used for membership to work in full capacity.
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There will be no toggle. Think of the 4.0 update. It introduced the dashboard, which (to also much critique) it’s totally focused on the membership feature. They don’t want to cater to simple blogs anymore. I think we have to accept that and move on. Maybe a fork could be a solution, but not the one I liked to see.
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The more critique different parts of the system gets, the more likely it is to change. It’s important to remember that we, the users, hold the power. If no one use it – then what? Are they going to make a system that without users?
There are, in all honestly, a lot of things missing that are so basic and yet, missing. Is it a good system? Yes, of course it is.
In my opinion, the admin / dev team need to take the criticism from the users a bit more serious. Yes, I get that they cannot make everything for everyone – but that’s not what this is about.
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I won’t lie, before this topic, I didn’t realise Ghost wasn’t GDPR compliant. That’s kind of big, for a CMS based on handling user data and memberships, don’t you think? Could we not address this ASAP? It’s literally the smallest addition. Maybe add a toggle in the dashboard to turn on the GDPR checkbox and handle some cookie stuff etc.
Also, sorry for sorta hijacking. I agree, with others. If you want to run Ghost, it’s a membership platform. If you want to run Ghost for anything else ie. corporate website or whatever, I think it’s still a good idea, because you can build your mailing list. Also, you don’t have to have members sign up.
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I don’t understand why the forum is still online, especially since the team’s participation is almost zero.
You have members, but you don’t have a comment system, where members can interact with you, with the article. Many visitors return to the site due to comments and discussions that form around the article.
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Agree
We’re here interacting with all the people who follow our code of conduct and understand open source etiquette. If you want support then we have the paid platform Ghost(Pro) where we have staff who are paid to respond to questions via email.
If by “interact” you mean making our free software do what your want, then again I point you to open source etiquette.
I will say though, given the tone on the forum recently and that we don’t have the staff nor the desire to police it, it is getting dangerously close to being shut down.
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