Ok, here's a specific question I've been mulling over for a little while. We're launching our college in about 10 days and have been discussing the best way for prospective students to try out the system.

We have limited server resources (limited as in we probably shouldn't let in more than 1000 guests at once until we know our true capacity) but want to show the system off to as many people as possible. Questions we need to answer:

Should we require any personal information in order to try the system? If so, should we verify that information before signing in.

If we don't collect personal information up front, is it worth bugging them when their session is over to be put on a mailing list?

How should we handle limiting simultaneous users? Options:

1. Allow unlimited user signups but only allow logon if total active sessions less than our max.

2. Only allow signups if there is space in the system, logon is immediate.

3. No signup at all, just rotate through a fixed number of guest accounts for preview. If full, no entry allowed, but can be put on mailing list when slot opens up.

4. ?????

5. Profit?

Our target audience is proficient programmers and our primary system focus is speed, simplicity and usability.

Any input is very appreciated.