And a splash page or not??

I have been on the fence about this for a while, im a firm believer in you have like 5 to 10 seconds to get someone who is visiting your sites interest before they click out and leave. now here are my thought on good and bad with using a slash screen which requires a join to view site content

the good

lower server load with mass index page hits, due to a simple page being loaded

cleaner look with less clutter

fast load times

adding privacy to the site

lets the site look more "professional"

the bad

less stuff to grab someone interest at first site

people thinking "man i dont want to go through a long joining process just to find out i dont like it"

people thinking "it says joining is FREE, but nothing is ever FREE"

people leaving before they see all the options your site has to offer

.. just trying to get other people views on this thought

Splash page

If a splash page is not to busy and has the right content including site pics or promo video on it you catch them.

Keep it simple and clean.

To much info makes people wanna skip...

Ideas: proper site logo, what you offer, join / signup buttons or forms , nice layout

I say : Splash page = YES

Good luck

Splash page are yes from me also. I have created few myself and i optimize it too much as its the first thing anybody will see so it should be fast for better user experience. Last one that i created got 95 in google page speed anything that was left was all in low priority. Well it has videos and analytics in it so i can't do much about them. But still its good and having a video on page at least engage some users for sometime. I have an advise if you want to put the signup form on page make it multipage if its long because some user will run away as soon they see the signup form  

My 2 cents...... I NEVER join a ANY site with a splash page unless I know exactly what I am getting.  Examples of these are FB, TWITTER, LINKEDIN.... or... any site that I KNOW I NEED to promote my own site such as DIGG or REDIT.

I would be VERY interested to know the difference in sign up rate between sites with a splash page and a non splash page. It is a subject I often think about...

Personally I would never have the delusion of grandure to have a splash page on any of my sites until they reach the point of critical mass - where they self prophogate and no longer require promotion to make them roll.

This is just an oppinion though. I have joined some dolphin sites from splash screens because the site owners have requested an oppinion, and the content and concept is often awfull and does not live up to the hype of the splash page....