Then they could join the club if they really want to use the search feature.

Or they could simply submit it as an unknown chip (like they would if they searched for it and didn't find it).

I understand your point. I also think it's a fairly rare situation.

The purpose of my post wasn't to justify the change; it was to clarify what was actually happening.

I have seen a lot of posts where people broadly say "you will have to log in to use the ChipGuide" and it's simply not true.