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Member registration change

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:16 am
by insitu_az
I turned the registration application on again that requires going through the little picture test before membership is validated. I don't really like it, but we had our first posting from a Russian spam bot today, and I would prefer to not deal with that kind of stuff.

I banned the user by name, and will see if that is enough to stop any re-visits to our site. I have a couple more ban methods available including email address and IP that are a bit more robust, but I will keep an eye on it for time being just to see how he responds.

- Guy

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 8:40 pm
by Vetteguy22
Thank you for keeping an eye out for this stuff. Really appreciate it.
Rob

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:16 pm
by insitu_az
I had to block the use of links and interactive content in the user signatures. It was being exploited for spam. Hope this doesn't impact our real members.
- Guy

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:42 am
by Turboman280
Looks like we got spammed hard!

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:34 pm
by insitu_az
So....
I have changed the new member sign up so that they must be approved by admin. It is kind of a hassle for everyone involved, but I think it will really cut down on posts promoting escort services, pornography, and drug sales. I will try to reply to them within 24 hours, but there is the possibility that something comes up that it will take longer (family emergency, etc.).

If you know of someone wanting to join the site who is having trouble getting approved, it will be my policy to not approve anyone with an email address in an eastern European or African country. Also having an email address that such as "getyourweedhere@hokeymail.com" is likely to be rejected. Other than that, I will approve them until they drop that first spam post.
- Guy

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 11:33 am
by insitu_az
I have shut down all new member registrations for a short time. We have been getting over 100 fake account registrations daily, and I need to find some way to slow them down. I will re-open registrations as soon as possible.

While I am working on this, if you know of someone who wants to join, let me know, and we will work something out.
- Guy

Re: Member registration change

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 12:59 pm
by insitu_az
Ok. The site appears to be stable after the outage, so I have turned the new user registrations back on. I have added a little item to the registration that requires the new user to indicate why they want to join the site. It seems that the spam bots have trouble with this, so we will see how that works out.

- Guy