I was thinking about this recently on the subject of new users. Unless it changed since I joined, in order to become a member the Admin has to verify your account and activate it before you can use it.

This isn't meant as a knock against Terra since she, like everyone else, no doubt has more important things to be doing, but when I joined I had alot of difficulty getting my account activated. I signed up and waited a couple weeks with no activation, then sent several messages to the email that was provided for about a month on and off and finnaly gave up, untill several months later when I contacted Tidus on another forum and he sent a PM on my behalf. It occured to me that this system seems kind of unnecessary, and could possibly hamper new users joining. Since only the Admin can verify an account that means there's only one person having to deal with it as well.

If the forum was getting alot of spam than I could see why it would be setup this way, but there are other methods to deter Spambots, and it's not like this is a prime location for advertising given the traffic we get.

It is to deter spam, yes, but not the automated kind. For whatever reason, this forum has at different times become a target of malicious spam attacks by certain individuals, and the current verification requirement deters late-night spam sessions intended to make the board unusable through mass posting of porn and page-stretching images.

It would be better if we could approve accounts more quickly, but terra has a busy life.

Is there any way to share the responsibility of approving new users?

[quote="Jomei"]It is to deter spam, yes, but not the automated kind. For whatever reason, this forum has at different times become a target of malicious spam attacks by certain individuals, and the current verification requirement deters late-night spam sessions intended to make the board unusable through mass posting of porn and page-stretching images.

It would be better if we could approve accounts more quickly, but terra has a busy life.[/quote]

Thos long penis chicks still make me laugh

I remember when I was first going to create an account. I couldn't do it cuz the registration process was broken. When ever I was finishing registering, I was given an error code. Eventually, I was able to create metal2hedgehog. When I was ban, I remember wanting to create another account, but I was never verified Then, I waited it out, made a new email and a new acount and here I am.

The system has at least been fixed to a point now.

[quote="A.Fish"]Is there any way to share the responsibility of approving new users?[/quote]

That's what I was thinking. If Moderators could also verify accounts that would be a much more solid system, since we have a few mods who are all regulars.

Agreed. Mare is here often. Jomei is here often. But terra is here once in a while...

Mare should be the Admin of this place. I mean, he has contributed a heeps ton of stuff and is doing a huge report on the pillows. I vote Sheer for mod, and Mare for Admin.

Mare doesn't pay the bills.

The administrator we already have is sufficiently lovely and we appreciate everything that she does here, so we're going to keep her. You, on the other hand...

[quote="sheerheartattack"]Mare doesn't pay the bills.

The administrator we already have is sufficiently lovely and we appreciate everything that she does here, so we're going to keep her. You, on the other hand...[/quote]


You're such a kiss ass. Quote by terra, special message after reaching 1500 is terra. I wonder if mare would be willing to pay for the bills.

Some life advice for you: That person who pays the bills? Be nice to him or her.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]Mare doesn't pay the bills.

The administrator we already have is sufficiently lovely and we appreciate everything that she does here, so we're going to keep her. You, on the other hand...[/quote]

Additionally, I would never be reliable for maintaining and updating the general site. Terra is a fantastic admin, and while it would be fun to have her around a little more, I think things are fine as they are.

lol @ metal voting to oust terra

Oh boy, that shiny new perma-ban has your name on it, son.

Sadly maybe 1 in 6 or less new registered users is a legit account, the rest tend to be Russian spammers. The CAPTCHA thing only helps so much. The alternative is to clean up the spam afterward. :/

I was pretty slack for a while, but I've actually been keeping up better with the new accounts. There really just haven't been that many new legitimate appearing accounts. Or... there are tons and tons of fans from Russia with gibberish for names. >.>

Can't read Cyrillic?

I don't believe they can register names in Cyrillic. ;p

And yes, I wouldn't have believed that this little forum would get so many random spammers, but it does. Surely not as many as a bigger site, but more than I would have expected - there's pretty much been a trickle of spammer registrations, and then every so often there's a little wave of them. However, I do believe the malicious individuals Jomei mentioned aren't as much of a problem anymore. There may be new solutions for phpBB for deterring spammers by now, or there may be a way for me to grant approval privileges for mods without granting them full admin privs. But I most likely won't have a chance to look into it until next month (I've been extra busy for the last couple months, this month is even worse, but it will all be done after this month).

And Spike, I do apologize for it being a pain to get your account activated.