New Member Registration Request...

[Bob Schroeck]

... You know, before moving to my own platform here, I never appreciated how much work ezBoard and Yuku did in keeping random spammers out of the boards.  Now I've got more than a few things in place to do the same, but every once in a while someone gets to the approval stage and I just can't be sure.  Iii was one, and at the same time (s)he asked to join the board, we had a couple others who either were spammers or didn't care to reply to my "just say hi back to me and I'll approve you" emails.

We've got another one.  I've already dispatched the "Hi!  Where'd you hear about my board?" message, but if they're a real person maybe someone here will recognize them and save us a little time:

"tina10", with an email address that starts with "sarachauhan" at gmail, and an IP address in Pakistan.

Does that ring a bell for anyone?

[Bob Schroeck]

Two days and no email, and no return to see if they got approved. I'm calling this one a spammer.

[robkelk]

Unfortunately, we have to assume random requesters are spammers nowadays. I have the freebie wiki set up so that one has to have a confirmed account in order to post links or make new pages, I have a sitenotice up saying as much (the sitenotice changes once one is logged in), and the new user welcome message also says as much. (And Miraheze is already blocking known-spammer IP ranges.) Less than 10% of new accounts are followed up with a request to confirm the account.

So, yeah - assume the worst.

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm going to make it a regular part of the reg process to send an email to the applicant (as I have been), asking what work or venue pointed them at the board on the assumption that only real users will even reply, let alone have a good answer.

And I use a SpamGourmet address for my admin email here, so doing so doesn't expose my real email address directly to a potential spammer.

[Bob Schroeck]

We seem to have entered a new spammer season; the last few days I've regularly seen 10 or more guests on the board and many of them pinged on StopForumSpam's IPcheck as known spammers.

I worry a bit because it's inevitable that a few will get past the security questions by chance. I have someone in the queue this morning who got to the "new user notification" stage; he passed a basic Google check, and I've sent the "hi! please reply!" email and am waiting for them to reply, but he's got such a tiny online profile I don't know whether to expect him to be a spammer or to be genuine.

On the subject of online profiles... A couple days ago I skipped the email and approved a new user -- "aku" -- whom Google revealed to be a relatively prominent programmer, Andreas Kupries. But I'm getting a little concerned since he's made several visits since I approved him but has yet to post or respond to anything. There's nothing wrong with lurking, but I get a little paranoid. I suppose I should run up a "welcome" message and see if he replies.

EDIT: And I just realized that the board automatically announces our "new user" regardless of whether he's been approved or not. I think I might bring that up at the MyBB site as a bit of a bug.

[aku]

On the subject of online profiles... A couple days ago I skipped the email and approved a new user -- "aku" -- whom Google revealed  to be a relatively prominent programmer, Andreas Kupries.  But I'm getting a little concerned since he's made several visits since I approved him but has yet to post or respond to anything.  There's nothing wrong with lurking, but I get a little paranoid.  I suppose I should run up a "welcome" message and see if he replies.

First, thank you for approving.
Yeah, I am mostly a lurker, not saying much.
Sporadically I post on CaerAzkaban.
One post to my name on SV.

And `relatively prominent programmer` ... Huh.

The big reason to register was quite profane.
I cannot stand reading white text on black background. Need black on white.
To change the theme however I have to be a member.

[Morganite]

That's odd, you shouldn't need to register to change themes...

Well, there seem to be a couple catches though. One, unregistered users start in SanFelix, but the on-page switcher thinks you're in "Default", so if you want to use "Default", you have to switch to something else and then switch back.

And if you're so foolish as to switch to Simple, it does not seem to have an on-page switcher, so as far as I can tell you really are stuck without logging in there.

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

And `relatively prominent programmer` ... Huh.

Well, when I searched on you and found a few dozen projects on github, plus blogs and your name mentioned as part of various IT conferences. Plus there was the fact that I recognized your name, although I couldn't remember from where. I suppose it was Caer Azkaban and not professional journals, come to that -- but I figured I'd err on the side of not insulting you.

Regardless, though, welcome to the forums, and if it is your preference to lurk, then by all means do so. Don't let my spammer paranoia obligate you in any way.

And if you're so foolish as to switch to Simple, it does not seem to have an on-page switcher,

There is a way to switch out of Simple, but I can never remember what it is and have to go searching for it every time I need to go into Simple and come back out.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, and back on the greater topic at hand, Thursday morning's applicant for membership has not yet replied, so I'm assuming he's a spammer.

[Inquisitive Raven]

There is a way to switch out of Simple, but I can never remember what it is and have to go searching for it every time I need to go into Simple and come back out.

You have to do it from the User Control Panel. It's under "Edit Options," which is why you need to be a forum member to change it out of Simple.

[aku]

That's odd, you shouldn't need to register to change themes...

I might have been mistaken. In the end it was simply the last push I needed after being a read-only person for the last ... decade, I think, possibly longer.

---

And `relatively prominent programmer` ... Huh.

Well, when I searched on you and found a few dozen projects on github, plus blogs and your name mentioned as part of various IT conferences

True. Mainly Tcl conferences. And my name is unique enough to actually lend itself to googling.

Plus there was the fact that I recognized your name, although I couldn't remember from where.
I suppose it was Caer Azkaban and not professional journals, come to that -- but I figured I'd err on the side of not insulting you.

I am fairly sure that I sent mail directly to you in the past, although I do not remember anymore what the topics were. Maybe some sort of general FYI on something I thought might interest you.

Regardless, though, welcome to the forums, and if it is your preference to lurk, then by all means do so.  Don't let my spammer paranoia obligate you in any way.

Thank you and happy to be here.

[Bob Schroeck]

There is a way to switch out of Simple, but I can never remember what it is and have to go searching for it every time I need to go into Simple and come back out.

You have to do it from the User Control Panel. It's under "Edit Options," which is why you need to be a forum member to change it out of Simple.

That is indeed the method I was struggling to remember.

[Bob Schroeck]

I am fairly sure that I sent mail directly to you in the past, although I do not remember anymore what the topics were. Maybe some sort of general FYI on something I thought might interest you.

I can't find anything in my archives, which go back to 2001 or so, but I don't keep everything, so I suppose it's still reasonable that I might have remembered you from past emails

Regardless, though, welcome to the forums, and if it is your preference to lurk, then by all means do so.  Don't let my spammer paranoia obligate you in any way.

Thank you and happy to be here.

You're very welcome!

[Bob Schroeck]

15 Guests, and 2/3 of them were registering or looking at the No Permissions page. Want to guess how many were from known spammers IPs? <sigh>

[Bob Schroeck]

Holy cow, 38 guests right now. What, did we make some kind of spammer newsletter?

[Bob Schroeck]

<snort> 15 guests. Seven on the "No permissions" page. Two registering. Two logging in. No new member notifications for me.