Me again with another question

[geti-titanium]

Most don't actually seem to bother to say hello anyway I think lots register in the hope of winning some fabulous prize.

The vast majority of registrations will be spam bots - automated programs that search out forums to register on and place links to other sites.

[amazingbabe]

I am totally with you on that one George ....

[agent_44]

God, yes, I agree!

[EmmaRose]

Membership cull please! LOL
I agree should be membership only. Someone flag the admin??
Em
(off to find how to set my profile to members only)

[Emerald]

but anyone can register they dont need to post, so then anyone can see everything so who are you....... who am i, once we register we can see everything, its then up to us wether we post or just look at whats going on and members etc

[Emerald]

there are as many members on at the moment as guests all but one

[mizgeorge]

I know Jo, but at least they've got an email address and visible (well to admin anyway) ip address, and can be moderated or removed if admin chooses to do so.

Personally, I would remove all registrations from people who never re-visit the forum (and are likely to be bots or spammers anyway) after 30 days. We do this on one of the boards I admin (a travel one), and in two years have only once deleted a 'real' user by mistake. It's not hard to re-register anyway.

I think there are some implications which people who have included contact information (msn, icq, skype etc) might want to think about though.

[Sunnybank]

You have to go into a public forum assuming that they are public.

This one like many others has come down ten or so people who frequently post, some of them one line responses "I agree", "don't know, but Ben will", which don't really add an aweful lot, except to build up forum relationships. Some of the posts read a bit more like Facebook that a public forum.


There is then usually a small group of forumites who post less regularly, but are all good quality useful and informative posts. These people are also "in" because they post enough and provide good technical information.


Next are the members like me who occasionally post when they have something to say or ask about, who are a bit intimidated by the intimacy of the core group of ten or so. With the odd exception most of the regulars appear to be professionals rather than hobbyists, note the websites and business talk.

The final group of members are those that joined for whatever reason and have posted once or not at all. Having had a look down the membership list many of these people haven't signed on since they joined.

Finally there are the guests, who, since it is a public forum are perfectly at liberty to visit the forum. I do think though that "Off the subject" should be members only.

I know that none of you intend it, but it is a bit intimidating to post when I only do so occasionally, I find many posts informative, I've tried the boiled egg to oxidise and am very pleased with the result and often follow links, but I have nothing to say that I consider worthwhile. I'm wondering if I'm a lurker for doing this.

I would really like to enter into the secret santa, but it comes over a bit as a very select group that has signed up so far and like Su I'm not sure if my skills are adequate.

Sorry I've gone on a bit, but basically don't put anything on the forum that you consider private.

[bustagasket]

I know what you mean about the board though. I fall into the spam and advice category. But I can be serious at times and even though a beginner even find I can give a bit of advice.

I am afraid i am purely spaam as i just dont feel qualified to offer the faintest bit of advice, but if i am honest, i doubt that i ever will, for fear of being contradicted.

I have tried to tone down the number of posts i make as it appears to be a sore point. Trust me i am still here as much, i live on these boards, but i will now go to reply to a thread and then stop myself and erase the reply.

The boards have become somewhat intimidating to me, and so i have withdrawn a little.

Secret santa to me is terrifying, whilst there are a few people whose opinion i would appreciate on my stuff, i cannot handle tellings off in any shape or form, i just get myself in a state, i've just always been that way, i just try to keep everyone happy, its the way i was brought up.

I think there should be some differentiation on the boards for members and a regular inactivity check should be carried out. We cannot force people to post but the member list does need thinning occasionally to keep it up to date.

[dgrose]

Hi,
I've changed it so that only registered people who are logged in can see members profiles / who's online.
We already remove accounts that we definitely know as spammers.
Dave