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Membership House Cleaning

Started by Dennis Markham, August 22, 2010, 12:17:21 AM

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Dennis Markham

Earlier today the membership number hit 500.  It was what I refer to as a spammer.  Someone that joins simply to place an Ad in their profile, usually directing the viewer to an off-site sales pitch for on-line betting, drugs, whatever.  Lately I have been deleting them at the rate of 3-5 a day.  Many of their I.P.'s originate in Latvia, Taiwan, India, the UK, Russia and even the good old USA.  If I have any doubt, they stay.

Sometimes I'll click on an user name and then their I.P. only to discover they joined this forum using 3-5 different names.  The I.P.'s are all the same.  None of the deleted accounts ever posted.  But I realize we have members that do not post but are legitimate.  Another way I can tell if the user name is spam is by searching Google for a given name.  For example JoeBlow.  If I search JoeBlow (fictitious) and Google responds with a list of Forums where JoeBlow has joined but never posted, that is confirmation enough for me.  They're gone!  So I deleted about 75 accounts today.  There may be one or two or three remaining that are not legitimate but questionable.  That means for the most part we have about 425 legitimate members or real people that signed up that are interested in old telephones.

If you hear of anyone that I removed by accident please let me know and I'll release the ban on their I.P. address.  I made a list today of all of the names I deleted.

Here's an example of one user that was loged in numerous times:

Carolinecorts, AKA/gianfrancobertin, harrietpreston, johnshakaraz, carolinecorta, Janet Errol, pietershamari, PeterLeHureye, MarkyBowan

I spent the better part of four or five hours this morning working on this.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it from here on in.  I'm also looking at another way of screen members upon joining.

McHeath

Holy multiple personality Batman, someone had 9 separate personalities all interested in old phones!   ;)

LarryInMichigan

One might think that these people would have better things to do with their time ???

Larry

jiggerman

This is just my opinion but if someone hasn't logged in for a year they should be deleted. I think more than a few members have joined to get info for their ebay auctions and don't give a hoot about phones. These members will probably never return to the site anyway. At least this why we'll know how many legitimate members there are. Just my 2 cents, Jiggerman

Doug Rose

Jiggerman.... I know from experience on the TCI and ATCA lists, there was a huge group who just monitored the conversation. Some too afraid to appear ignorant and other who just like to learn from the postings. I agree with your premise, but there is another side. Myself, I think this Forum is an invaluable tool for knowledge and conversation. Show and tell is also very cool. It would be a shame if one person was turned away that shouldn't have been.

Dennis...I understand weeding out the spammers, but does it hurt in the least to have the others who might just be along for the ride? If it skews the figures of membership, is it really that important? Just me on my Sunday Morning Rant.....Doug
Kidphone

Dennis Markham

That's a good point Jiggerman.  I did delete some that had joined but never logged in since day one.  Most of those were in 2008 and 2009.  I didn't "ban" their I.P. address from returning, just deleted the account. They can re-join if they desire.  

People can browse without joining.  I see all the time where "guests" are printing topics, etc.  Some of the people that have joined but not posted are known phone collectors.  Most of them use their names or their name appears in the e-mail address and I recognize them from the TCI or ATCA.  I've got not problem with them doing that at all.  Maybe some day they'll decide to join in on the discussions.

I got rid of two more this morning that joined over night.  I don't know how those Forums with thousands of members keep up with it.  I guess the answer is that they don't.

Dennis Markham

Doug, I posted while you were posting.  I agree, no harm with people joining to watch, but they really don't need to do that.  They can read all the stuff without becoming a member.  I don't concern myself so much with how many members there are either.  It's just a rough idea of how many people we have attracted since we started this thing with just a handful of members.  I remember thinking 100 was a lot.

People don't seem to be logging in just to read as many of the zero posters haven't logged in since they joined.  You can read their profile and it shows "last active".  Their last active and join time are the same.  But they may view the forum without ever logging in....it's quicker and sometimes a hassle for people to remember passwords for everything they want to do. 

I do like to weed out those that make a user name just so they can post Ads for non-phone related stuff.

Doug Rose

Quote from: Dennis Markham on August 22, 2010, 10:47:46 AM
Doug, I posted while you were posting.  I agree, no harm with people joining to watch, but they really don't need to do that.  They can read all the stuff without becoming a member.  I don't concern myself so much with how many members there are either.  It's just a rough idea of how many people we have attracted since we started this thing with just a handful of members.  I remember thinking 100 was a lot.

People don't seem to be logging in just to read as many of the zero posters haven't logged in since they joined.  You can read their profile and it shows "last active".  Their last active and join time are the same.  But they may view the forum without ever logging in....it's quicker and sometimes a hassle for people to remember passwords for everything they want to do. 

I do like to weed out those that make a user name just so they can post Ads for non-phone related stuff.
Dennis....Agreed...I now understand. Keep up the outstanding work!....Doug
Kidphone

Dan/Panther

Dennis;
Whatever it is you are doing, appears to be working quite well. Keep it up.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

KeithB

Having previously helped administer and performed software upgrades on a phpBB forum last year, you have my support and great thanks for the efforts you're making.  The insane amount of spam attacks is never-ending, and you have to wonder how much they're getting paid to do this kind of thing.  Sometimes, it's used as an entry vector for malicious software, either by SQL injection or cross-site-scripting, Javascript, and other 'drive-by' attacks.  IP address banning will work for a while, then they'll change their assigned range of IP addresses. 

Good luck!!


Dennis Markham

Thanks for the support guys.  I know it's like trying to bail out the ocean with a t-spoon.  Perhaps I'll have to look into some software to help with it.  Doing it manually is time consuming and probably futile.


ntophones

Thank you for all the work you have done! I know I have not posted for a while, but, I still love this forum and old phones. I am so glad I am a member here. I think you guys are the best.
ntophones
--nto

Dennis Markham

Thank you nto...good to hear from you!

Phonesrfun

Dennis:

Let me say that you are doing a wonderful job at keeping this forum a great place to be.  It is very much appreciated, and I know you spend a great deal of personal time keeping it that way.

Thank you so much!
-Bill G

Dennis Markham

Thanks Bill.  I appreciate your comments.

By the way, last night I modified the registration process a bit.  Prospective members now have to send me an e-mail before I will approve their membership to the forum.  Prior to that it was just a matter of self registration.  Already there have been two attempts to join without the second requirement of sending me the e-mail.  The accounts won't be activated unless I receive that personal e-mail.  In a couple of days I'll just delete the accounts waiting for activation.

~Dennis