Bogus Membership Registrations

Bob P · Site Admin

I wish to thank everyone who has brought up the increasing amount of members with spam type websites listed. Chuck and I are very much aware of these. We have made a change in how we will handle these, and that is being accomplished by Chuck on a periodic basis.
We receive on average about 6 of these a day. Please rest assured that NONE of these folks (which are actually 'bot' submissions) are being granted access to the forum. Their application data may show, but unless Chuck or I activate their account, nothing can happen.
Chuck will perform a bulk delete of these registrations once or twice a week.
I ask all of you to NOT click on any web site url that accompany these. Use your best judgement, but if you see anything that deals with porn, pills, poker etc. with these registrations, understand that we do not advocate these and they will be deleted at the earliest possible time.
Once again, thanks for emailing me with your concerns, but rest assured, it is known about and being handled.

Bob P · Site Admin

I am finding that I have to re-emphasize this post I put on the forum in June. Things have gotten worse over the past week with an average of 40 'bot' submissions a day. In addition, they are mostly porn related, and the names they are using are vulgar and disgusting.
I will repeat what I already posted. We are aware of these. Due to frustration, I have given up deleting them on a daily basis. I don't have the time, nor patience to deal with this garbage any more.
However, Chuck has assured me he will do a mass delete once or twice a month.
I apologize for you folks having to see this disgusting stuff on our forum. Our only option to get rid of it is to shut down the forum, and I am not in favor of that.

PLEASE....DO NOT email me about this any more. I am on the forum every day and well aware of it.

Chuck will take care of it.

coppercoins · Site Admin

As of 09/28/2006 I have written a program that does a very simple seek and destroy of all new submissions for registration on the database for anyone who has never visited the forum. This would round down to bots, pretty much. I have shared the process with a couple of other people, so we should be able to keep the bot registrants to a bare minimum, but you WILL STILL SEE the vulgar usernames at the bottom of the forum until the second their registration is deleted. I cannot and will not sit here 24/7 trying to keep up with it...I'd rather shut the forum down.

With this new program, however, their registerations will be very short-lived. With three people visiting the delete program two or three times a day each, I would think the bots will see less than a few hours of life on the forum.

Given this, I do apologize in advance for the offensive language that squeaks by in these bot registrations. If I could do anything further to keep this site secure, believe me, I would be the first to do it and in a hurry. Unfortunately, however, there is little to nothing I can do and still allow real people access to the forum.

Bob P · Site Admin

We are having another influx of these bot submissions. Please rest assured that these will be taken care of as soon as possible. Both Chuck and I will review the site and delete the bogus registrations. I now have access to do what Chuck was doing previously with bulk deletions. I will try to do this on a daily basis. Please read the above threads if you are unsure of what I am talking about. Thanks!

Dick · Expert Member

Bob, or Chuck, if there is any way I can assist in this situation, please advise.
Dick

Dick · Expert Member

Bob, I don't know if you have been on the CC forum, but Chuck has, and I'm sure he would make some kind of move about the name of a newcomer there. The sound is the same, but the spelling is different. It sounds offensive, either way it is spelled. I WON"T post it here. I oin't know how it got by there but that is their problem.
Dick

Bob P · Site Admin

Dick, this is exactly what this post is about. The 'bots' that make these bogus registrations do so from the programming or background end. Although we do not allow registrations straight up from the forum, Chuck and I are the only ones who can approve membership and grant full access to the forum.
We do receive emails from the program itself when attempts to register are made. However, when you deal with hundreds of emails, they can some time get lost in all of that.
The primary purpose of these bot registrations is to direct you to a website. The programmers of these bots have nothing better to do with their 'talents'. As I stated above, these will be taken care of on a near daily basis. If I miss a day or two...don't worry. The offensive registrations will be deleted. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Most importantly, these bots do NOT have access to our forum threads, and can not do any harm there unless they are granted access. This is why we insist on a personal email from a real person requesting access. A 'bot' simply can not do that.

Dick · Expert Member

Bob, that is all very true.
Now I think I am becoming a "bot", because I can't read those tests any more. It took my wife, and me nearly 15 minutes to log on to ebay, or paypal! i don't recall which, but it was rough! It must have been ebay, becaise, as I recall, I made a request that they finf an alternate way for people who are blind, and/or deaf. The audible sounds were completely un-intteligible.
Dick