New user creation suspended
Moderator: Moderator Team
New user creation suspended
Due to the volume of spam we are getting, creation of new user accounts on the site is suspended. If things work well, the new site will be up and running soon and we can switch over. If not, we will determine when it is appropriate to reopen account creation.
- EmuandCo
- Developer
- Posts: 4461
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:52 pm
- Location: Germany, Bavaria, Steinfeld
- Contact:
Re: New user creation suspended
i welcome this step. had to delete 115 posts on friday morning due to spam nature...
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes
Re: New user creation suspended
Well, good thing I signed up in advance (says user #70)
Perhaps ReactOS should do like some torrent trackers and only have brief periods where registration is open. It would make ReactOS look extra 1337! (BTW, I'm kidding
)
It's too bad you can't just reach through the internet and slap these spammers silly.

Perhaps ReactOS should do like some torrent trackers and only have brief periods where registration is open. It would make ReactOS look extra 1337! (BTW, I'm kidding

It's too bad you can't just reach through the internet and slap these spammers silly.
-
- Posts: 1787
- Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:11 am
- Location: USA
Re: New user creation suspended
Remember the other week when the spammers were "dogging" us? That was gross, and not exactly legal images they were peddling. At least it wasn't children.SomeGuy wrote:Well, good thing I signed up in advance (says user #70)![]()
Perhaps ReactOS should do like some torrent trackers and only have brief periods where registration is open. It would make ReactOS look extra 1337! (BTW, I'm kidding)
It's too bad you can't just reach through the internet and slap these spammers silly.
I hate that they have to lock down registration, but the spam was certainly a problem. I was reporting so much of it, and I assume there was more I didn't see. Of all the forums to spam, I don't know why we were chosen. I imagine some have been ticked off over the years over petty things, but not mad enough to enlist spammers. So I guess it is all about opportunity. What I've never understand about spam is the amount of products they spam which have nothing to do with those they target. Things like male enhancement pill ads being sent to women, or bust enhancement pill ads sent to men. Or weight loss ads being sent to those actively trying to gain weight. I know, they don't know anything about the users but their addresses.
- EmuandCo
- Developer
- Posts: 4461
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:52 pm
- Location: Germany, Bavaria, Steinfeld
- Contact:
Re: New user creation suspended
well, these are bad coded automatic spambots then. i do wonder more about the way they manage to pass all our hurdles...
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes
Re: New user creation suspended
Don't underestimate the possibility that someone might just be trying to get the site shut down.PurpleGurl wrote:What I've never understand about spam is the amount of products they spam which have nothing to do with those they target.
BTW, I noticed (and reported) a couple of spam posts since the registration was closed. Something may need to be done about existing inactive accounts, if it is not being done already. Many sites will require you to re-validate with a captcha and/or a validation e-mail after 6 months or a year of inactivity. At least one board I know of has a strict policy that you must have at least a couple of posts proving that you are human, and interested in contributing to the community, or your account will be deleted after a few weeks.
Re: New user creation suspended
I personally want to purge all forum accounts that have zero posts. I'm facing resistance from other project members.
Re: New user creation suspended
Yeah. The main problem is about deleting valid accounts.Imho, we should delete those which satisfy: (account.posts<=0) && (account.innactivity>=6months)Z98 wrote:I personally want to purge all forum accounts that have zero posts. I'm facing resistance from other project members.
I doubt a guy will get offended if we just delete his account because 0 inactivity.
Re: New user creation suspended
dam spammers, what will the new site look like?
Re: New user creation suspended
I support your idea. There is no reason to keep every dead user.Z98 wrote:I personally want to purge all forum accounts that have zero posts.
-
- Posts: 1787
- Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:11 am
- Location: USA
Re: New user creation suspended
Yes, purging inactive members sometimes helps. In the past, I would have said old inactive accounts were just lurkers, since spammers used to spam immediately. Then I started seeing some in online groups I hosted who waited 1-3 weeks before spamming. Also, there is the possibility of compromised email addresses. While most return addresses that spammers use are fake, there are times when they may hijack someone's existing accounts. If the difficulty of setting up new accounts is greater then the difficulty of assuming existing accounts, then they might just do that.
The comments about trying to close us down are possible, though probably not likely, hopefully.
The comments about trying to close us down are possible, though probably not likely, hopefully.
- EmuandCo
- Developer
- Posts: 4461
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:52 pm
- Location: Germany, Bavaria, Steinfeld
- Contact:
Re: New user creation suspended
i support it. ppl who dont post anything dont need no account, too...Z98 wrote:I personally want to purge all forum accounts that have zero posts. I'm facing resistance from other project members.
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes
Re: New user creation suspended
well again how about modifying the homepage with bottraps as example honeypots - of which some claimed to be able to catch nearly all bots.
edit:
oh one step back. it might be manual or semi manual spam where the human guides the bot to avoid traps.
how about putting spamer and old accounts to mute so only they can see theyr posts without deleting the account. if they later write something proper an admin could check and they could be unmuted.
the big thing is if it is manual controlled spam it will follow to the new homepage
eitherway get a "delete all posts of this user" button
edit:
oh one step back. it might be manual or semi manual spam where the human guides the bot to avoid traps.
how about putting spamer and old accounts to mute so only they can see theyr posts without deleting the account. if they later write something proper an admin could check and they could be unmuted.
the big thing is if it is manual controlled spam it will follow to the new homepage
eitherway get a "delete all posts of this user" button
Last edited by andreas84 on Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: New user creation suspended
For my own forum, I delete any accounts that have no activity within their first 30 days. They can have 0 posts as long as they have sent a PM or voted in a poll. I just created a really simple SQL query that checks to see if users have done something since they registered.Z98 wrote:I personally want to purge all forum accounts that have zero posts. I'm facing resistance from other project members.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article. Get free DOS, Windows and OS/2 games at RGB Classic Games.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: DotBot [Crawler], Google [Bot] and 3 guests