Steve Worcester
Admin Emeritus
I thought you guys might find this process interesting.
When you register for an account on here, you fill out the form, are asked to do image recognition, complete it correctly and an email gets sent to that email address. You get the email (if it doesn't get rejected as SPAM, and no we won't complete the form to tell you it isn't SPAM) and click on a link and it is put in a list for me to check. (The checks are done at least once a day, but I post that it may take up to 24 hr to validate). This is because a bot (automated program that tries to post spam) will not answer the email. The proof is that I delete over a 100 "users awaiting email confirmation" or users who never clicked the link, per week. Maybe I should post that stat!
The I go in and check users awaiting confirmation (those who answered the email). Of those, the MASS MAJORITY are out of continent email addresses, mostly Russian domains or Eastern block countries that have no policing over spammers. They get automatically rejected. Then the gmail and yahoo and free mail accounts. Those are tougher. If the user chose a username the same as the front of their email address, they are suspect (even though when they sign up they are told those conditions are an automatic rejection, say 1234qwerty@gmail .com picks a username of 1234qwery). However I still give them the benefit and Google thier email and if it comes up in a SAPM BLOCKED list, they are gone. No list, I Google the IP address and WHOIS the IP. If it shows up on a list, or in boards with Russian or Cyrillic text, they get rejected too. My apologies to those from Russia or those who converse in multiple languages on the internet, you get rejected because your brethren cannot keep their nose clean (profiling?)
The top level domains, AOL, Roadrunner, Comcast etc. They police REAL WELL and are approved.
Still, when any address is rejected they get an email that says this is a form letter and don't take it personally, but to keep the forum clean we are extra cautious and to reapply, email me and you will be approved. 8 out of 10, they take it personally as if I hate them and they are insulted. Some say that I should check the AAW database as they have been a member for 100 years (hyperbole) and I would know they exist! Well, the databases are not connected and you don't have to be an AAW member to be here. Some get huffy and tell me they will never reapply and I must be mad or arrogant to think they should have to and I should just reverse it (you can't, deleted is deleted). Some I accidentally delete a second time because I forgot they applied again, I am human, I am in front of a computer for about 8 hours a day.
And to those, I actually apologize for the inconvenience.
Then there are the other items (photo of the day, misplaced posts, posting in the wrong forum, spam that gets through, commercial want-ads) those your happy moderators Ken and Kurt take care of those.
There, that's how the board runs, my rant is done.... for now.
When you register for an account on here, you fill out the form, are asked to do image recognition, complete it correctly and an email gets sent to that email address. You get the email (if it doesn't get rejected as SPAM, and no we won't complete the form to tell you it isn't SPAM) and click on a link and it is put in a list for me to check. (The checks are done at least once a day, but I post that it may take up to 24 hr to validate). This is because a bot (automated program that tries to post spam) will not answer the email. The proof is that I delete over a 100 "users awaiting email confirmation" or users who never clicked the link, per week. Maybe I should post that stat!
The I go in and check users awaiting confirmation (those who answered the email). Of those, the MASS MAJORITY are out of continent email addresses, mostly Russian domains or Eastern block countries that have no policing over spammers. They get automatically rejected. Then the gmail and yahoo and free mail accounts. Those are tougher. If the user chose a username the same as the front of their email address, they are suspect (even though when they sign up they are told those conditions are an automatic rejection, say 1234qwerty@gmail .com picks a username of 1234qwery). However I still give them the benefit and Google thier email and if it comes up in a SAPM BLOCKED list, they are gone. No list, I Google the IP address and WHOIS the IP. If it shows up on a list, or in boards with Russian or Cyrillic text, they get rejected too. My apologies to those from Russia or those who converse in multiple languages on the internet, you get rejected because your brethren cannot keep their nose clean (profiling?)
The top level domains, AOL, Roadrunner, Comcast etc. They police REAL WELL and are approved.
Still, when any address is rejected they get an email that says this is a form letter and don't take it personally, but to keep the forum clean we are extra cautious and to reapply, email me and you will be approved. 8 out of 10, they take it personally as if I hate them and they are insulted. Some say that I should check the AAW database as they have been a member for 100 years (hyperbole) and I would know they exist! Well, the databases are not connected and you don't have to be an AAW member to be here. Some get huffy and tell me they will never reapply and I must be mad or arrogant to think they should have to and I should just reverse it (you can't, deleted is deleted). Some I accidentally delete a second time because I forgot they applied again, I am human, I am in front of a computer for about 8 hours a day.
And to those, I actually apologize for the inconvenience.
Then there are the other items (photo of the day, misplaced posts, posting in the wrong forum, spam that gets through, commercial want-ads) those your happy moderators Ken and Kurt take care of those.
There, that's how the board runs, my rant is done.... for now.
