Site Support Thread

[Anoree]

Hmm.
It looks like we're on the new server now, but have lost some recent changes and posts on the Forum.

So, if you're missing your posts, please write them again. They were not deleted by the Moderators.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

[danielle_ftv]

We were switched to a new server. I didn't realize that things would be deleted though...what a pain!

[RonTheLogician]

Originally Posted by Anoree

...this month 7477 identified spammers tried to join the forum and were denied, 39 new members were accepted.
From those 39 two were spammers that slipped pre-defenses and tried to post spam messages. The spam messages got deleted before they were seen on the forum and the spammers got banned.

I'm sorry if our efforts to keep this forum spam free is getting on your nerves. I try to get registrations and posts validated as soon as possible, but I'm not online 24/7. Posting will get easier with time ... and posts.

Gosh, Anoree. Your extensive labors should elicit the heartfelt thanks of EVERYONE who enjoys following Danny through this venue! Heck, maybe you should even start your OWN Amazon Wishlist?

Against the day troublemakers force excessive countermeasure work, one can consider having new members post a nominal "peace bond" ($10 should be enough) through your standard payment schemes, with all but 10% refunded (to pay for vetting labor) after say, 10 civil posts. The downside is that some welcome would-be participants might then never post.

A less effective countermeasure would be the use of a CAPTCHA hurdle for every post. Today, these are typically self-financing through the use of two puzzles, one of which generates useful work (e.g. human-assisted image recognition).

RonTheLogician

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by RonTheLogician

Gosh, Anoree. Your extensive labors should elicit the heartfelt thanks of EVERYONE who enjoys following Danny through this venue! Heck, maybe you should even start your OWN Amazon Wishlist?

Against the day troublemakers force excessive countermeasure work, one can consider having new members post a nominal "peace bond" ($10 should be enough) through your standard payment schemes, with all but 10% refunded (to pay for vetting labor) after say, 10 civil posts. The downside is that some welcome would-be participants might then never post.

A less effective countermeasure would be the use of a CAPTCHA hurdle for every post. Today, these are typically self-financing through the use of two puzzles, one of which generates useful work (e.g. human-assisted image recognition).

RonTheLogician

Thank you for your suggestions, Ron.

Fortunately the amount of spammers streaming in has decreased considerably. In February, we had only 737 who hit their head on our second barrier (my approval) with 24 Users being accepted. The first barrier is the confirmation of the used email address. 761 registrations stranded there. No post had to be deleted.
This is a workload that can easily be handled. I won't go specific here, but I do have my well working procedures and tools.

Requesting a fee to register would put a lot of people off. We have the Forum free for a reason. Apart from that, a registration fee would be much more work, including handling restitution claims and fraudulent payments. Not worth the effort in my eyes.

To my knowledge, ALL current CAPTCHA mechanisms are cracked or dodged by SPAM bots. There are even some poor people sitting in some cheap loan countries, getting paid to solve CAPTCHA puzzles or Question and Answer riddles. Plus, we don't want our valued real people here to go through that on every post they make.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. We really appreciate your effort to help us here.

[RonTheLogician]

Yes, English is widely understood, especially in written form. But what if one could automatically translate this Web site into other languages? Maybe you can! For some time now, Google, Microsoft (and maybe more) third parties have provided a free widget one can embed into a Web page which lets the reader translate the page into the human language of his choice. The only issue in my mind is whether these would be compatible with the constraints of vBulletin. (And even if so, extracting and setting the default target language automatically across multiple pages might be problematic.)

I got to thinking about this indirectly... Supposedly, guys in Latin America are more often fond of models with healthy cabooses than those in the States. Too bad they don't have Spanish and Portuguese versions of the site, I sighed...

Of course, the ultimate goal of this site is to enhance revenue. So maybe internationalization is only important if many currencies can be supported, too.

[Randolph Carter]

Techie question: why do I have to constantly re-login to posting questions or other stuff on the message boards? I've reached the point where I just keep my username in a paste buffer and type in my password. It's not a bad problem - I can cut-and-paste, I'm just curious...

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by Randolph Carter

Techie question: why do I have to constantly re-login to posting questions or other stuff on the message boards? I've reached the point where I just keep my username in a paste buffer and type in my password. It's not a bad problem - I can cut-and-paste, I'm just curious...

I guess your browser is set to deny all cookies, even session temporary ones. Or your Internet security software clears them out for you.

You could try to enable cookies for danielleftv.com in your browser and / or whitelisting it in your security software.

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by danielle_ftv

We were switched to a new server. I didn't realize that things would be deleted though...what a pain!

Given how silent the Forum recently was, I can't really blame the Techs. They probably figured they could move without a loss. It always comes different than you expect.

[RonTheLogician]

Originally Posted by Anoree

Hmm.
It looks like we're on the new server now, but have lost some recent changes and posts on the Forum.

So, if you're missing your posts, please write them again. They were not deleted by the Moderators.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm new here. When a post really IS deleted by a Moderator, what is your policy? Is the original author given a reason for denied publication, and an opportunity to revise his/her copy to address the problem in a cooperative manner? (Perhaps you recall that I brought the most peculiar "no sexual comments" clause in the forum ToS agreement to your attention when I arrived.)

[Anoree]

Originally Posted by RonTheLogician

I'm new here. When a post really IS deleted by a Moderator, what is your policy? Is the original author given a reason for denied publication, and an opportunity to revise his/her copy to address the problem in a cooperative manner? (Perhaps you recall that I brought the most peculiar "no sexual comments" clause in the forum ToS agreement to your attention when I arrived.)

Did I welcome you already on the Forum?

Welcome Ron!

We normally don't delete whole posts, but rather edit parts of the posts that don't fit the rules stated by our late Lead Moderator WhyYou in the announcements. The original poster will then be contacted via personal message. Sexual content in the posts IS of course permitted, as long as it's kept in reasonable language. We don't need to fall into foul language just because this is an Adult Forum.
You also won't see flame wars on here. At least not for long.
Links to competing sites will be edited and commented as well.

SPAM-Posts or posts with clearly illegal content will deleted immediately, though. But I think that's easily understood.

Apart from that, I think we're an open minded community here. Feel free to discuss what's on your mind.