User Registration - New Email Rules

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Ok folks,

In the last few days, this website has been sujected to an extremely high number of spambot account registrations. Although they are not permitted to post unless approved by an Admin personally, these bogus accounts nevertheless only serve to clog up our member list and create a backlog for me to go through in having to track them all down and delete them one by one. I've tried turning off new user registration for a few days to see if they would give up, but the moment I turned it back on, they were back at full strength.

Nearly without exception, these spambot programs are using free email services such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail, (others to be added at my discretion) to generate fake accounts and spam the registration system. These are going to be banned henceforth. I realize some of you members here are registered with an email from those services, but I see no other way of stopping this. Since user registration cannot remain closed indefinitely, from now on any new user registering will be required to use an email account that is provided to them by their ISP. For those existing members that are making use of those at this time, please post your name here to notify me: http://www.ucforums.com/showthread.php? ... #post85494

When I see you online, I will send you a PM and enable user registration so you can change your email account. There will be a seven day grace period, after which you will have to contact me personally at rcanoa@gmail.com (ironic, isn't it) and let me know that you need to update your email information.

I'm very sorry for the hassle this is going to cause, but I see no other way to protect the site (and my patience) at this point.
This Space for Rent

Re: User Registration - New Email Rules

2
This requires an update since it's been nearly a decade since the email rule went up.

We have changed forum ownership and software since the original rule was put in place, and things have drastically improved. Currently, an ISP-provided email address is *not* required for registering on the forum (as many of you don't have access to one anyway). Registration remains by Admin-approval only, so you may experience a delay in being able to post of between a few hours to a day or two until one of us gets around to it.

Thank you for your patience, and happy posting. :thumbs_up

Edit:

Important - If you have an active account with us currently that is tied to an ISP email and want to change it to a non-ISP, your account will be deactivated and we will need to be notified.

I am unlocking this thread so you can post here in case you are planning to do this.

1 - Alert us here prior to making your change.
2 - Change your email in your user account settings (you will be locked out after that).
3 - Upon seeing your post, we will reactivate your account.

Thank you, and apologies for the inconvenience.
This Space for Rent

Re: User Registration - New Email Rules

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Val...I'm clueless ...what are you talking about .
I use gmail and that is all I have.
I don't know the first thing (or last thing or in between thing) about changing it to anything else.
Sorry, but I really am stupid when it comes to the web/internet stuff.
I simply don't know how to do what you are asking.
If it means I can't participate anymore so be it.
Can't say it hasn't been fun ,tho'.
Maybe I can catch up with most of you on the FoU or RPF forums.

Re: User Registration - New Email Rules

4
Deimos, you don't have to do absolutely anything.

Explanation: in the past, for a time, we disallowed new users registering onto the forum with non-Internet service provided email addresses because free ones like Gmail, Hotmail, etc, were being used mercilessly by spambots.

That has since stopped, thankfully, so we lifted that restriction because it is more common for people nowadays to use Gmail and other free accounts than ISP ones. All we're doing now is saying that it's ok, as a new user, to use those, and if any of our older users wanted to switch for some reason (there's zero requirement to do so!), they can.

The only glitch is that when you change your email, apparently your account needs to be reactivated again by an admin, that is what I was asking folks to do: alert me first, so then I know to go in and reactivate your account in case you have no other way to get hold of one us.

Hope that clears it up! If you are using Gmail already and have always been, that's because you registered here long before the original restriction went into place but were unaffected by it.
This Space for Rent
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