| Author | Message | ||
     Ian Michael (admin) Board Administrator Username: admin Post Number: 6 Registered: 1-2006 |
Well, he struck again and so I have instituted posting by registered users only. This means that you must enter your username and password to post any message to the list. I have also changed the user registration process so that this requires a valid e-mail address. A confirmation e-mail is now sent to the e-mail address that someone uses to register with, which contains a link. This must be clicked before the account is activated. I anticipate that some members will have forgotten their password and so will be unable to post. May I remind everyone that there is a "Recover Lost Password" facility at the bottom of the Utilities menu on the far left of this window. Clicking this will enable you to reset your password to a new one. Again, this requires activation via e-mail and does require that you enter the e-mail address you used to register on the board! Any problems, please contact me. | ||
| David Russell (Russell) New member Username: Russell Post Number: 27 Registered: 2-2001 |
Requiring registration would probably work, since your typical junk mailer doesn't have a valid email address. But I would tend to agree that it's OK to hold off for now in case this is an isolated incident. | ||
| hlmark (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Lois - If someone were to do it again, they'd probably use a different set of nonsense words, so blocking those specific ones wouldn't help. \o/ /_\ | ||
| Lois Weyer (Lois_weyer) New member Username: Lois_weyer Post Number: 17 Registered: 7-2002 |
I also think we should leave it for now. Couldn't Sanimail be configured to block any messages with some of the specific words used in the messages? The messages all seemed to be the same. | ||
| hlmark (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest |
Ian - it seems to me that registration has the advantage that if anyone does that sort of nonsense, you'll know who it is and can deny them access. I think that trying to approve every message from now into the indefinite future is not really a viable approach, for the reasons you gave; also it puts too much of a burden on everybody. When I first saw the messages I suspected that someone hacked the site, which may still be a possibility. So I think that we should do nothing for now, they may have had their thrills and moved on. If it occurs again, then I think you should immediately require registration of all users, who you would have to approve. I should think that you know by now who the regular users of the discussion group are and can automatically list their current sign-on IDs, but I can't think of a foolproof way to check out all new users. On the other hand it may not be necessary to; anyone who tries to pull a stunt will automatically identify themselves and can then be denied access. \o/ /_\ | ||
| Ian Michael (Admin) Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 5 Registered: 1-2006 |
As many of you will have seen from recent e-mails from this list, some idiot has been posting nonsense in a number of topics. I am sorry about this and I have deleted all these messages. Now, I would like to canvass members views on what, if anything, to do about it. When we started this forum, we discussed how much control to exercise over it and decided on the side of as little as possible, to make it quick and easy for anyone to ask and answer questions. With the odd exception of a few commercially inappropriate messages, we have had no problem, until now. However, there is always a risk that something like this can happen. I believe there are three options: 1) Do nothing and hope it doesn't happen again. If it does, immediately institute one of the options below. 2) Require everyone posting to the list to be registered. N.B. This does not stop someone registering and then posting nonsense. It is possible to approve each registrant before giving them access to the list, but this will inevitably cause a delay. 3) Require every message to go through a moderation process, where it is checked and approved before being released to the general list. Of course, this also introduces a delay as well as being extra work for the moderators who must check the messages. There are pros and cons for each option, and that is why I think it appropriate to ask for your views before deciding what to do. Please post your reply here. If you have any comments that you would like to keep confidential, you are most welcome to contact me direct by e-mail. Please use the following temporary e-mail: [email protected] |