If you block spam so well no one can sign up what have you accomplished? I just tried to sign up (twice) and it was a no go. Looks like that might be a the place I could log my build project when it happens but if registering isn't possible that site is of no use to me.
I guess you were unaware this is a bullshit-free zone and that I make no apologies for the inconvenience, aye?
'No one can sign up', eh? When we first started blocking throw-away e-mail addresses (11 April 2008), this site had a grand total of 439 members. And here we are, 5+ years later, with 3,277 members. Now, go on, explain to me where those 2,838 other members came from, if 'no one can sign up'. Wow, it didn't take long to debunk your argument, did it? Here's your sign...
Again, I don't have any issue with anyone who uses questionable, throw-away e-mail addresses for any reason. We all have choices to make in this life and I get that as well as anyone else. I fully admit to having two Yahoo addresses, three Gmail addresses, a Hotmail address, a Live.com address and an Outlook address. I think I even have some kind of an Apple throw-away address, but damned if I can recall what it is. What people, such as Stephen, who try to present hollow arguments, such as the one above, fail to understand is that every Internet Service Provider out there provides e-mail services to their customers. Which means registering for this site or for the Hot Rod Refuge site is as simple as using an ISP-supplied e-mail address.
I know, I know, that ISP e-mail account is sacred and you only use that for 'real' e-mail communications. But anyone who erroneously thinks reserving e-mail addresses for certain communications will somehow protect the address, you need to understand how many mail servers those communications move through, on their way to being delivered. All it takes is one address scraper on one server and your sacred address is suddenly free game. I am as serious as a heart attack when I say sending an e-mail is as 'secure' as dropping a letter in your mailbox without first sealing it in an envelope. I'm not in the business of selling e-mail lists and you can configure your own levels of privacy within your user control panel, so there are absolutely no worries about your account being discovered by anyone.
Have you ever taken the time to read our
Privacy Policy? This site has been here for over 6.5 years, and never, at any time have I shared anyone's e-mail addresses with anyone else. I've never even given one member another member's e-mail, without permission to do so. As Ben pointed out, above, every one of the 3,277 members of this site have the ability to configure what kinds of notifications they want to receive from this site via e-mail, from the full Monty to none at all.
Gee, suddenly the problem is no longer a problem, now is it? Unless, of course, people choose not to use their ISP-supplied address for their registration. Like I said, and am more than willing to repeat, we all have choices to make in this life.
This is a classic situation, one I run into around here on a near-daily basis. Stephen says he cannot register, so the site is of no use to him. OK, so let's examine what is really happening, here. Because someone is trying to piss in someone's ear and it's not me doing the pissing.
I have just checked Stephen's account, in the Admin Control Panel of this site. His registered e-mail address appears to be one from an Internet Service Provider, so I checked the IP addresses Stephen has been assigned, when accessing this site. From the time of his registration, through 27 August 2012, Stephen was using a rather popular cable company's services, to get online. Since that time, he has been using another provider's services. The e-mail domain he is currently using matches the IP address he has been assigned.
And to verify all of that, I visited his ISP's Web site. Whilst there, I took a screenshot of the ISP's index page. I've carefully edited out everything that might give up his ISP's identity, but look at what is left -
The very first option under the customer log-in link is, ta-da, 'Email'. But, as I mentioned, Stephen already knew that, because he used that ISP's supplied e-mail to register here.
Yet we have the very same Stephen, telling me (and everyone else who reads his false claims) that he cannot register on the Refuge site, so that site is of no use to him.
1. We block e-mail providers who supply e-mail addresses to spammers.
2. We block registrations that are made within a few seconds of landing on our registration pages, as those are typically robotic registrations.
3. We block registrations from visitors behind proxy servers, because we're not interested in members who are trying to mask their identities. Yes, on rare occasion, this will catch up someone using their employer's network to access the Web, but that is between them and their employer.
Anyone else is quite capable of registering an account. As Stephen well knew, long before his failed protestations, above.
For anyone who does not think this problem is real, let me show you a couple pages from the site's registration logs.
No, I have not masked any of the spam e-mail addresses, as I owe these thieves naught at all.
There are a couple of subtle points I want everyone to notice, simply because they are not subtle to me. Look at the bottom of that image. Page 1 of 1,820. I will save you the effort of counting by telling you there are 20 records per page. Let me drag out my trusting adding machine here, and if I know we have 3,277 members, and there are 20 records per page, carry the 2, add the 5... Well, that means the 3,277 legitimate registrations to this site would occupy only 164 pages. Hit Clear, subtract 164 from 1,820, multiply by 20... Wow, that is over 33,000 spam registrations we have successfully blocked. Since 1 January, no less.
But look at all those red arrows. One Gmail account after another.
If you look over in the right, you will see some green checks and red X's. Every single registration is run through some filters. One is not shown above (which is rare), but we track the amount of time it takes for the registration form to be filled out. If the form is submitted too soon, we figure it is a robotic registration and we bounce it. If the registration is submitted too slowly, we figure the user is using a robot to collect sites, which are saved in a queue until a human can fill out the form. That will provide another bounce.
The first column is a check of three spam databases, against the supplied username. If you see a red X, that means the user was bounced because of a known spam username.
The second column is a check of those three spam databases, against the supplied e-mail address. If you see a red X, that means the user was bounced because of a known spam e-mail account. And look how many attempts were made with spammy Gmail accounts. Go figure.
The third column is a check of those same, three spam databases, against the user's IP address. If you see a red X, that means the user was bounced because of a known spam IP address.
Here, look at page 2 -
The blue arrows indicate Hotmail registration attempts. The red arrows are Gmail attempts. And look at the lower right corner of the two images. Page one was showing 20 of 36,399 items. In the 4:29 seconds it took me to grab that screenshot, edit it, save it and grab the page 2 screenshot, there had already been 3 more attempts.
People, I have over 1,650 pages of this shite. Which is why we will continue to maintain this site as we always have, because we know none of you want to deal with spammers and their posts. And yes, I will also keep the BS detector on high alert.
