Pruned Users

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Moderators: Shir'le E. Illios, Bhaern Quel

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Shir'le E. Illios
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Pruned Users

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

Just a quick heads-up. But if you noticed that the number of total members dropped by about 370 that's because I pruned the number of users. I've deactivated any user account that hasn't been active in over a year and that hasn't made any posts. The account still exists, but will need to be activated again to use.

If anyone has any trouble activating their account then feel free to contact me for help.


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Alaric Darkrose
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Alaric Darkrose »

I guess I chose a good time to get at least semi-active again, lol
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Bhaern Quel
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Bhaern Quel »

It was more the bots and those that never posted once at all.
Aylstra Illianniis
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Aylstra Illianniis »

Bots?! We have BOTS here?!! Who knew...?
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fernandoexig
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Post by fernandoexig »

I like that, first impressions are great
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Aylstra, we have many bots that visit, most though being started by moderation.
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Shir'le E. Illios
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

Since we were still having a massive amount of spam accounts trying to post spam (which you don't see as they're all caught by the moderation queue, meaning Bhaern and I spend a fair bit of time disapproving posts and banning account) I made a few more changes.

First, I deleted all inactive accounts that never visited the site (i.e. someone who registered and then just never replied to the email or came back). Since these accounts couldn't be logged in to (since you first have to activate the account for that) this shouldn't affect anyone; but if it does then you'll have to make the account anew.

Second, I deactivated all accounts with 0 posts. This might catch some accounts of people who log in, but have never posted. As such these accounts will have to be activated again. I did this because we have a [i:1ft5tahs]massive[/i:1ft5tahs] number of accounts like this (dozens registered each day) which are all most likely spam accounts. Just leaving them means that any spam account who registered before today could 'wake up' at any time and start posting spam again. I'm not entirely sure if deactivating these accounts will altogether help (not sure if the bots are smart enough to re-activate accounts again; clearly they managed to activate it to begin with), but we'll see.

I also changed the registration a bit. reCaptcha, which we were using as anti-bot protection, clearly wasn't doing much of anything for us anymore (considering the high volume of bots still managing to register), so I've changed it to a question instead. If anyone has trouble answering the question then just send me an email.

I'm not sure if any of this will work, but we'll see.

Bhaern, if you disapprove any more spam posts can you keep an eye on whether the account in question was created before or after today? I want to know how effective these measures above have been.


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Bhaern Quel
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Bhaern Quel »

Last one I banned shows "Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:53 am" join time.
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Shir'le E. Illios
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

[quote="Bhaern Quel":2i0z424a]Last one I banned shows "Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:53 am" join time.[/quote:2i0z424a]
Bah, seems I forgot to press "submit" somewhere so it was still using reCapcha. Should be fixed now.


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-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
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Bhaern Quel
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Bhaern Quel »

It appears much better now :) it looks like I can close moderation window.
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Dostrealt
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Dostrealt »

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":34ffe4r1]Just a quick heads-up. But if you noticed that the number of total members dropped by about 370 that's because I pruned the number of users. I've deactivated any user account that hasn't been active in over a year and that hasn't made any posts. The account still exists, but will need to be activated again to use.[/quote:34ffe4r1]

Phew. After not being here for ages I'm still here! :eek:

I could not log on for ages and thought you had deleted my account :'( but after several abandoned attempts I realised I spelled my user name wrong. :-[

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":34ffe4r1]If anyone has any trouble activating their account then feel free to contact me for help.[/quote:34ffe4r1]

This may be a stupid question, but if someone who has been away for a while can not log into their forum account, how do they contact you for help? Is there a contact form on the main Chosen of Eilistraee website that they should use? :?
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Bhaern Quel »

[quote="Dostrealt":34duhwyz][quote="Shir'le E. Illios":34duhwyz]Just a quick heads-up. But if you noticed that the number of total members dropped by about 370 that's because I pruned the number of users. I've deactivated any user account that hasn't been active in over a year and that hasn't made any posts. The account still exists, but will need to be activated again to use.[/quote:34duhwyz]

Phew. After not being here for ages I'm still here! :eek:

I could not log on for ages and thought you had deleted my account :'( but after several abandoned attempts I realised I spelled my user name wrong. :-[

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":34duhwyz]If anyone has any trouble activating their account then feel free to contact me for help.[/quote:34duhwyz]

This may be a stupid question, but if someone who has been away for a while can not log into their forum account, how do they contact you for help? Is there a contact form on the main Chosen of Eilistraee website that they should use? :?[/quote:34duhwyz]

Shir'le's email address works even for an inactive account. It is on the main website. I would even consider posting it except for the spam problems that exist. Also some users have opened a new account to connect because of lost password, these things are solved.
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Dostrealt
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Dostrealt »

[quote="Bhaern Quel":stwyb0bf]Shir'le's email address works even for an inactive account. It is on the main website. I would even consider posting it except for the spam problems that exist. Also some users have opened a new account to connect because of lost password, these things are solved.[/quote:stwyb0bf]

Thanks. :)
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Shir'le E. Illios
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Re: Pruned Users

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

[quote="Dostrealt":ock0qdfh]This may be a stupid question, but if someone who has been away for a while can not log into their forum account, how do they contact you for help? Is there a contact form on the main Chosen of Eilistraee website that they should use? :?[/quote:ock0qdfh]
As Bhaern said, people can always email me on [email:ock0qdfh]shirle@eilistraee.com[/email:ock0qdfh] :)

I might be a bit slow to respond at time (sometimes a lot slow :-[ ), but should be reachable there.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le
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-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
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