Registration at PaperArtistsOnline Forum

[jfugina]

Hey everyone. Remember back when the forum got upgraded about a month or so ago, and I scrambled to get our functions/customizations back? Well, I just realized that I never put back the customization on the registration that requested the new user to send an e-mail to request activation. This was done to verify that the person registering really wanted to be here, and wasn't just a spammer.

Well, I just went back and looked at the logs, and it doesn't look like there has been a single spam registration attempt since that upgrade happened. We got about 30-40 new registrations per day before that day.

So, rather than put the customization back in, I changed the registration setting to e-mail verification. What that means is that the user who registers will get an activation link back in their e-mail, and as soon as they click the activation link, they'll be able to sign in.

I'm hoping this doesn't cause any trouble - but I'd like to put the moderators on alert for any suspicious behavior by anyone who is new as of today. If we start getting spam posts, feel free to block and let me know, and I'll put registration back at admin approval. I'm hoping this works and that the upgrade truly helped with the spam registrations. That would make our forum a lot more friendly to join.

[pbp908]

You got it - I love to be mean and block spammers.

[TakeAim]

Spammers give a bad name to Spam.
(Yeah, I eat the stuff.)

[Paula]

Spammers give a bad name to Spam.
(Yeah, I eat the stuff.)

[Monica]

Hey Julie... the only thing that concerns me is that our physical/mailing addresses are listed in the OCAM and Birthday swaps, and if a person doesn't have to go through a mod to become registered, then those addresses become more easily available. With spammers, you have no idea what they will do with any personal information. I hate to put any more work on you, the other mods or admin, but I'll request to have my address removed from the lists if you choose to leave it this way. There are too many unscrupulous people out there and I was only willing to put my address out on PAO when I knew that every person who joined had to be approved. I don't even have more than my hometown listed on FB.

.... my 2 cents' worth....

Monica

[jfugina]

That's an extremely excellent point Monica. You are well within your rights to request that your address be removed, and so is everyone else.

Another option (which I can look into tonight after the kids are in bed) is to create a forum users group for Birthday card and OCAM, and just put those members in those groups, and lock down those forums to those groups. How would that be? Anyone who wanted to join one of those lists would have to specifically request access to those lists. That's probably way more secure than admin approval of the overall account, and then having them be able to see addresses before we really know who they are.

What do you think about that? I don't think it would be too hard to do. We'd just need a few people who aren't in those groups to test out and see if they continued to see those forums after they got tied down. The only downside that I can think of, is that only the people in those groups would be able to see the cards that were shared. So maybe there's another option - like a completely new group, with address list threads only. And only that group would be locked down to members of that group. Does that make sense?

Give me your thoughts - and this discussion is open to everyone. I agree that Monica has a point about addresses. But I want the solution to be easy for those of us who access those addresses every month. Maybe something like a "Card Clubs" group, or something like that.

[troublesmom]

That sounds like the way to go Julie. I for one don't want my address out there any more than necessary. Thanks for thinking about that.

[jfugina]

Right now, we have about 200 registered members, less than 10 of which have come on board in the past year with admin approval. But, less than 100 of us are really very active - and right now those lists are open to any "registered" user - meaning anyone who is logged in, and that can mean people who registered back when this was new, but don't regularly participate.

It's probably best to do a group thing. But we need to figure out what makes the most sense. I'd hate to hide all of the card shares from those who don't participate in the card swaps themselves.

[azemigh]

I agree with Monica; unless we somehow make the addresses secure I will be asking that mine be taken down. It's too scary to think about people out there collecting info for whatever unscrupulous thing they want to do with it.

thanks for the head's up. I'll keep following to see what happens.

[jfugina]

By the way - no new registrations have come through since this change was made. I'm monitoring that, just so you know.

[Monica]

That's an extremely excellent point Monica. You are well within your rights to request that your address be removed, and so is everyone else.

Another option (which I can look into tonight after the kids are in bed) is to create a forum users group for Birthday card and OCAM, and just put those members in those groups, and lock down those forums to those groups. How would that be? Anyone who wanted to join one of those lists would have to specifically request access to those lists. That's probably way more secure than admin approval of the overall account, and then having them be able to see addresses before we really know who they are.

What do you think about that? I don't think it would be too hard to do. We'd just need a few people who aren't in those groups to test out and see if they continued to see those forums after they got tied down. The only downside that I can think of, is that only the people in those groups would be able to see the cards that were shared. So maybe there's another option - like a completely new group, with address list threads only. And only that group would be locked down to members of that group. Does that make sense?

Give me your thoughts - and this discussion is open to everyone. I agree that Monica has a point about addresses. But I want the solution to be easy for those of us who access those addresses every month. Maybe something like a "Card Clubs" group, or something like that.

I like the idea of a locked spot for only the addresses, with permissions needing to be requested to have access to them.... something like the FFC Only area of the CS forum, which has to be unlocked for a person by admin for that area. (betcha all didn't even know that was there!) And thank you for addressing my concern so quickly!!

Monica

[jfugina]

I need a volunteer or two. I took a breather at work and created a new group called "Address Exchange". There is also a sub-forum under the swap section for addresses. Only the new group should be able to see the address forum. So I need a couple different things. Right now, I'm the only member of the address exchange group, so I can see the forum (even if I weren't a member of the group, I'd still be able to see it).

1. I need someone to confirm that they can't see the new Addresses forum under the swaps and challenges forum
2. I need someone to go to the User Control Panel, click on "usergroups" in the left hand section, and select the Address Exchange group, and request membership. I think that request will go to my e-mail address, but I'm not sure. The setting said that request for membership would go to the group leader, and right now that's me. If you make a request and are not approved by midnight (Central time), then I need to figure out where the request go before I can turn it loose.

IF this setup works, then what we can do from here is move the address threads from Birthday Card Club and OCAM over to the Address Exchange. We can keep those set as visible only when you're logged in so that we're not publishing birthday months to those not logged in. Actually, OCAM could probably be public. Whatever you gals think is best.

[Holly]

I tried both requests.

[bethrich]

Julie, I can't see the address forum, so that seems well locked down!

[jfugina]

Beth - got e-mail notification for your request, and you're now approved. Holly - got your PM, but not the request through the UCP.

Thank you both for verifying that the address list forum is not accessible to non-group members. I think this is going to be the right approach moving forward.