Des-Lab
12-28-2008, 01:07 PM
So another year is about to end. This will be the last "Weekly Update" for 2008. I hope that all of you had a great year and that Christmas was good to you. Ol' Des here didn't really get anything for Christmas. That was in part because I didn't ask for anything, but also because Mrs Des and I agreed that we weren't going to really observe Christmas, instead opting to be a couple of Americans that Wall Street currently abhors: we are being responsible and hoarding our money and not doing any spending that isn't absolutely necessary. I still want to buy a turntable, but don't want to spend the cash right now. Maybe if everyone wants to pitch in.......I figure I need about $600 to get the player and stylus I want.
But I digress. There are a couple of year-end things to bring you abreast on.
First should have no effect on existing members, but I hope that visitors take note of. Until further notice, registration via the forum and the "Register" link has been disabled. I've had it with would-be spammers, spambots, and spamborgs flooding the site. Weeding them out has taken up too much of my time. Who is behind it is beside the point. Instead, I have created a new form to join (http://www.tapeheads.net/join.htm). It can be found in both the rules (http://www.tapeheads.net/rules.htm) section as well as on the front page (http://www.tapeheads.net)navbar (look at the black rectangle at the middle left. I can't fathom how anyone can possibly miss it.) It's stupidly simple, easy as falling off a log. But my reasoning is that it has to be actively sought out. Spambots tend to gravitate to the the standard registration link, which is standard on all VBulletin programs. I am hoping that they won't have the time, patience, or intelligence to find the new form.
I'm sure that some people will see this form. Adjectives like "lame" and "stupid" and "pointless" will drift through their mind. Sorry. But it doesn't take a very high intelligence quotient to figure out the new process. It's not as though I am no longer accepting new members, it's just that the door to get in has been moved. I can't imagine this being difficult for a reasonably bright individual to comprehend.
So I'm going to do this on a trial basis for an unspecified period of time. If it works, great. I'll leave it in place. If I get word that it's too hard, user unfriendly, etc, then I might consider re-opening the main gate. I don't know. I'm open to suggestions. This is being done to keep a clean, spam-free site for all of us. I don't THINK it will be counterproductive, but who knows.
The other thing is that it has come to my attention that some users are in remote and semi remote areas and their options for accessing the Internet are limited. More to the point, some people are forced to log on via proxy and shared servers. On my end, it looks like "spamborg" parties and others attempting to bypass some of the filters and safeguards that I have put in place. This led to the unintended consequence of some people seeing out of the blue that their IP address was banned. No prior warning was given. So it is easy to conclude that I banned people at random without cause. Shades of Grump-pee.
Folks I'm here to tell you right now that I am not doing that. If someone gets kicked off the site, it WILL be for cause. And with the expecption of posting spam or blatant flamebait, any banning or suspension will be preceded with a warning from myself and/or the Mods. Should any of you [active] members suddenly discover that your IP address was banned and you didn't receive a warning, then in all likelihood, you have the misfortune of being on one of my blacklisted IP groups. Please send an E-mail to the Webmaster link found at the bottom of every page (as well as the front page, which is disconnected from the forum page on the servers), and I will look into it and try to get you unblocked as soon as possible.
Which leads me to my final point. I don't think it has ever an issue before, but I am going to put it in writing anyway so there can be no ill feelings later. And that is only one username allowed per person. I can't think of any reason why anyone would want or need to have multiple usernames here. But should I find any reason to reasonably suspect that someone has done that (or a banned user trying to sneak back on incognito without permission), any or all of those usernames are subject to deletion. This change has been written into the site rules, which heretefore was an overlooked point.
I guess that's it. I see that the Christmas slump is over. Everyone is slowly drifting back on. I hope to see all the regulars (along with lots of new folks) back on here shortly.
Thanks again and Happy New year!
-Matt "Des-Lab"
Sunday, December 28 2008
But I digress. There are a couple of year-end things to bring you abreast on.
First should have no effect on existing members, but I hope that visitors take note of. Until further notice, registration via the forum and the "Register" link has been disabled. I've had it with would-be spammers, spambots, and spamborgs flooding the site. Weeding them out has taken up too much of my time. Who is behind it is beside the point. Instead, I have created a new form to join (http://www.tapeheads.net/join.htm). It can be found in both the rules (http://www.tapeheads.net/rules.htm) section as well as on the front page (http://www.tapeheads.net)navbar (look at the black rectangle at the middle left. I can't fathom how anyone can possibly miss it.) It's stupidly simple, easy as falling off a log. But my reasoning is that it has to be actively sought out. Spambots tend to gravitate to the the standard registration link, which is standard on all VBulletin programs. I am hoping that they won't have the time, patience, or intelligence to find the new form.
I'm sure that some people will see this form. Adjectives like "lame" and "stupid" and "pointless" will drift through their mind. Sorry. But it doesn't take a very high intelligence quotient to figure out the new process. It's not as though I am no longer accepting new members, it's just that the door to get in has been moved. I can't imagine this being difficult for a reasonably bright individual to comprehend.
So I'm going to do this on a trial basis for an unspecified period of time. If it works, great. I'll leave it in place. If I get word that it's too hard, user unfriendly, etc, then I might consider re-opening the main gate. I don't know. I'm open to suggestions. This is being done to keep a clean, spam-free site for all of us. I don't THINK it will be counterproductive, but who knows.
The other thing is that it has come to my attention that some users are in remote and semi remote areas and their options for accessing the Internet are limited. More to the point, some people are forced to log on via proxy and shared servers. On my end, it looks like "spamborg" parties and others attempting to bypass some of the filters and safeguards that I have put in place. This led to the unintended consequence of some people seeing out of the blue that their IP address was banned. No prior warning was given. So it is easy to conclude that I banned people at random without cause. Shades of Grump-pee.
Folks I'm here to tell you right now that I am not doing that. If someone gets kicked off the site, it WILL be for cause. And with the expecption of posting spam or blatant flamebait, any banning or suspension will be preceded with a warning from myself and/or the Mods. Should any of you [active] members suddenly discover that your IP address was banned and you didn't receive a warning, then in all likelihood, you have the misfortune of being on one of my blacklisted IP groups. Please send an E-mail to the Webmaster link found at the bottom of every page (as well as the front page, which is disconnected from the forum page on the servers), and I will look into it and try to get you unblocked as soon as possible.
Which leads me to my final point. I don't think it has ever an issue before, but I am going to put it in writing anyway so there can be no ill feelings later. And that is only one username allowed per person. I can't think of any reason why anyone would want or need to have multiple usernames here. But should I find any reason to reasonably suspect that someone has done that (or a banned user trying to sneak back on incognito without permission), any or all of those usernames are subject to deletion. This change has been written into the site rules, which heretefore was an overlooked point.
I guess that's it. I see that the Christmas slump is over. Everyone is slowly drifting back on. I hope to see all the regulars (along with lots of new folks) back on here shortly.
Thanks again and Happy New year!
-Matt "Des-Lab"
Sunday, December 28 2008