How about a new user welcome topic

Suggestions for improvement, new category ideas, comments to the editor.
Wingnut247
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 8:08 pm
Location: Washington State

How about a new user welcome topic

Post by Wingnut247 » Sun Apr 21, 2013 8:19 pm

How about a topic to welcome new users.

A new user could say who they are... What they do.
What part of the world they are from.
What brought them to the site.

This would give a chance for people to introduce themselves and "meet" each other.

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by techman » Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:48 pm

Sounds good. At first, I only had a thousand spammers a week, trying to push their products or websites. Guess its time to bring it back.

hi_tech_guy_18
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 6:46 pm

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by hi_tech_guy_18 » Thu May 09, 2013 5:39 am

Use Goggles recaptcha http://www.google.com/recaptcha is a better than forums built-in captcha puzzle (I have a reduction in SPAM Forum Comment bots on my sites forums using Goggles recaptcha instead of the Scripts built-in)
Sadly these days the robots tend to know the algorithm for the built in captchas of alot of forum scripts and the robot can easily guess it and text recognition software they have now can filter rotated words with pixel nose (however they do have problems with Shape Warped words)

Also If you want to Throw them off Add an Extra more personal captcha using Regular Expressions (PCRE).)
(Viewers of your YouTube Videos will know it but not give the clue on the forums other than to watch a youtube video and ask What your Cats name)

Code: Select all

Regular Expressions:
^(YOURCATSNAME*)$
Basically with that example
If my cat name was "YOURCATSNAME" then it must be entered as "YOURCATSNAME" to pass - otherwise it will just reject
Robots i spotted in my Honeypot Fly Trap Forum ( A Forum SANDBOX that allows bots to join it, Spam it in order to research them ) are unable to tell what it is and enter random junk while human users Correctly enter it

On the whole My forums now don't have a spam bot problem due to the 2 Factor captcha puzzles one they have to use a 3rd party captcha and two they have to know something i personally know and have shown them elsewhere on the net

However the bots are getting paid human assistants but thanks to my sandbox the the bots don't give all the info to the assistants only the parts that they have problems with

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by techman » Thu May 09, 2013 9:14 pm

Thanks for the info. Now all i need is time to implement it all. I am still very swamped with youtube comments and emails, plus spam every day.

hi_tech_guy_18
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 6:46 pm

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by hi_tech_guy_18 » Fri May 10, 2013 7:19 am

Get people to volunteer for Forum Moderators to help deal with the spam bots and ease the workload
Make sure they can write reports (Hidden Forums) so if the bot comes back with the same ip you know which ip's to permanently block the bot and don't allow any under 18s to become a Moderator
(also ensure that they use VM (Virtual machine) Sandboxes to test and checkout the links)

You can also tell them if the links users post are resources of value (Tools , Info, Electronics, Free Knowledge) to allow them if they don't personally sell them via there own website

(or have a Dedicated paid adverts section where they need to be a Forum subscribers to post as approved paid adverts as a rule they can only post once with no bumping (you can stop that to allow user comments) and the items they are selling must also be a useful resource to this sites and not unrelated junk (if they stop paying there $2.00 per month Fee then there advert goes)) :mrgreen:

However there is a Adf.ly mod for forms where any links the users post you can profit from them due your forum will auto submit the link to adf.ly on your account and get a Replacement Adf.ly redirect link to replace the posts original links then that way you get money from the clicks. its dirty but you can add hidden BB commands for trusted users and post normal links

IronPatriotTN
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 10:18 pm
Location: Tennessee (for now)

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by IronPatriotTN » Thu May 16, 2013 10:23 pm

Hello all.
1st post.
IronPatriotTN from YouTube.

Looking for like minded talk and discussion of off-the-grid topics and lifesytle.

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by techman » Sun May 19, 2013 10:11 am

IronPatriotTN wrote:Hello all.
1st post.
IronPatriotTN from YouTube.

Looking for like minded talk and discussion of off-the-grid topics and lifesytle.
Welcome to the forum. Happy to have you here.

takenover1
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri May 31, 2013 9:42 am
Location: Niagara Falls Canada

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by takenover1 » Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:27 pm

Hello all, Takenover1 from Niagara Falls Canada, my first post as well. Here to learn all I can, and share any knowledge I may have as well. Troy, have you thought about installing a pressure relief valve rather than the pipe (on the side of the stove/boiler), should help contain the coolant as you can direct it when it blows off.

mrreality13
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:34 pm
Location: tx

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by mrreality13 » Sat Nov 02, 2013 10:14 pm

just a quick hi from texas moved here from PA recently,just finished up watchin all vids troy and wanted to say thank you for some great ideas on rehabin a land locked 1970's house boat i am being allowed to live in when things fell apart for me recently(movin in tommorow it looks like// better than my car or a kick in the crotch will have limited access to electricity land owner/landlord is a friend of a friend ) and a specal thanx to baby cat in the box's givin me some giggles(makes me miss my moms cats they do that too)
Never ever approach a puter thinking this will only take a minute

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: How about a new user welcome topic

Post by techman » Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:24 pm

I am happy to hear that I have inspired people. Hope your new home turns out well. I always dreamed of living in a house boat.

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