Somebody get rid of nsk

[Darren B]

Lee i could not agree more, its not like granting access to the the penthouse suite at actinic towers, the gold key on a chain, life time membership thing

D

[leehack]

Thanks for the offer of policing it, but we shouldn't expect you guys to do that for us except as a last resort.

There are probably 10 members who would happily do this with no bother and would not mind at all. That would be for the benefit of all. Release the shackles and the control, 'we shouldn't expect' just reads as 'we must keep control' to me. Who in their right mind would refuse some free assistance in keeping the spammers effect to a minimum? It's a big forum, with minimal modding, join the community spirit and let the 'community' help you.

[TraceyHand]

I note from the members list that a couple more have joined today. Also the front page of the forum says:

Welcome to our newest member, joef5052881

Welcome indeed.

and the psychic award for Wednesday goes to......

[Mark H]

"Thanks for the offer of policing it, but we shouldn't expect you guys to do that for us except as a last resort."

Thanks for policing it for us Jan, from wherever you are

I note from the members list that a couple more have joined today. Also the front page of the forum says:

Welcome to our newest member, joef5052881

Welcome indeed.

[Jan]

FYI, I've just banned a spammer, they joined last wednesday but didn't post until today, they appeared to choose 10 posts at random to reply to .. not new posts, just 10 from the last day or two, same spam on each post. I did a google search on their name and found 10 pages of forum username entries for them, some with no entries on the forum yet and some with 1 or two entries or the same spam message.

The main difference I saw was that some forums had the post with links and some had it without (therefore annoying but harmless).

They had a gmail account for their email address as well.

Regards,

[RuralWeb]

<H4>Comprehensive Support

• Free email support
• 30 days free telephone support
• Online Knowledge Base
• Actinic Community forums

Ive just seen this on the actinic website - I thought we had won the battle to have refernces to the forum removed from the "product support" sales pitch. This implies that you get ongoing support from the forum in the same way as forum membership being given at product purchase.</H4>

[cdicken]

We've got a couple of vbulletin mods to try out, but they need to be tested etc. so please bear with us over the next few days.

[Mark H]

"If Actinic were getting paid for the forum and it was seen as part of the software deal then some people on here may not post anymore?"

I agree, and consider any form of payment to Actinic to be a non-starter. It is frustrating enough to be treated as an unpaid member of Actinic's staff without having that formalised by having to pay Actinic to use the forum.

As well as the email notifications, the most irritating thing about the spam is the fact that it drags old (often closed) threads back to the top of the list.

This chinese spam is easily dealt with, we have given you a number of workable solutions, please just get on with it.

[george]

Maybe the initial log-in could be the license key which you can then log in and change to your pets name later

Corrie the Staffie ain't impressed with that idea LegoBloke.


Almost all fora get spam in some way. The most frustrating issue with this one is not always the actual posts (which can easily be ignored) but the thread email notification kicking off...

...anyway, apart from that I think its alright as it is.

[jont]

Not really workable as people would then expect answers from the forum as they would view its use as part of the purchase of the software.

Indeed - that would require a member of paid support to be online at all hours to answer the questions.

[RuralWeb]

should be able to freely roam the forum looking for answers, but not be able to post- if they can't find a solution they're within their 30 day trial and so should go to Actinic support imo.

I totally agree with this point - Actinic tend to hide the 30 day free support IMO so new users find thier way here and get upset when they are told to contact support etc and not post here - I just ignore them now

[jont]

Maybe the initial log-in could be the license key which you can then log in and change to your pets name later

[RuralWeb]

when purchasing Actinic you pay for membership of the forum as part of the cost of the software

Not really workable as people would then expect answers from the forum as they would view its use as part of the purchase of the software. We would see more of the "I demand an answer because i have paid for the forum" posts.

If Actinic were getting paid for the forum and it was seen as part of the software deal then some people on here may not post anymore?

[Fairyglass]

While I'm really happy to pay a tenner to access the forum, unless the profit goes towards the expense of moderating it I have to question the wisdom of paying Actinic for what is at present an informal information source populated by (very experienced and helpful) volunteers.
A solution would be that when purchasing Actinic you pay for membership of the forum as part of the cost of the software. Surely it's not hard to limit membership (those with posting rights) to those who own the software the forum relates to- just like the Developer section is at the moment?
Anyone using trial software, or looking to purchase, should be able to freely roam the forum looking for answers, but not be able to post- if they can't find a solution they're within their 30 day trial and so should go to Actinic support imo.
*ducks down under parapet*

[cdicken]

Hi all - this weekend was particularly bad for spam. We shouldn't flatter ourselves that spammers are targetting our forum specifically - we just happen to be using a well known piece of forum software, for which there are programs out there which allow the automatic posting of new threads. All someone needs are some valid login details (which can be bought cheaply enough from companies who spend all day signing up to forums) and you're away.

Really the only way to slow this down is to manually verify new members, and I have recommended this to the management team this morning. Thanks for the offer of policing it, but we shouldn't expect you guys to do that for us except as a last resort.