What's Going On

[Mantra]

I have a concern regarding the forum statistics.
Snapshot today 1599 users online - 15 members, 1584 guests
Members : 7362, Active Members : 29
How come there are so many users online that are not members of the forum and what is there interest?

[Mike Hughes]

I thought you were going to ask what happened to your earlier thread.

I assume you just deleted it? (or is it just that I can't find it?)

[NormanRouxel]

It's 1600 guests when I looked just now. However that number is the cumulative number of guest logins since 18:00 yesterday. And looking at the list it seems like one login every minute or two since then.

Possibly search engine visits being counted. Or, more worryingly, spam bots looking for a way to do mischief.

I got one spambot post on my forum yesterday that had cunningly taken a response from a similar topic and posted it. Thus hoping to make it look like a real post and get their signature links online.

[Mantra]

I thought you were going to ask what happened to your VAT deregistration setup thread.

I assume you just deleted it? (or is it just that I can't find it?)

Mike
Sorry, I did respond then decided to delete the topic altogether after having looked at the forum statistics considering the risk of commercially sensitive content being surfed, viewed and linked for unintended or malicious purposes.
I considered that only 29 active members with about half online at any one time is not a representative sample to answer the kind of query I was raising.
I now have the confirmation of the settings for the set up I was seeking from Sellerdeck support after raising a ticket by return today.
Regarding the forum statistics, IMO it would be better if online users were screened in some way so that only bonafide users/members of the forum have access to its content.
Martin

[Mike Hughes]

Glad you finally got the info you wanted. I always try and check back on threads I've taken in part in just in case there's some follow up needed. It always leaves me hunting around a bit if a thread has gone as my immediate thought is that I've just forgotten which topic it was under.

I've just edited my initial post on this thread as I can see what you're saying. Feel free to edit your reply if you want to.

In terms of blocking content from unregistered users it can become something of a problem as it then means no one is going to find the forum in the first place. On the whole it's only people who are interested in Sellerdeck who are going to find it and it's a great source of information for both existing and potential customers.

Plus I quite like Google seeing the backlinks from my signature.

[Duncan Rounding]

.......... IMO it would be better if online users were screened in some way so that only bonafide users/members of the forum have access to its content.
Martin

All new users are checked before being able to post in the community. I always check the user IP, location, as well as search for the email address and usernames before allowing access. It has stopped most of the spam and bot access that we used to have some time ago. It can't of course validate the user in terms of the reasons why they wish to join. I believe most new users join because they either want to follow or mark particular threads or of course answer or post questions.

[Mantra]

........... I always check the user IP, location, as well as search for the email address and usernames before allowing access. It has stopped most of the spam and bot access that we used to have some time ago.

That's reassuring - thank you!

........... I believe most new users join because they either want to follow or mark particular threads or of course answer or post questions.

It would be good to hear from some of the other 7333 inactive (dormant) members/users of Actinic/Sellerdeck just to confirm their continued interest in response to this post!

[Phil H]

Still here. But SD community is a lot quieter these days.

[Air-Tech]

Still here. But SD community is a lot quieter these days.

Just a bit.

[Mantra]

....... I always check the user IP, location, as well as search for the email address and usernames before allowing access. It has stopped most of the spam and bot access that we used to have some time ago. It can't of course validate the user in terms of the reasons why they wish to join. I believe most new users join because they either want to follow or mark particular threads or of course answer or post questions.

Statistics one week after raising concern:
Snapshot today 1423 users online - 13 members, 1410 guests
Members : 7362, Active Members : 34

Interesting to note users online is reducing since original post which I believe is a good sign as the user IP, location is evident so any user searching through forum content for the wrong reasons should be traceable - we'll see if this trend continues.

The number of active members has increased only marginally by 5.
Other forums that I am signed up to require me to login fairly freqently to view content.
Could this forum do this on the home page to ensure users are registered members before proceeding to search and view content to become active again?
Out of the 7362 members counted, I think many may have moved on and some may have passed away completely.

[Duncan Rounding]

Statistics one week after raising concern:
Snapshot today 1423 users online - 13 members, 1410 guests
Members : 7362, Active Members : 34

Interesting to note users online is reducing since original post which I believe is a good sign as the user IP, location is evident so any user searching through forum content for the wrong reasons should be traceable - we'll see if this trend continues.

The number of active members has increased only marginally by 5.
Other forums that I am signed up to require me to login fairly frequently to view content.
Could this forum do this on the home page to ensure users are registered members before proceeding to search and view content to become active again?
Out of the 7362 members counted, I think many may have moved on and some may have passed away completely.

Hi Martin.

Nothing has actually changed regarding the validation of users since you started the thread, the reduction in numbers you refer to can't be related to that. Just why the change however I have no idea.

When you say searching the forum for the wrong reasons, I presume you are referring to the collection of personal information by bots? Personal info other than username, 'About info' and post content is protected by the vBulletin login. What visible content concerns you?

You raise an interesting point however regarding asking users to login again after a period of time. I'll ask about the feasibility of that although I'm still unsure if it really makes a difference as the content is public anyway.

A long time ago we did discuss the idea of having the content only visible when logged in but decided against it at that time. The reason being that it was beneficial in having the search bots crawl the site and showing the content in their results. I personally still think that is the case, the community archives are a goldmine of information and an asset to Sellerdeck.

[Mike Hughes]

I agree with Duncan and Sellerdeck on this. I think forums like this are a great source of information and should be kept accessible unless there's a good reason not to.

Pretty much everyone is aware that they are open to public access and that they aren't the place to post information you want to keep private. And if you aren't posting information you want to keep private there's little reason to prevent people from viewing it.

[fergusw]

I think forums like this are a great source of information

I couldn't agree more. On more than one occasion I've Googled for a reminder on a Sellerdeck issue, only to find the answer being given by a younger [better looking!] version of me on this forum 10+years ago!

[Mantra]

Hi Duncan

Thank you for responding on the points I raised.

Nothing has actually changed regarding the validation of users since you started the thread, the reduction in numbers you refer to can't be related to that. Just why the change however I have no idea.

True - interesting though that the numbers reduced to a similar level again this week and then ramped up again which I presume is something to do with search bots crawling the site on specific dates and times.

When you say searching the forum for the wrong reasons, I presume you are referring to the collection of personal information by bots? Personal info other than username, 'About info' and post content is protected by the vBulletin login. What visible content concerns you?

I do not have any concern on the subject content of posts generally in response to questions regarding Actinic/Sellerdeck functionality and sharing design solutions.
What concerns me is subject content that could be picked up by spambots (or similar) and used/passed on to generate spam communications through website links in the posts.
I have had numerous spam emails over the last 3/4 months with marketing enquiries for website development and SEO, however, these have reduced significantly over the last month or so.

You raise an interesting point however regarding asking users to login again after a period of time. I'll ask about the feasibility of that although I'm still unsure if it really makes a difference as the content is public anyway.

I view the forum content fairly regularly just to keep an eye on any posts that may be of interest and solutions to problems that I discover. I do not log in generally to do this unless I want to raise a thread, post a question or participate in other threads and discussions.
What determines whether a member is active or not?
I feel that any member searching the forum and viewing content must be active but I am not sure how representative the numbers 30 to 35 are as they seem very low considering the thousands of members listed.

A long time ago we did discuss the idea of having the content only visible when logged in but decided against it at that time. The reason being that it was beneficial in having the search bots crawl the site and showing the content in their results. I personally still think that is the case, the community archives are a goldmine of information and an asset to Sellerdeck.

As may be - but how do you distinguish between a benign search bot and malicious spambot?

[Mike Hughes]

What concerns me is subject content that could be picked up by spambots (or similar) and used/passed on to generate spam communications through website links in the posts.

I think you're worrying too much. Why would spam bots bother searching forums for content to spam after following links to websites when they can just find websites and spam them directly?

As soon as you start running a website business you will get people spamming you with services they think might be relevant such as website design and SEO. I'm not convinced participation in forums is going to make that any worse, particularly if you avoid posting anything hugely sensitive and I'm not convinced spambots are even being that smart.