Registered Users count

[AncientBrit]

I'm a bit mystified why the total of Registered Users (not the currently on line figure) seems to oscillate.

A few days ago we reached the dizzy peak of 101, we're back to 53 now.

Is the count reliable?

Is my eyesight going?



Graham

[DrZarkov]

Sometimes you can even see at the names that those registrations are from spammers. Those accounts are usually deleted very soon. It's the same problem in any public discussion board. Am I right, Andrew?

[moderator]

Sometimes you can even see at the names that those registrations are from spammers. Those accounts are usually deleted very soon. It's the same problem in any public discussion board. Am I right, Andrew?

Yes. The board attracts roughly 2 spam registrations per day. I generally leave things a day or two basically because there's nothing a newly registered user can do (spam or not) until I actually approve and activate their account. Every now and then I go through and analyse the users who are registered but inactive, and weed out the spam from the ham.

Sometimes this is not entirely obvious -- for example, several of us have registered using their radio call-signs as their username. These look very similar to the random garbage some spam users use. As a fallback, I look at the email address -- if the email address matches the username, but is NOT one of those free email services, then it might be genuine. After weeding out all the obviously fake/spam users, I'm typically left with two or three possibly genuine ones. I then send an email to those which I still doubt, and if I get a reply then I allow registration.

All this keeps the board totally free of spam posters, but it does mean that the registered user count fluctuates up and down. There are about 50 genuine registered users, and it seems to have been sitting on this for a number of months now.

[Steve Anderson]

Yes. The board attracts roughly 2 spam registrations per day. I generally leave things a day or two basically because there's nothing a newly registered user can do (spam or not) until I actually approve and activate their account.

What an absolute waste of your time! What in hell do these people hope to gain from this activity?

I cannot see the point of such a waste of useful resourses, both peoples' time and Internet bandwidth.

As I recall some two years ago Bill Gates said he would 'get rid' of the spammers....yet again he hasn't delivered on his promise.

Steve A.

[Viewmaster]

Thanks for taking all that time and trouble to keep us free of those idiots out there who have nothing better to do...maybe they ought to build an NBTV...that would keep them busy !
Albert.

[Steve Anderson]

I've just taken a wander through the 'memberlist' and note that around 40% have never posted at all. Now, with any hobby organisation there will always be the 'armchair' members, those that like to read and have an interest, but that's as far as it goes. Their mortgage doesn't depend on their productivity or otherwise.

There is also the factor of available time that each can devote to their interest(s).

But what I find mystifying is the absence (with one or two exceptions) of those that normally contribute to the newsletter.

Steve A.

We're having one heck of a tropical storm here, I hope this gets through OK.

[DrZarkov]

We're having one heck of a tropical storm here, I hope this gets through OK.

Our weather here is not very tropical, but disgusting, too. On friday we had a big thunderstorm, and we have some problems with our roof, water came in into my working room. The roofers were here several times in the past 3 month, but it didn't help. The weekend was "dry" (not so much rain). but today it is very bad again. Summer 2007? I think it was on a saturday... But what do I say? What I've heard in the news parts of England are without electricity and water! Be happy to live in Thailand!

[AncientBrit]

Andrew,

Thanks for the explanation, I wondered what was going on.

It's a shame you have to waste so much of your time weeding out the idiots.

Kind regards,

Graham

[Viewmaster]

I've just taken a wander through the 'memberlist' and note that around 40% have never posted at all.

In some cases they are very highly skilled and respected builders of NBTV machines and say nothing or very little.
I for one, would welcome a comment from them just now and again on some of the projects being discussed on this forum.
But they stay quiet.
Albert.

[Steve Anderson]

I for one, would welcome a comment from them just now and again on some of the projects being discussed on this forum.
Albert.

..and I couldn't agree more. Where are the others? I've just had a look through the copies of the newsletter that I have, and as I mentioned before, with few exceptions all appear missing here.

I'm sure that in the past Andrew has made certain that officers of the NBTVA are aware of this forum. I simply cannot believe that in the 21st century so many are not connected or are simply unaware of this forums existance.

In fact I know that some are connected as I have had e-mails from them in the past before this forum was started. In addition there is the list on the NBTVA website of members e-mails.

I understand there are those that have no interest in computers (me included), but they're a tool that one cannot do without in this day and age. They are an unavoidable evil.

So what's going on here? Why are we missing those that have contributed so much over the years? I think I know why, but I'm going to let you draw your own conclusions.

Steve A.

[Andrew Davie]

So what's going on here? Why are we missing those that have contributed so much over the years? I think I know why, but I'm going to let you draw your own conclusions.

Steve A.

It took a few years for the 'old timers' in the slide rule collecting community to warm to the online mailing list that I started (back in '96), and there are still some who rarely participate. That list now has over 1200 members, and yet the newsletter is still a wonderfully informative and professional effort done independantly by the old-guard, so to speak. The two complement each other quite nicely.

I'm not concerned that these NBTV old-timers are not contributing. When there's something on the forum that really interests them, they will. What those of us who DO use the forum need to do is make sure that the forum is an indispensible tool for those interested in NBTV.

I think the fact that the forum is linked from the official NBTVA site is proof positive that at least some of the major players think that it is beneficial to the community as a whole. Let's just keep plugging away and providing interesting content on this forum, help each other as much as we can, and eventually we'll see new faces every now and then.

You can lead a horse to water.... Nothing to worry about -- been through all this before. The important thing is to keep contributing, and keep the forum active.