Hi Mark
I ran into a guy named Daren a few days ago who owns a 75 Spider
he had try'd to join this site a while back and had issues getting a
login to work something about his account wasnt accepted and
everything he try'd didnt go thru ? So he try'd to contact Evan
and nothing then he emailed you and you sent a reply but he said he
hadn't heared anything after .
Just thought maybe i could pass something on to Daren as to what
he should do or what do you sugguest ? he try .
Daniel
Attention Mark / Forum Issues Thread
-
So Cal Mark
Unfortunately, I don't have much of an answer for him. Since Evan switched the forum over to phpbb he suspended new registrations until the spam issue is resolved. Instead of an automatic activation, each one has to be done manually by the admin. I've received many emails with activation concerns and I've fwded all of them to Evan. But, my efforts to contact Evan have been ineffective. I know he's been traveling due to his new job and I can only assume he's handling these requests when he has time.
My access level only allows me to moderate posts, I don't have the ability to deal with the memberlist or other issues. There are many longtime members that have been de-activated and must re-register and I feel this issue is the reason that activity on the forum is much lower than in the past.
My access level only allows me to moderate posts, I don't have the ability to deal with the memberlist or other issues. There are many longtime members that have been de-activated and must re-register and I feel this issue is the reason that activity on the forum is much lower than in the past.
-
Site Owner
- Site Admin
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:07 pm
- Location: USA
New Members
Hey guys -
Mark - sorry I've been AWOL for so long, you guessed right my job is very demanding these days and I don't really have a lot of time to devote to this effort anymore. But . . . I did work on it some last night. The problem continues to be spammers and porno. I had to actually shut down the mail server that this site was using because of the spam/hack/porn issue. So this is why the new membership function is not operating at all right now. I brought the mail server up again last night and sure enough we got flooded right away.
I know there is some work that could be done to at least cut this problem back some - but to be honest, I just don't have the time. I could have all of the requests come to you Mark, and I could actually make you overall admin. However, I don't think that's going to solve the problem and you're e-mail account would hate it.
I'm not sure what the answer is. I don't have the time anymore, I know that much. What I'd really like to do is sell this whole thing to someone that could do this right. But the bottom line is that this domain name is very valuable and I'm simply not going to give it up below market value.
One possibility is leasing the domain out (have the site hosted and maintained elsewhere, but I would point to it under FiatSpider.com.
I would be open to that idea if the deal was right. Just a thought.
I'm open to suggestions. A few of us have a long, long history together and I'm certainly not going to just shut it down, or act like a jerk about it. So maybe we could use this thread as a dialog about the future of this site.
Thoughts?
Evan
Mark - sorry I've been AWOL for so long, you guessed right my job is very demanding these days and I don't really have a lot of time to devote to this effort anymore. But . . . I did work on it some last night. The problem continues to be spammers and porno. I had to actually shut down the mail server that this site was using because of the spam/hack/porn issue. So this is why the new membership function is not operating at all right now. I brought the mail server up again last night and sure enough we got flooded right away.
I know there is some work that could be done to at least cut this problem back some - but to be honest, I just don't have the time. I could have all of the requests come to you Mark, and I could actually make you overall admin. However, I don't think that's going to solve the problem and you're e-mail account would hate it.
I'm not sure what the answer is. I don't have the time anymore, I know that much. What I'd really like to do is sell this whole thing to someone that could do this right. But the bottom line is that this domain name is very valuable and I'm simply not going to give it up below market value.
One possibility is leasing the domain out (have the site hosted and maintained elsewhere, but I would point to it under FiatSpider.com.
I would be open to that idea if the deal was right. Just a thought.
I'm open to suggestions. A few of us have a long, long history together and I'm certainly not going to just shut it down, or act like a jerk about it. So maybe we could use this thread as a dialog about the future of this site.
Thoughts?
Evan
Founder & Owner
FiatSpider.com
FiatSpider.com
-
bandit
Hi Evan
Thanks for your reply to this issue it's been a while since you
responded here or Fiat Center ! nice to see your still around .
Now about the responce you left on FS.com if your looking to
lease it out or sell it how would anyone market this site to re cover
the cost over time or maybe even make a few dollars and wouldn't
you be able to do this yourself if your in the bussiness ?
There are a few well known venders for Fiat parts who might have
an interests as to placing adds here and some really cool stuff
happening with Italalian cars lately in the USA .
About emails, Mark or someone else could have a email account
just for this site so they aren't flooded with only spam to deal with
or maybe a new email would solve this issue since your email
is on some of these spammers list, i highly dout they are searching
out FS.com daily to see if they can get in .
Most of the people on this site really like it and agree it's one of the
better sites to be a part of and i thank you for having it up .
I can understand if your to busy to deal with it and need to
spend your time on more important issues i think everyone here
could relate as well .
Well just a thought thx again for spending the time to deal with
the issues here Evan take care .
Daniel
Thanks for your reply to this issue it's been a while since you
responded here or Fiat Center ! nice to see your still around .
Now about the responce you left on FS.com if your looking to
lease it out or sell it how would anyone market this site to re cover
the cost over time or maybe even make a few dollars and wouldn't
you be able to do this yourself if your in the bussiness ?
There are a few well known venders for Fiat parts who might have
an interests as to placing adds here and some really cool stuff
happening with Italalian cars lately in the USA .
About emails, Mark or someone else could have a email account
just for this site so they aren't flooded with only spam to deal with
or maybe a new email would solve this issue since your email
is on some of these spammers list, i highly dout they are searching
out FS.com daily to see if they can get in .
Most of the people on this site really like it and agree it's one of the
better sites to be a part of and i thank you for having it up .
I can understand if your to busy to deal with it and need to
spend your time on more important issues i think everyone here
could relate as well .
Well just a thought thx again for spending the time to deal with
the issues here Evan take care .
Daniel
-
mbouse
There are costs associated with every decision of importance. Most of us won't realize any of the costs associated with the decisions you suggest, myself included.
When you say 'lease out' what does that mean to the user? in-your-face advertising? co-pay on our behalf? fewer coinage in your pocket?
I think most of us moderate to heavy users have come to find that each forum has its own flavor. we have come to expect certain things from each forum we participate in, and return to the forum regularly to get those expectations fulfilled. when participation drops dramatically, it is difficult to get whatcha came for.
as a moderate volume user, i would put up with a little annoyance at the main page if it meant more participation from existing and new users. it is a shame that the global internet society has not figured out how to put an end to these abusers...someday that will happen...but again, at a cost.
What would you like to hear from us, Evan?
When you say 'lease out' what does that mean to the user? in-your-face advertising? co-pay on our behalf? fewer coinage in your pocket?
I think most of us moderate to heavy users have come to find that each forum has its own flavor. we have come to expect certain things from each forum we participate in, and return to the forum regularly to get those expectations fulfilled. when participation drops dramatically, it is difficult to get whatcha came for.
as a moderate volume user, i would put up with a little annoyance at the main page if it meant more participation from existing and new users. it is a shame that the global internet society has not figured out how to put an end to these abusers...someday that will happen...but again, at a cost.
What would you like to hear from us, Evan?
-
Site Owner
- Site Admin
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:07 pm
- Location: USA
Let me shed a little more light:
I've had no e-mail account or server associated with this site for about 4 months or so. I had to shut the server down because of spammers. This is why there's been no valid new members recently.
Thursday night, last week, I created a new e-mail account for this site only at Network Solutions under a new domain for the mail server. Brand New.
On Friday AM, I had around 40 new membership requests in the newly created box. You see, I have it set up for admin approval only for new members requests. If I left it with the typical self-approval via e-mail like the old days, we would be overrun with spammers and porno in less than 48 hours.
So this past Friday, I went through each request using the forum's admin tool where I could view the return e-mail address and other info from the new user requests. I had to look at each one to see if they were legit. Out of 40 requests, only ONE was not spam or porno.
So Daniel, while I do appreciate your post:
"About emails, Mark or someone else could have a email account
just for this site so they aren't flooded with only spam to deal with
or maybe a new email would solve this issue since your email
is on some of these spammers list, i highly dout they are searching
out FS.com daily to see if they can get in . "
Actually about 90% of the traffic consists of spam bots. Highly intelligent spam bots I might add. These jerks have custom made bots that search out forums like ours and they are smart enough to register on their own. These guys don't even have to tend to these things, they just set them off and the bots do their dirty deeds.
I cleared out the new mailbox on Friday and went away for the weekend.
I came back - it's Sunday night, and I check the box. There's over 80 requests in there. I'll have to go through each one and see who's legit and who's not, weed it out and so on. This just isn't going to work. If I sent these requests to any other box, the same thing would happen.
You're right, I am in the business and I know how these things work. But the problem is that it's a constantly moving target - the battle with the spammers. You fix it, they find a work around, you fix it again . . . on and on. I know there are ways to do this in a spam safe manner, but it takes time and money. Niether of which I have much of now.
I had a long talk with Mark on Friday - I called him and let him know all of the issues. I don't want to shut this site down and I'm not planning on it, but the spammers and porno idiots are making it difficult to run this thing without spending significant amounts of maintenance time on it, and I just don't have the time.
I am not going to give up the domain names - they are just too valuable.
Actually the domain name is part of the problem. FiatSpider.com gets tons, I mean TONS of traffic each day and that's why we are such a target. If you do a Google search for "Fiat Spider" we are number one in the ORGANIC search out of over 2 million returns. That's huge.
So, unless someone steps up and offers me a true market value for the .com, .org, and .net names, I will continue to hold these. I've been in this business at a high level since the web's inception in 1994, and I know what these names are worth. I've seen names much more obscure than this with less traffic go for amounts between 40 and 60k - seriously.
Leasing the domain out could work. I would just simply point to the server or host that is leasing. It's an idea worth looking into I think. It would make sense for any commercial endeavour having to do with this car. If anyone would like to discuss it, I'm open.
I do care about the core members here. I've kept this site online since 1996. I'm no longer running my own company. I shut it down last summer after 11 good years in business and went to work for a Fortune 200 financial firm full-time as Creative Director for the company's web presence. I just don't have the time to spend on properly maintaining this site anymore. Heck, it used to be back in the day I'd put one of my developers on it. Some of you might remember Fletch back in the old days. Ah - those were the good 'ol days! No porno idiots, very few spammers, remember??
Hang in there all you regulars, we'll figure something out. In the meantime, I'll try to keep the lights on for ya.
Take Care,
=e=
I've had no e-mail account or server associated with this site for about 4 months or so. I had to shut the server down because of spammers. This is why there's been no valid new members recently.
Thursday night, last week, I created a new e-mail account for this site only at Network Solutions under a new domain for the mail server. Brand New.
On Friday AM, I had around 40 new membership requests in the newly created box. You see, I have it set up for admin approval only for new members requests. If I left it with the typical self-approval via e-mail like the old days, we would be overrun with spammers and porno in less than 48 hours.
So this past Friday, I went through each request using the forum's admin tool where I could view the return e-mail address and other info from the new user requests. I had to look at each one to see if they were legit. Out of 40 requests, only ONE was not spam or porno.
So Daniel, while I do appreciate your post:
"About emails, Mark or someone else could have a email account
just for this site so they aren't flooded with only spam to deal with
or maybe a new email would solve this issue since your email
is on some of these spammers list, i highly dout they are searching
out FS.com daily to see if they can get in . "
Actually about 90% of the traffic consists of spam bots. Highly intelligent spam bots I might add. These jerks have custom made bots that search out forums like ours and they are smart enough to register on their own. These guys don't even have to tend to these things, they just set them off and the bots do their dirty deeds.
I cleared out the new mailbox on Friday and went away for the weekend.
I came back - it's Sunday night, and I check the box. There's over 80 requests in there. I'll have to go through each one and see who's legit and who's not, weed it out and so on. This just isn't going to work. If I sent these requests to any other box, the same thing would happen.
You're right, I am in the business and I know how these things work. But the problem is that it's a constantly moving target - the battle with the spammers. You fix it, they find a work around, you fix it again . . . on and on. I know there are ways to do this in a spam safe manner, but it takes time and money. Niether of which I have much of now.
I had a long talk with Mark on Friday - I called him and let him know all of the issues. I don't want to shut this site down and I'm not planning on it, but the spammers and porno idiots are making it difficult to run this thing without spending significant amounts of maintenance time on it, and I just don't have the time.
I am not going to give up the domain names - they are just too valuable.
Actually the domain name is part of the problem. FiatSpider.com gets tons, I mean TONS of traffic each day and that's why we are such a target. If you do a Google search for "Fiat Spider" we are number one in the ORGANIC search out of over 2 million returns. That's huge.
So, unless someone steps up and offers me a true market value for the .com, .org, and .net names, I will continue to hold these. I've been in this business at a high level since the web's inception in 1994, and I know what these names are worth. I've seen names much more obscure than this with less traffic go for amounts between 40 and 60k - seriously.
Leasing the domain out could work. I would just simply point to the server or host that is leasing. It's an idea worth looking into I think. It would make sense for any commercial endeavour having to do with this car. If anyone would like to discuss it, I'm open.
I do care about the core members here. I've kept this site online since 1996. I'm no longer running my own company. I shut it down last summer after 11 good years in business and went to work for a Fortune 200 financial firm full-time as Creative Director for the company's web presence. I just don't have the time to spend on properly maintaining this site anymore. Heck, it used to be back in the day I'd put one of my developers on it. Some of you might remember Fletch back in the old days. Ah - those were the good 'ol days! No porno idiots, very few spammers, remember??
Hang in there all you regulars, we'll figure something out. In the meantime, I'll try to keep the lights on for ya.
Take Care,
=e=
Founder & Owner
FiatSpider.com
FiatSpider.com
-
Site Owner
- Site Admin
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:07 pm
- Location: USA
Look At This
Here's what I'm talking about:
This is just a partial screen shot showing a portion of the member requests from this weekend. Out of the whole bunch, only one, "teacherferguson" seems even remotely legit. The rest are spammers, I assure you. And I had to weed them out 1x1 tonight just to keep the register from bloating on a daily basis.
This is just a partial screen shot showing a portion of the member requests from this weekend. Out of the whole bunch, only one, "teacherferguson" seems even remotely legit. The rest are spammers, I assure you. And I had to weed them out 1x1 tonight just to keep the register from bloating on a daily basis.
Founder & Owner
FiatSpider.com
FiatSpider.com
-
Site Owner
- Site Admin
- Posts: 184
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:07 pm
- Location: USA
MOVING THREAD
I'm moving this thread to "Discussions About This Site" to keep things straight. Let's continue there.
Founder & Owner
FiatSpider.com
FiatSpider.com
-
So Cal Mark
I did have a long talk with Evan about the site, and I'm well aware of the new member problem. I've been monitoring new members for awhile now and rarely is a new member really a member of the Fiat community.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to not only keep the forum up and running, but keeping it current.
I'm working on a proposal for Evan and I'll be talking to him soon about it. In the meantime, if you're a Fiat fan that's been trying to register, please be patient. We'll get this sorted out soon.
You can continue this discussion under Site Discussions, the thread is locked at this location
I'm willing to do whatever it takes to not only keep the forum up and running, but keeping it current.
I'm working on a proposal for Evan and I'll be talking to him soon about it. In the meantime, if you're a Fiat fan that's been trying to register, please be patient. We'll get this sorted out soon.
You can continue this discussion under Site Discussions, the thread is locked at this location