Well folks as you know there have been alot of sites getting hammered by spam and the occasional hackers. Our site has seen its hay daze of this activity along with aliases that stirred up the pot. So hang out and read a long post here if you choose. If you are a new registered member that has not been approved and want to know why your not approved please read this whole post.

Over this last week we have had several users that have registered but  did not get approved. After email exchanges which often don't prove squat I approved these accounts since they seemed to know paddling terms, local rivers and in some cases had excuses on why they did not meet the criteria I have set for approving accounts.

In any case I am writing this to let everyone know that all the moderators need your help identifying spammers, hackers or aliases. Clearly there is a big difference between an alias and an abusive alias that the later can only be seen after the abuse has been made. So keep an eye out and help our team keep the board clean of driftwood.

To kayakerbabe (aka Sharon Micock) and the other recent joins, I am sure your all just a bunch of fun loving paddlers and since your on other boards and have returned my emails your approved, but be warned that our group does not deal well with jokers who hide behind aliases and although paddlers boast thick skins the northwest has a way of thinning them down.

For everyone else that did not get approved or those that might wonder why I never even responded on why they were rejected here is the criteria used.

1. I run your listed email through StopForumSpam.com if you are listed I don't even bother moving to step 2 or responding.
   
   
2. I run your requested username through StopForumSpam.com if you are listed I will email you back to determine if you are a legitimate paddler that just picked a hot username. I still proceed through all steps before emailing.
   
   
3. I run your IP address through StopForumSpam.com if you are listed I email back to explain your IP has been listed and request an explanation or proof that you are indeed a paddler not a spam/hacker. A few of you have taken offense to this and threatened to use other boards or basically accused me of a bad attitude. Understand that because IP addresses can be re-assigned I don't make this a final rule as I do with steps 1, and 2. However I do need an explanation. If you start with abusive language or racial responses accusing our moderators of being racists or preferring countries that is not the case and we will likely not approve your membership due to your inability to accept that this process keeps our board functional.
   
   
4. If your entire registration passes the StopForumSpam test then your email is run through a google search. If I see your registered on notorious spam boards, show post history of spam or even listed as a user on various security breeching sites (astalavista, fobu etc) I am going to ask you for an explanation as to your credibility as a paddler. Again don't be offended I am just trying to prevent some of the security problems that we have had and make sure once your a member you have a great time without these headaches.
   
   
5. If you passed all those steps your registration is then approved.
   

So thanks for reading all this if you did not skip to the bottom, and enjoy the board. If your waiting for approval understand that this process can take a while since it is a multi step and we get up to 10 - 20 new registrations per day with around only 25% being legitimate requests.

~ James


Edited by James - 28 Oct 2010 at 11:23am

Sounds reasonable to me, James. 

I also say kudos for instituting moderators and banning combative posters, as the site has really become much more positive, and I have noticed a lot of new people now using the site. So, Thanks!

Speaking of moderators, I am pretty unclear about how that works. In particular, I am wondering why the really inflammatory language posted on the FITW Video post was never edited or removed??? Is that within the power of the moderators?

 

I think I know her.  Doesn't she paddle with Seymour Butts and Phil McKrakin? 

Did Barry Mycochner also join up?

Wow, I had no idea it took that much work to keep the forum clear of spammers -  I get comment spam from those types of people all the time on my blog but it's a lot less work for me to kill the comment before it gets posted, thanks for going to all the effort here.

lmfao

Adolf Oliver Bush

Wilma Fingerdoo