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Postby lwf58 » Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:29 pm

Because of past problems with spammers creating bogus accounts - a problem every online forum has to deal with - new accounts must be approved and created by me, personally. There is no automated system for the creation of new accounts. This means that there will be a delay before you can post messages or use any of the features of the site, because it'll probably take time for me to get to it. This kills spontaneity, since a person cannot sign up and immediately post a message, but you can blame the bad guys for that.

Procedure:

Contact me by sending email to l w f 58 at h o t m a i l dot c o m. (remove the spaces and use the appropriate symbols in place of the words "at" and "dot". For the subject of the email, write "New Fukufics Account Request". In the body of the message, tell me your name, email address, and the username you wish to use to log into account. A temporary password will be randomly generated and emailed to you, which you may change in your profile controls.

After you receive the automatic confirmation email telling you that your account is ready, log in and immediately go to your profile control panel. Fill in the rest of your information and change your password to whatever you may want as the permanent one. Changing your password is, of course, optional.

Please note that we occasionally prune zero-post accounts to get rid of dubious accounts that get in by mistake. For that reason, new site members are urged to post at least one message. That lets us know you're a real person. A hello topic in the "Introductions" folder is best, but a reply in any topic will also do, as we just want something on the post counter in your profile. Accounts with at least one post are never deleted.

Lastly, we have a link to the forum rules at the beginning of every folder. Read them. They are enforced - even the ones that people think are silly.

Why the manual creation of accounts?

Spambots have been a major problem for online forums for many years, and there are few solutions for them. None of those solutions are 100% effective, and few are very good. Some time back, we installed an advanced CAPTCHA system to try and curb spambots from initiating accounts. It worked fairly well for awhile and I only had to deal with a few spammers getting past it. Then in early January of 2011, that changed. Evidently someone figured out how to crack the security provided by the service we were using, and I was inundated with accounts generated by spambots. We're talking well over thirty bogus sign-ups a day for a solid week, and I had to deal with each and every one of them.

That's why I finally decided that I'd enter all new accounts by hand. We only get a few legitimate sign-ups in any given month, so it's a practical solution from a security standpoint. While I'm sorry about the inconvenience this poses for new forum members, I've reached the end of my patience and temper because of those mental defectives who have nothing better to do than ruin the internet for the rest of us. This procedure will allow me live without hundreds of spam accounts for this forum flooding my inbox every week.
lwf58
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