Forum Registration, User Accounts & Spam

[Dr Ron]

Please feel free to browse The Forum at your leisure. You don't need an account, and you don't need to sign-up or register.

In order to create topics and reply to posts, (which we actively encourage BTW,) you need to register first. The registration process only takes a few seconds and asks for some personal information, including a valid email address. A confirmation email is then sent to the address you provide in the registration process. You will need to click on the link provided in the confirmation email in order to activate your account and log in.

Inactive Accounts.

If you register to use The Forum, and receive a confirmation email but, for some reason, don't click on the link we send you, your account will remain inactive. (Your account is marked active once you login for the first time.)

In an effort to combat spam, and make the Forum a nicer place for everyone, inactive accounts will be deleted after about 30 days. A reminder email may be sent before an inactive account is deleted.

If you find that your account has been deleted because you forgot to click on the confirmation link, simply complete the registration process again and a fresh email will be sent to the address you provide.

Active accounts (i.e. accounts which have been logged-into at least once) will never be deleted.

Spammers.

We use a number of electronic methods to combat spam. Unfortunately, some spam posts and users still get through. Users that post spam will have their posts and accounts deleted with extreme prejudice; their IP address, username and email address will all be banned from future registration attempts; and the activity will be reported to the relevant ISP.

If you notice a spammy or otherwise objectionable post, consider clicking the "report this post" icon, which will alert the moderators and administrators, who can then take prompt action to remove the material in question.

Thankyou, and enjoy using the Tech Talk Forum!

[Dr Ron]

In order to reduce the incidence of spammy posts, I have enabled a board option called "Check IP against DNS Blackhole List".

This checks users' IP addresses against the spamcop.net and www.spamhaus.org DNSBL services on registration and posting.

By enabling this system setting, IP lookups when registering and posting may take a while longer. Hopefully the delay is not noticeable.

Let me know if slowdowns are experienced, or false positives are reported when you're logging on or registering.


Cheers, Ron.