To Edward Troxel

Plamen Petrov · October 27th, 2007, 05:05 AM

Hi, Edward,
I open jetdv.com many times because it is very usefull. But everytime I try to register, I get "Sorry, but this e-mail address has been banned", why?!?

Edward Troxel · October 27th, 2007, 06:23 AM

I had to ban gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com and several others because I was getting too many spam registrants from those domains. Soooo... YOU are not banned - your e-mail provider is. Either try a different account or e-mail mebfor a work-around.

Jason Robinson · October 28th, 2007, 01:06 AM

Have you looked into implementing a Captcha to block the bots from registering? Or where these actual people registering and trying to post spam?

Guy Bruner · October 28th, 2007, 08:09 AM

I empathize with Edward. As a former admin of several web forums, we were beseiged with spammers even with registration security including captcha. The problem is that spammers can buy software that automates their signup and circumvents protections such as basic captcha. We found that banning certain known spammer hosts (such as @list.ru, @hotmail.com and @gmail.com) helps only a little. Banning individual spammers is counter productive in the long run as spammers have an endless supply of zombie accounts they can utilize. What we settled on was manual screening of all new registrations so an admin could pick out the spammers from the legitimate registrants. Because the spammer software has a few telltale signatures, manual scanning was most effective...but time consuming. After culling the spammers from legitimate registrants, we just deleted the spammer account. This is faster than banning and doesn't gum up the forum software with long lists of banned users which can potentially slow down the site response. Until better registration security is developed, website owners will be plagued with these scum and legitimate users will be inconvenienced.

Edward Troxel · October 28th, 2007, 12:44 PM

Jason, my site already does that. Guy - I agree and have mine set where you can register but not post until I OK the registration. I just got tired of the sheer number of them coming from Hotmail, gmail, etc... so I just banned the entire mail host. It cut the number of spam registrants WAY back.

At this time, when you register you can't post (or, apparently, even log in) until I activate the account. So once registring, keep trying to log in until it works. If your account disappears, I didn't recognize it as being valid (yes, it does happen sometimes) and deleted it. If I delete, re-register and let me know some way that it IS valid (e-mails are good!)

If the only account you have that you can register from is gmail or hotmail (etc...), send me an e-mail and I'll help you work around that issue.

Yes, it's a pain but the spammers have driven me to doing it.

Plamen Petrov · October 29th, 2007, 11:45 AM

So, Edward, I made registrations in so many mail servers arround the world, but still banned for your site (forum). If there is a server or provider that will not be banned, you tell me, and I will use it for registration.

Edward Troxel · October 29th, 2007, 12:34 PM

I have e-mailed a workaround to you.

October 27th, 2007, 05:05 AM	#1
Plamen Petrov Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Sofia Bulgaria Posts: 147	To Edward Troxel - IMPORTANT!!! Hi, Edward, I open jetdv.com many times because it is very usefull. But everytime I try to register, I get "Sorry, but this e-mail address has been banned", why?!?

October 27th, 2007, 06:23 AM	#2
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	I had to ban gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com and several others because I was getting too many spam registrants from those domains. Soooo... YOU are not banned - your e-mail provider is. Either try a different account or e-mail mebfor a work-around. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

October 28th, 2007, 01:06 AM	#3
Jason Robinson Trustee Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Boise, Idaho Posts: 1,997	Captcha Have you looked into implementing a Captcha to block the bots from registering? Or where these actual people registering and trying to post spam? Last edited by Jason Robinson; October 28th, 2007 at 01:06 AM. Reason: spelling

October 28th, 2007, 12:44 PM	#5
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	Jason, my site already does that. Guy - I agree and have mine set where you can register but not post until I OK the registration. I just got tired of the sheer number of them coming from Hotmail, gmail, etc... so I just banned the entire mail host. It cut the number of spam registrants WAY back. At this time, when you register you can't post (or, apparently, even log in) until I activate the account. So once registring, keep trying to log in until it works. If your account disappears, I didn't recognize it as being valid (yes, it does happen sometimes) and deleted it. If I delete, re-register and let me know some way that it IS valid (e-mails are good!) If the only account you have that you can register from is gmail or hotmail (etc...), send me an e-mail and I'll help you work around that issue. Yes, it's a pain but the spammers have driven me to doing it. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

October 29th, 2007, 12:34 PM	#7
Edward Troxel Sponsor: JET DV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Southern Illinois Posts: 7,953	I have e-mailed a workaround to you. __________________ Edward Troxel [SCVU] JETDV Scripts/Scripting Tutorials/Excalibur/Montage Magic/Newsletters

October 28th, 2007, 08:09 AM	#4
Guy Bruner Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Ashford, AL Posts: 937	I empathize with Edward. As a former admin of several web forums, we were beseiged with spammers even with registration security including captcha. The problem is that spammers can buy software that automates their signup and circumvents protections such as basic captcha. We found that banning certain known spammer hosts (such as @list.ru, @hotmail.com and @gmail.com) helps only a little. Banning individual spammers is counter productive in the long run as spammers have an endless supply of zombie accounts they can utilize. What we settled on was manual screening of all new registrations so an admin could pick out the spammers from the legitimate registrants. Because the spammer software has a few telltale signatures, manual scanning was most effective...but time consuming. After culling the spammers from legitimate registrants, we just deleted the spammer account. This is faster than banning and doesn't gum up the forum software with long lists of banned users which can potentially slow down the site response. Until better registration security is developed, website owners will be plagued with these scum and legitimate users will be inconvenienced.

October 29th, 2007, 11:45 AM	#6
Plamen Petrov Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Sofia Bulgaria Posts: 147	So, Edward, I made registrations in so many mail servers arround the world, but still banned for your site (forum). If there is a server or provider that will not be banned, you tell me, and I will use it for registration.