Forum Changes

[Dobba]

I'll update this topic with any changes made to the website and forum to keep you all up to date.

11/10/11
After a few spambots managed to access the forum (something I take as a compliment considering they only usually target more popular message boards ) I've decided to, temporarily, change the activation settings for new users.
Where before you'd receive an email with details of how to activate your account so you can post on the forums, the activation will be done by myself. Obviously this is less practical than being able to activate your own account but hopefully it won't be in use for long as I search for an alternate solution to the problem.

[Glyn]

Thanks Ben

Glad we managed to block a few :muppet: s before they did any damage...

[Del]

Speak for yourself ... I could do with a new cheap flat-screen telly!!

[Dobba]

13/10/11
All being well, visiting www.htfcsa.co.uk will now result in that domain showing in the address bar rather than my domain.

[Mark]

Good work Ben!

[Del]

Just worked that one out .. thought my broadband was on the blink as my favourites button kept telling me the 'benchoma' page did not exist!!


Google will have fun now! ... nice work Ben.

[Mark]

Just had a though about the Spambots.

Do we have a "captcha" puzzle when new members register? If not, is this a feature we can activate?

[Dobba]

Just to follow up with the domain fix, it does mean that visiting any link starting http://www.benchoma.co.uk/htfcsa will show an error as it, in effect, no longer exists. I'll see if I can redirect anyone who uses that domain to the new one to avoid seeing the error message.

Changing the domain has also meant having to change the cookie settings for the forum, this means that anybody who had the 'Always log me in automatically' set will still be told to log in as again the old cookies that did this job are no longer valid. If any of you have forgotten your password, just either email me or send a message on the forum and I'll do my best to get it sorted for you.

As for captcha, the problem is finding one that hasn't already been compromised by the spambots (such as the one we had on here previously) but it is certainly the most practical solution to the spambot problem.

I have also blocked a number of the more common spam email addresses from being used to register for an account and will add to it as and when we inevitably get more trying to sign up.

[Dobba]

15/10/11
- Restored the account activation settings to user via email rather than having admins and moderators manually activate new accounts.
- Added further spambot prevention, with an IP checker to look up new registrations against a spambot database that is updated by fellow forum admins
- Fixed the HTFCSA Forum Members-only Section so you can't see it while as a guest or logged out
- I've had to temporarily remove the social sharing buttons from posts on the main HTFCSA site. The plugin used to achieve this has recently been updated and the update sends the page into chaos. Hopefully a further update by the plugin developer will fix this issue and it can be restored to the site in the coming days.

[Dobba]

17/12/11
- Added a question that needs to be answered correctly during the registration process and blacklisted a few more email addresses. Hopefully this will cut down on the number of spambot registrations and posts that have plagued the site in recent weeks.

[Dobba]

26/01/12

The forum has been updated to the newest version of the software. Some people are saying they've had issues with seeing the old forum and I'll be looking into that.

[Dobba]

18/09/12

Forum successfully updated to latest version of the software.

[Dobba]

13/01/13

tags fixed. All being well you should be able to put any YouTube link (incl. the shortened youtu.be ones) between them and the video player will appear in your post.
I'll be adding a number of other tags to the forum in the coming days as well as a post detailing how to use them.

[Dobba]

23/11/13

With a vast increase in spam accounts over the last couple of days I have done some tweaking to the anti-spam features the board has and installed another countermeasure (which explains why I was on here at 2 this morning for anybody who saw I was logged in). Hopefully this will stop spammers in their tracks.

[Glyn]

23/11/13

With a vast increase in spam accounts over the last couple of days I have done some tweaking to the anti-spam features the board has and installed another countermeasure (which explains why I was on here at 2 this morning for anybody who saw I was logged in). Hopefully this will hopefully stop spammers in their tracks.

That's good thanks Ben, thanks on behalf of the moderating team and especially Del, our banner-in-chief.

I didn't want any kitchens or porn anyway...

[The Beerhunter]

Well, kitchens anyway.

[Dobba]

07/07/15

As you may have noticed, the forum was down for a few hours this afternoon. Following the promotion of the run out music poll on the club's social media channels, it became apparent that people had been having trouble signing up for the forum. While I was fixing that issue, I decided it was a good time to drag the software kicking and screaming into 2015...before realising this would involve completely rebuilding the website around it. But, as they say, if you're going to do something you may as well do it right!

In theory at least, the forum should be more reliable and indeed quicker going into the new season.

[PitmanKeith]

07/07/15

As you may have noticed, the forum was down for a few hours this afternoon. Following the promotion of the run out music poll on the club's social media channels, it became apparent that people had been having trouble signing up for the forum. While I was fixing that issue, I decided it was a good time to drag the software kicking and screaming into 2015...before realising this would involve completely rebuilding the website around it. But, as they say, if you're going to do something you may as well do it right!

In theory at least, the forum should be more reliable and indeed quicker going into the new season.

[Del]

Thanks Ben - doubtless we will now see a sudden influx of new members - even if it is just to vote!!

(5 to date)