Since the beginning of January, we have had to deal with an increase in spammer attempts to get into this forum. As a result of trying a few things, we have settled on some changes that appear to be effective. As existing users of this forum, the changes may have a slight effect on you, but should not be an inconvenience. Here's a few details ...
* New registrations used to have to be approved by admin. This was causing too much work trying to determine who was a spammer and who was genuine. New registrations are now 'self approved'. This may seem like the wrong approach but bear with us and read on.
* If the email address used for a new registration doesn't work (that applies to some spammers), admin gets notified and the registration is deleted.
* Successful new registrations are temporarily held in a special group. When they try to post to the forum, their posting has to be approved (or moderated). Whilst this puts a slight delay on a genuine new member's post, it makes very easy to spot the spamming attempts. And, once again, we delete the registration. As soon as we know you're genuine, we'll move you out of that special group and you can post to the forum immediately.
* The IP addresses (locations) of new registrations are automatically checked against known spam locations and servers. If the IP address is recognised, they're unable to register. If this happens to you, and you're genuine, please contact us.
* The registration form has an extra field of 'Elva Interests' that has to be completed. If we spot invalid information in here or in the website address of the profile, we'll just delete the registration. Unfortunately, if you are a genuine member and change your profile, you'll also be required to enter this info. I know that some of you have already put such info in the normal 'Interests' box of your profile.
* Finally, if a spammer does get through and you spot an irregular posting, please report this. There is a 'report this post' button/link - an exclamation mark (!) - at the bottom-right of every forum posting.
