Registration Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:52:21 GMT posted by Watty
To register you MUST use a real email address and respond to the email by click on the link, otherwise your email is not verified (we assume you are a spammer).
So make sure and check any Spam systems/folders for the Registration Email.
Note: To save bandwidth from spammers, bots, search engines and content scrapers you have to be logged in as a member for attachment Thumbnails to open in Forums or view images at all in Articles. Similar applies to downloads.
The Process:
1) Your IP and email address is checked against a real time Spammer database. This blocks 25 to 50 spammer signup attempts per day.
2) The CATCHPA (awkward text) is tested to see if you did it right. This is ignored if (1) fails. Spambot operators hire cheap 3rd world labour to defeat the CATCHPA.
3) I get told there is a new user and you get Emailed the verification link (automatically).
4) You click on the link on the email and The Admins are told in Control panel a user awaits moderation.
5) We do a final manual lookup on various spam databases and Google of your chosen Username, email and IP. We use our judgement (i.e. if IP is part of a Mobile Network we ignore blacklisting, if email domain is large public one rather than private we ignore blacklisting. If a really weird random Username is all over Internet with spam we delete. ) If all seems OK you get approved. This 2nd Email is manually triggered so may be next day if we are busy.
6) If you finally, manually approved you get an email confirming this. You are now a Member!
7) If you pay money or write a good article/review then you become a subscriber with additional privileges and right to post in Article section directly.
This is all so complex because otherwise we would have 2 to 50 spammers a day spewing nonsense on the Site (depending which step was missed out).
you can use this link to contact us if you don’t get either of the two emails. Put a valid email address on the form!
We won’t ever pass any details to a 3rd party, nor will we add unverified addresses as Members.