all members please read

[JPotter57]

I have a question to put to the membership, again, though it has been a while.  Some of you may recall in the past when our site was taken over by some middle eastern jihad type site and played some muslim noise while displaying arabic writing saying God knows what.  After we were able to regain control of the site, most of our old Forum was lost, and only what I had saved from the yahoo and excite communities days was left to try to rebuild.  Additionally, around the same time, we had quite an influx of fake identities registering on the forums, and since we didn't require approval of registrations back then, many joined that either were spambots, or people that did not have our interests, or just were trying to cause trouble.  After that we instituted a strict policy of approving all regs, with really, the main requirement being to provide a short narrative , just so we know you are a real person.  Well, I have received two different registrations, I believe to be from the same person, and when I send the same email i send to everyone else, this is the response I get:

Forget it, I did not realize it was going to be such a hassle.  I wanted to talk about my '57 ford parts, not get a national security clearance!  Dan

OK, I thought, I don't remember our process being that harsh, as I have undergone security clearance checks, and it was over 40 pages.  ALl I wanted was one sentence, so I looked at my email to see if it could somehow be misconstrued.  Nope.  This is the email I send out to everyone who registers, unless I know the person, or have already spoken with them prior to them registering:

Welcome.   Either you or someone at this email address has registered to be a member of `57 Fords Forever discussion forum. This is the club forum for `57 Fords International, a club dedicated to the 1957 Ford passenger car.  In the past, we have had significant problems with spam generated by spambots which had been able to register on our site.  In order to keep this to a minimum, we ask that you respond to this email with a short narrative explaining your desire to be part of our membership.  Your user information is secure with us, never, ever sold, and you will only receive an email from the club as part of an announcement for a club function. Please respond within five days.  If you do not respond, you will receive one reminder, then your registration will be deleted.  If you are still interested in becoming a member, you will need to register again.  Please note, that we try to get these registrations approved as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

`57 Fords Forever management

Simple right?  So, after the reply I got from this guy, I tried to gently explain why we do this, as follows:

Look fella, we have had a lot of problem with folks hacking our site, posting spam and porn, and now, we have to make sure that regsitrations are real.   We aren't trying to cause you trouble, just save us trouble.  We have a small amount of resources and manpower and do not have time to babysit the forum.  By ensuring that every one who joins is an adult with some kind of interest in 57 Fords, we can eliminate the possibility of some punk kid in his mom's basement causing trouble on our forum, or posting stuff that doesn't belong here. Seriously, man, is it that big a deal to write this back to me: " My name is dan, I want to discuss 57 Fords as I have just discovered them" or something like that?  I am not looking for a 300 word essay, just maybe a sentence or two to make sure you are a real person.  I don't expect you to understand how web crawling bots work, but it is malicious code that crawls about the net, registering fake identities onto forums, once accepted, begins posting adds for sunglasses, boots, cameras, pornography, dating sites, any number of other stuff that someone, namely me, has to go in and delete.  I work a full time job, have a family, they have outside activities, plus I am trying to build my 57 Ford.  I don't have free time for that nonsense.  So, I screen the applicants.  If you really want to discuss 57 Fords, drop me a line, and let me know, I will approve you asap.  Remember though, I don't make ANY money off this site at all, in fact it costs me a great deal of money out of my own pocket because i love it. If you want to participate, fine, if not, also fine.  But please don't bash us because I want to protect my investment of much time and money from some third world punk with an internet connection and too much time on his hands.  Thanks, and hope to see you back on the forum.

And his response:

My name is not FELLA.  It is Dan, as I stated.  You & your site worry me, I think I'll steer clear of it.  Thanks for the invite but no thanks.  You will not hear from me again. Good luck to you, Dan

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have begun the email the way I did.  But, I talk to people that way, it's not disrespectful, but apparently he took it that way.  At any rate, I have blocked and banned his IP address, as after I sent the email to him, I was alerted by my very cool virus protection software, that this dude had infected my computer with some kind of virus, and it had been contained.  I doubt it was intentional, but it happened nonetheless.  So, if any of you know this guy, beware, he seems to be full of venom, and probably moreso after my final reply, in which I told him if he was planning on acting childish like that here, we really don't need the drama, so he can go play on the hamb, where he will be dealt with swiftly and severely, I am sure.

My main question is this: Do you think that my standard email to all prospective members is too intrusive?  Keep in mind, I don't want to know life histories here, I am just trying to insure that everyone who gains access to this site is a real person, and not some spambot, or pornbot, whatever.  Let me know your thoughts on this.

[Ford Blue blood]

James I think you're fine with the email.  I agree with you and your reasoning for asking for the reply.  There is already enough crap out there and your site is one I can depend on to be good and clean.  Keep it up man.

Bill

[RICH MUISE]

Sounds to me like at best he was looking for an outlet to sell stuff. If he had any interest in '57 Fords he would have spent some time as a visitor and known this wasn't a site "he needed to steer clear of".
I think your method is spot on, and we appreciate your protecting us from the spamers. Thanks for sharing this with us, and asking our opinions!

[hotroddonnie]

Wow! I don't think we lost a team player, although he took it better then me, I would have punched some walls, kicked some crap before I moved on. I didn't think the rules were to bad, weeding out is a good thing, just glad you missed me. HRD

[Limey57]

No complaints with any of it and I have seen similar on other forums, it helps to ensure this site attracts 57 Ford enthusiasts only and not those with only a passing interest who prefer to use forum membership as a way to cause trouble in one way or another.

[62galxe]

Looks good James. I feel lucky to have someone willing to put in the time and effort so I have a great site to go to.

[hiball3985]

I see no problem at all and wouldn't change a thing. It's just unfortunate that you have to waste your time dealing with the world wide wackos and there are tons of them out there. Thank you for what you have done to keep this a safe place..

Another none automotive site forum I belong to has added an automatic spammer filter and last year 26,000 registration requests were denied, they try to get in everywhere. You can't be too cautious..

[57redwhitered]

James I am grateful for all you do for this site.  Proud to be a FELLA! 

Fella John

[JPotter57]

Donnie, Norwell had already called me and hooked you up or you would have gotten "the letter" too...There are a very limited number of folks who I have just let in, and they are ALL people I either knew already, or they had contacted me asking for membership.  After a couple emails, I figured they were the real deal.  I guess I was just looking for some reassurance to let me know I wasn't being a hardnose about it.  Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

[hotroddonnie]

Donnie, Norwell had already called me and hooked you up or you would have gotten "the letter" too...There are a very limited number of folks who I have just let in, and they are ALL people I either knew already, or they had contacted me asking for membership.  After a couple emails, I figured they were the real deal.  I guess I was just looking for some reassurance to let me know I wasn't being a hardnose about it.  Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

Thanks Jeff, although it sucks to know I'm hanging buy a thread, makes me feel like I'm back in school. Well I'll try to be good!

[Zapato]

James, I remember when I first found this site. Trolled for a couple weeks then signed up got your e-mail and found it peculiar. Couldn't believe that someone questioned my love of all things 57 which by the way includes my wife. But am glad you screen at the door so to speak. Really refreshing that thru your efforts this has not become, what was once common, a ford vs chevy vs dodge forum for idiots. the ''morning coffee'' thread which has become quite active lets us interact (BS) and discuss OTs. Keep it up what sounded peculiar to me at first is what has made this group family.

Zap-

[LAUDY57]

I really appreciate your effort to keep this site clean and running well. The only problem I have is that I think I have a new addiction, every time I sit down at the computer I have to check what's been going on here before anything else gets done! I love it!

[GaryI72]

This site has been very helpful and it is greatly appreciated.

[briney]

James - having been a member for more years than I can count..... All I can say is your email was appropriate and you have done a great job...

****'um !!!

[clusterbuster]

This site has been very helpful to me while rebuilding my 57. Glad you keep it clean and handsome.