# Sticky  ATTENTION new would-be members



## TheOldSalt

Hi, welcome to FishForums.
When you register to join, you won't be able to join immediately. Harrassment from pranksters & spammers made it impossible for FishForums to operate normally, so we had to switch to a method of manual new member acceptance. Once you join, you will not be able to log in and make posts until the administrators manually activate your membership. This should not take very long, although it may seem an eternity if you really have to say something urgently. Sorry about that, but it's better than having your message lost in a sea of garbage. Thank you for your patience, and we know you'll like it here once you are active.

ALSO: when are are very new, you will show up as "Banned." Don't worry, you aren't banned. It just looks like you're banned until you are moved into the active user's usergroup.


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## cossie333

well done i think thats sensible


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## maykaym4

Agreed!!!!!


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## Guest

totally! good job TOS!


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## Blue Cray

I would put this in a different place than general freshwater.


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## TheOldSalt

I did. It's also in the Water Hole.
You can give the credit for this to Osiris, by the way, since it was his idea.


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## bmlbytes

Wouldn't the new member introductions be a good place for this?

Also, I sent Shaggy some information on a better way of handling this than moderated registrations.


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## OCtrackiepacsg1

How do you know whos a troll and whos not? IP address?


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## Guest

lol good point OC. am sure Osiris and the admin team have a list of IP's that have trolled in the past. a quick cross reference will have them know if the person signed up again is indeed a troll or a legit user.


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## TheOldSalt

Exactly. Also, if one slips by with a new IP, then once he gets nailed, his new IP will from then on will keep him out of here.
A better way, Bmlbytes? I can't imagine one. The hackers can get past any automated system.


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## Guest

its never easy keeping a troll out. i know. i;ve been a webadmin for a few sites. people use proxy's, bouncers, ip shifters and god alone knows what else to get back into the site to troll. the only effective way i have found is to lodge a complaint with the feds, get them to subpeona the proxy or bouncer company's logs, run a back trace and you can nail his true ip address.

once the fed get involved the proxy company blacklists his or her IP address denying access to the proxy server. end of troll.

getting a new ip address would mean changing your service provider. or at the very least, discontinuing service for a month and starting over again. people dont have the time to do this. most trolls are 14 to 16 years old livin on thier parents money and will not have the authority to keep shifting ISP's every other month. at some point even the most laid back parent will realise that something is wrong.


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## Revolution1221

TheOldSalt said:


> Exactly. Also, if one slips by with a new IP, then once he gets nailed, his new IP will from then on will keep him out of here.
> A better way, Bmlbytes? I can't imagine one. The hackers can get past any automated system.


*EDIT* Didn't read Eluviet's post before i typed this up also my friend wasn't a spammer he was just into having all of that **************** lol.
my friend used to have an automatic IP generator every ten minutes it would give him a new IP whenever you went to websites all the adds would constantly be in a different language. There are ways around even the most strict methods of detecting spammers but atleast it will deter them!


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## emc7

My ISP assigns dynamic IP addresses. All I have to do to get a new one is turn off my cable modem for awhile. I have to say the "don't feed the trolls" advice is helpful. If everyone adds the trolls to the ignore list and doesn't read their post, they eventually get bored and go away.


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## Revolution1221

emc7 said:


> My ISP assigns dynamic IP addresses. All I have to do to get a new one is turn off my cable modem for awhile. I have to say the "don't feed the trolls" advice is helpful. If everyone adds the trolls to the ignore list and doesn't read their post, they eventually get bored and go away.


"death to trolls" hmm that would be a good signature that or "sic semper trolls" haha


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## jayzak

god i can finally post after 24hrs of wait time. kinda suck


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## BV77

will chat ever get fixed?


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## emc7

I don't think its an issue for new members, just us oldies. I'm tempted to try making a new ID. It would only be like my fourth.


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## funlad3

How do you access the chat feature? I can't find it, and I even remembered!


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## emc7

Click on the line that says


> There are several users in chat


Right below "users in chat: 0"

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/chat.php

New ID doesn't fix it. Next will try new ID on another machine


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## DJSpahn

Wow i didnt find this until just now. I was thinking how could i be banned already without doing anything. Then i just checked back a day later and everything was normal


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## GloFish1999

*Well...*

I was "banned" for 6 days when I first joined! It wasn't fair...


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## LucyGoosey

I was wondering why I had to wait so long, that sucked! But I understand the reasons for it. I was patient but it did take over a day. This seems like a good forum though 

How bad was the trolling that you have to do this now?


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## mikkolopez

Thank you for making my yesterday's registration active. Hoping to learn from the gurus here.


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## aib81

I just joined, seeing if I can post yet.


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## aib81

That was quick, thanks for letting me join


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## TheOldSalt

Thanks to you for joining!


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## jbro

*Test*

Just testing to see if I can post yet


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## GoldenGirl11

I could post 10 minutes after I signed up.


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## kcrunch

jayzak said:


> god i can finally post after 24hrs of wait time. kinda suck


Not to worry this forum is well worth the wait and the people are worth their weight in gold as far as knowledge is concerned.


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## TheOldSalt

Again, sorry for the delays, everyone. About 80% of those who sign up here are spammers, so we have to inspect everyone before approval. It's really crazy.


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## TheOldSalt

Also, my apologies to any non-spammers who got rejected. Spammers have certain traits which make it easy for me to spot them, so if your account had these traits, you got zapped.


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## TheOldSalt

No, I won't say what those traits are, because then the spammers would know how I catch them and change their tactics.


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## willow67

48 year old grandmother to 7,i've never been banned
from anywhere,i thought you didn't like me 
i'm not bad honest.


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## FishHappy

Just trying to see if I can post.


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## dannygreen

My validation finally arrived today and now I can be part of this  thanks!


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