5000 registered collector forum members as of today!

I believe that number includes the people we reject. The rejects can exceed 25-50 per week, every week. I have rejected as many as 25+ in one day.

Sounds a little like the eHarmony commercial, Dave. Can you be specific as to why you would have rejections?

Sandy

I could imagine all kinds of reasons...

- spammers
- folks who just want to sell something
- those people who think sex is the only thing
- the guys who's language becomes a bit to explicit

The list may be endless ...

And I for one am grateful that there are guys like Dave who protect me from undesirable elements like that!!!!!

People use the Net for a variety of things, and not all things are honorable. I think our people at the CF have done a great job keeping the CF safe for members from all walks of life and all ages.

Bob

I'm glad they do some checking before allowing members to join. It keeps the CF a quality board !!!

For many years approval was automatic. When we started getting spammers and other shady types we started putting them in queue to take a look at who wanted access. Rich may remember better than I do, but we have been screening for maybe a couple of years.

There are many ISPs that I automatically block registrations from. Just looking at proposed screen names or email addresses may also lead to rejection. We do look at the profiles for most applicants. There are some mandatory fields we now require to help screen out people with no interest in HL or LH. I believe that somehow people have developed a script capability to try to automatically register at UBB powered boards. The extra fields I have made mandatory help to trip up their automated process.

The major reasons we have begun to limit registration have been touched on by Margret. There are purveyors of porn, drugs and other assorted garbage. There are those who want a way to gain access to our membership and the information in their profiles. As I have time I sometimes will go back to older registrations and shut off their access if appropriate.

While we could go in and delete anyone with no posts, there are many valid users who have registered but do not post. Don't want to shut them out.

So, Rich and I will continue to try to keep out the bad guys to allow us to have a good membership base and a place for all of us to enjoy.

Three Cheers for Rich and Dave! Can't be easy to screen everyone!!!

Hey guys and if there is anything I can do to help, just holler!!!

Yes, it is quite interesting the type and number of application we get daily. I remember one day in particular we had over 50 applications and only one of those was legit. Dave has added some filters since that time based on providers and this has helped considerably. Porn, medicines and general sales lead the field and it is very interesting how these items are disguised. Thanks to Dave catching a few that I missed after my screening, we have been very lucky on keeping this website clean. Two sets of eyes are better then one.

Good job with the careful screening process. It has maintained the integrity of the site over the years and I join all those who have expressed their appreciation of your efforts.

I agree with everyone. Dave and Rich have done a great job with the screening.

DAVE & RICH do so much more than most people know.
THANKS YOU TWO
RIP

You guys are the heart and soul of the CF. Thanks for all you do.
Judy

Dave & Rich you guys are doing a great job. Although we don't much we are going to start posting more often. Keep up the good job & Thanks for all that everybody does on keeping the Forums Topics going.

Hey, let's not forget the driving force behind the CF's; they wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the webmaster himself!! Even if he does live in the desert and no where near a lighthouse!

Grace, who would that be ?
:p


Seriously, their would be no new members for Rich & Dave to check out if it wasn't for this AWESOME board that John has created and has webmastered to perfection.

John is not only a CF Saint, he's a CF God.

OK.....Now what do I get for making that stuff up? :p

Only one God; I'm not it.

Why do we call these people "Saints"? Many years ago on the AOL board, there was an exchange of posts including one about my reply to something that didn't please the individual.

Several people came to my 'defense' after that post and the original complainer said something to the effect that "you would think John is some sort of Saint".

I thus took up the online name of "St. John of the Internet".

Wow! You always manage to surprise us with some new and clever tidbit.

John, I guess I was a little enthusiastic yesterday. I wasn't drinking anything, just in a good mood.

I do most definately agree about there being only one God, thats why I called you a CF God. I really don't know nothing about you other then whats here on the Collector Forums you've created.

I'll end this reply with a simple "Thank You" !!!

Wait a minute! I though Al Gore created the CF? (lol)

I guess the proper way of addressing a CF god is with a lower case "g" so it won't be confused with the Big Guy, if you know what I mean.

Bob

Gee, Rich, I guess no one has noticed......

Yea, we have noticed....the registered numbers seem to change frequently!

Remember the old saying Dave. One aws--t wipes out a thousand attaboys. Someone will eventually spot the change. Any guess on how long it will be?

1962 on Home page!
Still 5000 on this page!
Good cleanup!

252 recent visitors and 201 guests!

The "5,000 registered members" on this page is the title of the post. :

Thanks to Dave for figuring a way to purge all those loonies who registered to use the CF and were turned down. This brings the count on the main page more in line with reality.

And thanks to Rich for his hard work of pre-filtering the loonies before Dave passes them through to Newbie status.

Do we have to call them "loonies" ???

Let's call them "People who only want to post unrelated topics in an effort to advertise some inappropriate website, program, or product."

PWOWTPUTIAETASIWPOP for short.

Guess we could have called them wackos, but that name was already in use.....

I actually don't care if you call them "loonies", I was just having a little fun.

The term "wackos" is to near and dear to us on the CF to be assoicated with "garbage spammers".

We get you LL! lol You're just protecting the homefront!
Bob

Wow!! 5000. What a difference we could make to a lighthouse if we all gave just $1.00! One third of a movie drink, 2 cans of a name brand soda pop, 2 cigaretts (in Indiana). A little organization and a little love could really make a difference.

Thanks to John, Paul, Dave, Rich and everyone who makes the forums such a great place to visit! We learn so much about our beloved lighthouses from this Forum and meet so many
great people on Dave's fantastic trips! I am so glad to be a member!

A belated thank you. I just did not even think about needing protection on this site. I am glad that you did!

No offense, but some are missing the point. While the number of registered members APPEARED to be 5,000, that included thousands of interlopers who only wanted to join to post inappropriate messages leading to their own nefarious websites which would separate you from your money (IMO).

The point of recalling this thread was to note that the number of members has just passed 2,000 because Dave and Rich have been vigilant and Dave has figured out a way to delete 3,000 of those would-be (not for real) 'members'.

And those 2,000 as shown on the main page probably still includes more of those that will never be able to post because they aren't really interested in our interests and our site.