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  • New registration policy

    Sometime in the next few weeks I will be putting in place a new member registration policy.

    Step 1

    Currently we check every new member who registers on the forum with a spam database, we check username, IP Address and eMail address, if any of these are on the spam database a new registration is denied.

    I am not that confident that checking a members IP address against the spam database is efficient so out of the three checks I will be dropping the IP check form the registration process.

    Over the past 12 months the forum has denied over 130,000 new registrations, I have the email address's for all of these denied registrations and will be sending each one a email explaining the reason for their denial at the registration page and will invite them all back to join again.

    A few spammers will get through the security checks but they are usually dealt with quite quickly by myself and the moderation team.

    Step 2

    Every member currently registered who has a 0 post count on the forum, your post count will be increased to 1. When a new member registers they will be presented with a section on the site where only people with 0 posts can see, in this section they will be asked to make a introduction post, just a hello I am from X and have been playing Snooker for X years.

    Once they have done this their introduction post will be moderated and moved to the Newbies and Introduction forum where their post count will increase to 1 and they can interact with the forum as a new member, some limitations currently in place for people with less than 10 posts will be dropped but the needing 10 posts to send PM's will stay in place.

    By doing this I hope to allow the people wrongly on the spam database entry to the forum.

    Within this new section there will also be a detailed explanation of how the forum works and its rules (This will also be available to all members elsewhere on the forum)

    If anybody would like to make a suggestion on this new proposal then please do so below, if you have yourself had a problem when registering for the forum then please also tell me what your problem was and how you over come it.

    Once a new member has registered I do realise that it can take upto 24 hours for a new registered member to be approved after their introduction post but with this extra step it will help to keep spam to a minimum as it has been through out the the time I have been running the forum and it will also help new members to introduce themselves on the site as we do have a few thousand members who visit on a regular basis to read the forums but have never posted.

    Right that is enough form me and indeed for 2010, time to go down the pub and have a few glasses of something with bubbles.

    Happy new year everybody.

  • #2
    Can I send you a PM to resolve an issue I still have which originated when I tried to register with the forum?

    Comment


    • #3
      You can, but you will not get a reply till next year I am just walking out the door.

      If you goto http://support.thesnookerforum.com you can submit a ticket which will get dealt with alot quicker than by sending me a PM, I currently have 501 unread PM's and that number increases faster than it decreases.

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks, will do.

        Comment


        • #5
          How about this ........you can only sell on this forum once you have made a certain number of posts or been a member for at least 3 months .

          Seen too many people come on here and just want to sell .

          Also , there seems to be new members registering on here every day but don't post anything . Is there a way to cull the members , as the database must be massive .

          There must be a cut off . Say a couple of months with no posts and then cancel their membership .
          Still trying to pot as many balls as i can !

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally Posted by neil taperell View Post
            How about this ........you can only sell on this forum once you have made a certain number of posts or been a member for at least 3 months .

            Seen too many people come on here and just want to sell .

            Also , there seems to be new members registering on here every day but don't post anything . Is there a way to cull the members , as the database must be massive .

            There must be a cut off . Say a couple of months with no posts and then cancel their membership .
            Yes, good idea Neil. People shouldn't be able to join for the sole purpose of selling.
            Oh, and that's a bad miss.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally Posted by nevets View Post
              Yes, good idea Neil. People shouldn't be able to join for the sole purpose of selling.
              Bloke came on the other week . 1st post . Wants to sell a Hunt & O'bryne .
              Now he could be a genuine guy . Didn't seem to know it was worth £1k .

              I apologise if he is genuine but most people know it is worth alot.

              Also people who keep writing on posts advertising that Jimmy or Ronnie are playing somewhere in the next few months . Free advertising ! What is the Forum getting out of it ?

              Justs seems to me that there are so many people joining and not using the site . I'm not asking for people to be on here everyday but some posts would be good .
              Still trying to pot as many balls as i can !

              Comment


              • #8
                We can not delete a member form the forum because they have not posted in a few months, we have members who only visit the forum whilst The Masters is on, for the rest of the year they do not post but every January they are active.

                Then there are members who have been on here for years and never posted but they visit the forum on a regular basis and get the information they require and that is what the forum is all about to be a collective source of information to help other people.

                On the advertising side I have rules for what is allowed and what is not allowed, a club that is having a exhibition can post up their exhibition details on the forum with a new thread, 99% of exhibitions at clubs do not make the club any profit.

                When it comes to exhibitions, events or competitions that do make a profit then we do charge for advertising, example; Snooker Legends and The QSP, advertising for events like these are integral to making an event successful and to this point we are the only source where a promoter can reach out to over 20,000 Snooker fans.

                As for the culling of the database, I did this about 4 years ago and we deleted I think it was 5,000 members who had not visited the forum in more that 18 months and slowly after that I started to get emails saying that peoples login details did not work anymore and these were the members which were deleted, so even if they have not visited for a long time the chances are that they will return at some point in the future.

                Selling - This is a tricky one and something that I have tried to address in the past, alot of people have said that why should people be allowed to just come on here and sell cues etc but what should we do?

                Charge members for each item they sell on here? how are we going to keep control of that, should we stop people as mentioned from selling a item until they have been on here for a set period of time. What do we do about the members who sell on here but also contribute to the forum like ADR147. We have the shop opening soon, so do we stop people selling item that we sell in the shop?

                As said the members who sign up but seem to not use the site, yes there are quite a few but they have signed up for a reason, and with every new sign up it does help the forum, they would not of signed up if they were not interested in Snooker and the anti spammer script we have in place for filtering new registrations is very accurate in most cases so when a company wants to send out a email to our membership they know that all the members are Snooker fans and not just a load of spammers.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thanks for the detailed reply Ferret . People like Andrew are what makes this Forum what it is .

                  I just believe that it should be a privilege to sell on here and i think there should be a time element attached to it after you have registered .

                  But as you say , how would you police it .
                  Still trying to pot as many balls as i can !

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I think the forum is brill and the balance is perfect . Personally and its just my opinion , if people want to come on here and just sell then i dont see it being a problem . They are happy and the person who bought is happy , no harm done .

                    Some people may be shy of posting and are just happy to read the posts and gather info .

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally Posted by hotpot View Post
                      I think the forum is brill and the balance is perfect . Personally and its just my opinion , if people want to come on here and just sell then i dont see it being a problem . They are happy and the person who bought is happy , no harm done .

                      Some people may be shy of posting and are just happy to read the posts and gather info .
                      That's a very good point, I think i've been a member on here for two months and ive posted over 50 times which is quite reasonable.

                      However the amount of times I have tried to post a new thread and seen that someone has already posted the same query is unbeleivable.
                      This has meant that I have just used previous threads for info instead of people telling me to do a search!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        That is so true, and that is what make this forum so good, so many people think alike!!
                        I've only been a member for a few months and I really enjoy reading all the posts and getting involved........

                        But also when people do come on the forum just to buy and sell for extortionate prices they do get found out like we have seen happen in they last few weeks, that shows what a great community there is on here, from the members to the moderators!!
                        Winner of 2011 Masters Fantasy game......
                        Winner of 2011 World Championship Fantasy game.......

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          shy guy

                          Originally Posted by neil taperell View Post
                          Bloke came on the other week . 1st post . Wants to sell a Hunt & O'bryne .
                          Now he could be a genuine guy . Didn't seem to know it was worth £1k .

                          I apologise if he is genuine but most people know it is worth alot.

                          Also people who keep writing on posts advertising that Jimmy or Ronnie are playing somewhere in the next few months . Free advertising ! What is the Forum getting out of it ?

                          Justs seems to me that there are so many people joining and not using the site . I'm not asking for people to be on here everyday but some posts would be good .
                          this might be my 4th/5th post on site but i have a look most days its educational!!. over quite a few years i,ve had quite a few cue,s pass through my hands i still cant quite get my head around the prices quoted on this site but i guess thats an age thing . I would never have had any idea a hunt&obyrne would be worth the prices quoted on here and e/bay i gave one away a few years ago.To my thinking if it fits in your hand and feels good you can play with it chevrons and the like dont matter it seems to be a cue has become a fashion statement guys trust me its a few bits of wood glued together.Iguess after playing the game for the last 35 years i just dont feel qualified enough to put a post up. But enjoy reading all the posts helps keep me up to date

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            new year

                            Originally Posted by williamson View Post
                            this might be my 4th/5th post on site but i have a look most days its educational!!. over quite a few years i,ve had quite a few cue,s pass through my hands i still cant quite get my head around the prices quoted on this site but i guess thats an age thing . I would never have had any idea a hunt&obyrne would be worth the prices quoted on here and e/bay i gave one away a few years ago.To my thinking if it fits in your hand and feels good you can play with it chevrons and the like dont matter it seems to be a cue has become a fashion statement guys trust me its a few bits of wood glued together.Iguess after playing the game for the last 35 years i just dont feel qualified enough to put a post up. But enjoy reading all the posts helps keep me up to date
                            sorry guys i have over indulged maybe but i hope you get the gist of what im saying im not trying to be a smart ass i just had a few happy new year

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I agree with what many earlier said.
                              For instance, I have had a very long period in which I did not even logged in, just because I was too busy to do. Then, I returned back and became a lot more active, only to take a shorter break and continue to post afterwards.
                              All I'm trying to say that the system to keep the seemingly inactive users sounds fair to me. This way, they could turn into regulars who consistently visit and post, at some time.
                              All the way Mark J!!

                              I understand nothing from snooker. - Dedicated to jrc750!

                              Winner of the German Masters 2011 Lucky Dip

                              Comment

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