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Author Topic: Guest "account" changes.  (Read 539 times)

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July 25, 2008, 01:30:20 PM
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DáinIronfoot

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Guest "account" changes.
« on: July 25, 2008, 01:30:20 PM »
I hate to be the proverbial big brother ruining people's fun, but I DO work for the government, so.... :roll:

Due to some recent bot activity, I have disabled guests from being able to browse the forums. While it was already set up that guests could not post, the increase in activity from a certain IP range (which appears to be all bots) that was browsing random topics, trying to post, and generating a slew of forum log errors was beginning to worry me a bit.

So for the time being, you have to log in to get to pretty much EVERYTHING in the forums. This may be very temporary, or it might last long-term. But I wanted to shake these bots off our tail before they started bringing in all their "friends", and this was the only way I could think of. I HAVE banned that IP range (after double- and triple-checking to make sure no members would be affected), but that doesn't really do enough prevent them from snooping around, just from posting and such.

I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, for however long it lasts. But as I've said numerous times, you need to nip these guys in the bud and not let them get any kind of foothold. I've seen too many good forum communities go down in spammy flames thanks to simple neglect. Ain't gonna happen here. Not on my watch.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 01:31:55 PM by DáinIronfoot »
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Best regards,
Dáin

Check out Lasting Alliances and The Road Ahead, my two completed DC sets, and also The Way Into Mordor (in progress), all part of my 5-set Wars of the Ring DC "block".
July 25, 2008, 01:46:24 PM
Reply #1

Ulmo

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2008, 01:46:24 PM »
Go get 'em, Mr. Dwarf.
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July 25, 2008, 04:03:21 PM
Reply #2

Kralik

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2008, 04:03:21 PM »
Hmmm... for once I have to disagree here. The forum logs are now chock full of the banned bots' read attempts, which isn't very helpful. But in any case, I don't have a problem with Google Bots browsing the site. In fact, I'd encourage it since it may attract more people here when they search  Google for LotR terms and phrases. The bots do not have access to the Member's Lounge, so I don't see much harm in letting them be. Bandwidth isn't an issue either. Furthermore, we will severely choke the number of new members if they can't at least read the boards to see if they want to join! :(

There are certain restrictions I can enforce if I make a robots.txt file -- a rulebook for robots that most will follow -- but I haven't seen the need.

Hmmmm... thoughts?
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July 25, 2008, 07:20:14 PM
Reply #3

sickofpalantirs

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2008, 07:20:14 PM »
I want to be able to browse as a guest...it just makes everything more convenient...
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July 25, 2008, 07:30:24 PM
Reply #4

MR. Lurtzy

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2008, 07:30:24 PM »
Quote from: sickofpalantirs on July 25, 2008, 07:20:14 PM
I want to be able to browse as a guest...it just makes everything more convenient...
Seconded.
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July 25, 2008, 08:13:37 PM
Reply #5

AgentDrake

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2008, 08:13:37 PM »
Actually, despite my initial post in the Mods comments, I think that if Kralik can get an enforceable rules set for bots, that would be better than dumping them all together; as he said, the Google ones may be potentially useful.

The "celebrity dating site" ones, less so. :P
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July 26, 2008, 07:31:35 AM
Reply #6

Kralik

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2008, 07:31:35 AM »
On the old CC I banned all bots except Google. :P
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July 26, 2008, 07:53:43 AM
Reply #7

Kralik

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2008, 07:53:43 AM »
For now I'm leaving Google Bots banned but enabling guest browsing. :up:
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July 26, 2008, 09:08:23 AM
Reply #8

DáinIronfoot

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Re: Guest "account" changes.
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2008, 09:08:23 AM »
Okay. You're the boss. :up:
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Best regards,
Dáin

Check out Lasting Alliances and The Road Ahead, my two completed DC sets, and also The Way Into Mordor (in progress), all part of my 5-set Wars of the Ring DC "block".
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