Anybody else notice...........

[Bean]

That recently many of the "new members" listed at the bottom of the forums page seem to be porn related? Just out of curiosity, I have clicked on a couple of them and found that the website addresses had sex related content. For instance user pgpgpg, and the newest one today musso22 has something about incest pictures in their website address. Do they automatically get booted from our user list, or does nobody pay attention to the new users that are registering? I know the webmistress is EXTREMELY busy, but does anyone else have "veto power" to boot these people off the site?

Just thought I would ask....................

[Rhia]

I know that moderators for each of the locals were selected so they could deal with this, but I think only the webmistress can change the main boards...

*sigh*

[Rhia]

*bigger sigh*

Just jumped over to the Memberlist to see the most recent members...
I count about 10 questionable entries...

I know if they post anything inappropriate they get booted, but I don't know about just joining the forums...

[Ysobelle]

I generally let Alison know, but yeah, she's pretty busy with a new job and all.

I don't know that hey do any harm, but they do skeeve me. Though if you only saw 10, I'm guessing she's been purging them, as they've been coming for as long as I can remember.

[Bonnie Strangeways]

I stumbled across one two weeks ago. I PM the WebMistress, and it was gone within a few hours. She said thank you for keeping an eye out for her.

Might help that if you have a list, just go ahead and PM her with it. Even if she can't get to it right away, at least the info is already complied for her, and she won't have to do the hunting herself.

[Eric McTavish]

funny it seems like all of them are that way... :roll:
alibaliLock-links you to rape sites! Oh goodie! :shock:

[Buxom Wench]

OK, during my recent bout of illness (bronchitis), I got REALLY bored so, I decided I would check out the websites listed on members profiles. I can't begin to tell you how many "questionable" & "inappropriate" sites I found. There were some days that 5-10 showed up within minutes of each other. Its as though "bored teenagers" had nothing better to do than play and see how much they could shock the grownups.

If making a list and sending them to the Webmistress would help, I'll be on it as soon as I have everyone out the door this morning. (reading can wait)

Hope this helps.

[Bean]

Now I know to send them to the webmisstress; we got another one today; joejoe is has adultsex in the web address listed. Someday someone will invent software that will recognize anything sex related in a web address and boot it out automatically!! Now, just to keep everything straight, I am NOT a prude, I love sex just as much as the next wench, maybe moreso, but I just don't want that crap in our sandbox.......doesn't project a good image to web browsers.

[Larkspur]

I don't know how it will apply to something like our site, but most companies will have filters that don't allow you to go to said types of sites.

I will research this with some of our real tech-geeks here, I think it might make the Webmistress's life a little less stressed, if the install doesn't also cause issues. We shall see.

[Bean]

It's not about going to the sites, it's about checking out the profiles and finding that a "person's" web address is really a porn site. I don't EVER click on the addresses for fear I'll end up in computer hell! I would like to see a filter that blocks someone from even listing a web address on their profile that has questionable wording. Like I said, we don't need "browsers" who are checking us out, thinking of joining, and they click on a new user profile and find a porn site address, or something much worse like the one Eric found.....rape sites!! :shock:

[Bonnie Strangeways]

It's not about going to the sites, it's about checking out the profiles and finding that a "person's" web address is really a porn site. I don't EVER click on the addresses for fear I'll end up in computer hell! I would like to see a filter that blocks someone from even listing a web address on their profile that has questionable wording. Like I said, we don't need "browsers" who are checking us out, thinking of joining, and they click on a new user profile and find a porn site address, or something much worse like the one Eric found.....rape sites!! :shock:

Hmmm, only problem I forsee with the above suggestion is relying on a computer program to filter "questionable". Take my profile for example. My website address is www.getwycked.org Now, in some minds, that's dubious at best, definately "questionable". However, it's a completely PC site. We're a singing group, and that's a byline of ours. (Get Wycked with the Thryce Wycked Wenches, see what I mean?) I'm certain I'm not the ony one out there that has a legit site, but the title might be somewhat risque.

I don't think there's a perfect solution to this one, other than us being vigilant, and reporting suspicions to the WebMistress.

[Rhia]

Now I know to send them to the webmisstress; we got another one today; joejoe is has adultsex in the web address listed.

and yet another one today... *sigh*

As much as I would like to just not have to deal with these people, I much prefer manually purging them to automating the process... I've seen the havoc that simple internet filters can wreak on searching - and this would have to be much more sophisticated...

Can't we just figure out a way to get rid of these PEOPLE? *g*

[Bean]

Oh I realize that we can never institute a computer program to filter out things, it was just a dreamy thought! Meanwhile, we just need to be determined to keep policing them ourselves!!

[Rowen]

The porn problem is common to most forums, no matter how non-sex related they are. I'm a member of a historical/cemetary preservation forum that has these sickos trying to peddle their photos (or themselves). Lord knows what prompted them to think there is a prospective clientele there. The best approach is to make them as unwelcome as possible, but like flies in the summer, It's just about impossible to get rid of them entirely. *sighs*

[Myfanawy]

Yeah, I've run into that at in other forums. At IndyGear, there's a periodic purge of any members with less than 5 posts, and of course any suspicious nicknames. There seem to be a fair number of people, too, that just go onto these forums to create "confrontations" and try to get people riled up. (That, of course, calls for an immediate ban.) It's unfortunate that there's so much junk on the internet, but I guess the best most of us can do is avoid it as much as possible (and thank goodness for spam filters and pop-up blockers!)

Regards--Myfanawy

[Ysobelle]

Well, have any of these people actually posted? Done anything?

[Rhia]

Apparently, they are creating logins, using their profile to link to various porn websites, but no posts.

I guess that's why I'm kind of on the fence on this one... they aren't posting... disrupting the boards, anything like that.

However, on the other hand, I'm not real comfortable with the idea of people unfamiliar with IWG checking out our latest members and discovering porn sites focusing on rape or incest either... I'm not real thrilled with having those linked from IWG myself.

But it's definitely a judgment call - where to draw the line and what rules we are going to follow and who we are going to allow to join and what they can put in their profile.

[Ysobelle]

Well, the only thing is, you'd have to actually search the user base to find their links, and I think most people who come to browse here are going to more readily click the links in our .sigs. I I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded at this point. It's not that I don't want to get rid of the bastards, trust me.

[Ysobelle]

Alison says yes, go ahead and go through the list and collect the names of those who seem questionable, and she'll go over them and delete the bad eggs.