Problem Registering On A Forum

[Jazzy]

Yesterday, I tried to register on a forum. I filled out the registration information and put in the two word captcha it asked for. I kept getting an error mesage that the two word captcha was incorrect and tried again (even though I knew the first was correct.) I contacted the Admin of the forum and they changed the captcha to the basic version and told me to try again. I did and then got a different error message telling me I needed a valid email address to activate the account. There was nothing wrong with my email address that I put in so I contacted Admin again. After wasting an hour of my time, I was told that the username I was trying to register with was on some sort of anti-spam list and blocked. For crap sake, wouldn't you think the software on that forum would have said invalid username.????? Needless to say, I never registered and was not a happy camper that I wasted all that time.



My question to you is have you ever had a problem registering at a forum and if so, what happened?

 

[Evil Eye]

Besides misspelling my email, not really.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I have had that problem. One time I was having problems reading the captcha so I hit the button to play the audio. It read the letters off so fast I could not understand what it was saying..

 

[Ashley]

Jazzy, it's like I told you: We have a bunch of anti-spam mods in place and they are there to protect the forum, so I don't see us removing them anytime soon. This actually goes for all of you. I know most of you don't like different usernames from the ones you're used to, and I don't either. But sometimes when such strict measures are in place like that, you have to make some adjustments and this does include username and/or email. I myself have had this problem before. If you guys go to my forum and use the Contact Us page and explain your situation. I'm postive my co-administrator and you can come up with an agreement. I really do apologize for this happening, but there's nothing I can do as those anti-spam mods are there for a reason. I've always felt it's better to be safe than sorry and I still do feel that way.

 

[Jazzy]

Jazzy, it's like I told you: We have a bunch of anti-spam mods in place and they are there to protect the forum, so I don't see us removing them anytime soon. This actually goes for all of you. I know most of you don't like different usernames from the ones you're used to, and I don't either. But sometimes when such strict measures are in place like that, you have to make some adjustments and this does include username and/or email. I myself have had this problem before. If you guys go to my forum and use the Contact Us page and explain your situation. I'm postive my co-administrator and you can come up with an agreement. I really do apologize for this happening, but there's nothing I can do as those anti-spam mods are there for a reason. I've always felt it's better to be safe than sorry and I still do feel that way.

I mention no specific forum in my OP but since you want to address my problems, then so be it. I was merely pointing out that this is a bad practice for any forum that is trying to recruit new members. How is any perspective member going to know that their username is on that list? Like you mentioned, I always use the same username and email address for all my forum accounts. I don't feel like I need to make any adjustments to join a forum. It would have been nice to get a message saying either invalid username or username already in use. Wonder how many more perspective members you have lost due to for your anti-spam mods. You perhaps should post a list of usernames that are banned from registering to prevent others from going through what I did yesterday. You have a great forum but I think this anti-spam mod is a little overkill. Again, like I said yesterday, I wish you the best of luck with your forum.

 

[Ashley]

Thanks anyway, Jazzy. But it's like I said, I've had this problem before as well, and it's not always because of mods that are installed or not installed. I've had trouble registering on a friends forum for the same reasons, and I can't remember if he had any anti-spam mods installed or not, but my ordeal was that my username didn't go along with my email address (or some stupid reason like that). So yes, I have been through this before, not from an administrators perspective, but from a members perspective. and it's like I told you, if you guys would email Ashley.S. as he is the one in charge of installing mods and he insisted we have this one, I'm sure you and he can come to an agreement and maybe he can try and register you in or something like that. I'll tell you this: I wasn't fond of all these anti-spam measures, but Ash insisted we have them because of all the spamming and hacking attempts that are out there I'm not the type of person who says no to a request like that, especially if it could benefit the forum, and I'll tell you guys, maybe some of you don't like using different usernames, but there are probably a lot of other people out there that don't mind making such minor adjustments. I don't even know why I'm starting an argument like this, as I do know there are better places to promote at. In fact I don't even care if my account gets banned here. Good bye.

 

[Jazzy]

@Ashley: I didn't find your reply argumentative. I understand that your forum needs to do what you feel is best to protect it from all the spamming and hacking attempts that can happen. It's extreemly frustrating when you fill out the registration form, enter the two word Captcha code and you keep getting error messages. I was simply trying to say that it would be nice and save time if a message was given during the registration that the username you're registering with is either invalid or not available if it's on the anti-spam mod list.



You were very prompt and helpful trying to figure out my problem. You are right that others may want to change their username but I chose not to. I also feel this discussion will help others if they too have a problem registering. They now know to contact Ashley.S.



Again, you have a great forum and it's doing very well for the short period of time it's been open. Keep up the good work and I wish you much success.

 

[Ashley]

@Ashley: I didn't find your reply argumentative. I understand that your forum needs to do what you feel is best to protect it from all the spamming and hacking attempts that can happen. It's extreemly frustrating when you fill out the registration form, enter the two word Captcha code and you keep getting error messages. I was simply trying to say that it would be nice and save time if a message was given during the registration that the username you're registering with is either invalid or not available if it's on the anti-spam mod list.



You were very prompt and helpful trying to figure out my problem. You are right that others may want to change their username but I chose not to. I also feel this discussion will help others if they too have a problem registering. They now know to contact Ashley.S.



Again, you have a great forum and it's doing very well for the short period of time it's been open. Keep up the good work and I wish you much success.

Thanks a bunch, Jazzy, and I am glad and relieved that you understand.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

This actually goes for all of you. I know most of you don't like different usernames from the ones you're used to, and I don't either. But sometimes when such strict measures are in place like that, you have to make some adjustments and this does include username and/or email.

Nobody has to make any adjustments. They can just join a normal forum that is not paranoid and going overboard on the security measures.

 

[McConnaughay]

Nobody has to make any adjustments. They can just join a normal forum that is not paranoid and going overboard on the security measures.

No reason to reiterate what has already been stated, just going to say bravo and well done for taking the words right out of my mouth, have it that you probably are coated in my saliva because of it, I still have no problem shaking your hand.

 

[Ashley]

I remember one year I registered on a fan forum. I think I was like half out of it at the time when I registered, because I went to enter my birthdate (which was required) and then I got an error message saying something about a certain age. I accidently hit the 1920's or something for my birth year, and the babble was that theyonly allowed members to be so many years old in order to post! After the incident, I PM'd the admin to explain what happened, but we both got a good laugh out of it, though!

 

[Jazzy]

I registered on a forum yesterday without any problems.



I went to log in this morning and got this message:



Banned. Term of ban: Forever.



WTF! I have no idea why. I cannot contact them to ask and it's really pissing me off!

 

[Ashley]

I registered on a forum yesterday without any problems.



I went to log in this morning and got this message:



Banned. Term of ban: Forever.



WTF! I have no idea why. I cannot contact them to ask and it's really pissing me off!

What? That's' weird. You just barely registered, and now you're banned. Sounds like a case of one of those hate bans or whatever those are called where they ban people simply out of spite or hatred. Something I would never do if I had a forum again!

 

[Jazzy]

What? That's' weird. You just barely registered, and now you're banned. Sounds like a case of one of those hate bans or whatever those are called where they ban people simply out of spite or hatred. Something I would never do if I had a forum again!

I never even got to post so that's why I was so shocked to see that message. Oh well, I guess it was an omen to get the heck away from that forum.

 

[Ashley]

I never even got to post so that's why I was so shocked to see that message. Oh well, I guess it was an omen to get the heck away from that forum.

Yeah. I guess that just serves as a reminder to never visit that site again. That's strange that they'd ban you even if you didn't commit an infraction or anything... I know that would be enough to keep ME away from that forum, that's for sure.