New Member Registration

This is my new anti-spam system. Comments submitted to the site will be approved by a moderator (me) before they appear on the site.

HOWEVER, if you choose to register as a member, your comments will appear immediately. They'll skip the moderation process. So this is how you register as a member (it took me all weekend to figure out how to get this to work, so there may still be some bugs in it):

Step 1: Go to the Member Registration page and fill in the info.

Step 2: An email will be sent to you. Click on the link in this email and your member account will be activated.

Step 3: You'll then need to login on the Member Login page with your username and password. If you choose the 'auto login on future visits' option, you'll never need to login again, as long as you're using the same computer and don't erase your cookies.

That's it. As a member you'll be able to post comments as before without waiting for them to be moderated. I'll add permanent links to the member registration and login pages sometime this week.

Miscellaneous

Posted on Mon Nov 08, 2004


Comments

Good call!
Posted by paul in prague  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  05:05 AM
Yay! By trying to register at work I found out that I can send and receive mail outside of my network. Cool.
Posted by Maegan  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  11:46 AM
Now all we need is an edit option 😊
Posted by Paul  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  04:28 PM
An edit option would be possible, I think, now that I have member registration set up... as are many other things. It would be possible to allow certain members to actually post entries, for instance, or to moderate comments, turning the Museum of Hoaxes into more of a community blog. But first I need to understand exactly how the software works so that I know what can be done with it.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  04:43 PM
Personnally, I never liked the edit option. Too many people use it after people responded, and threads sometimes stop making any sense.

Plus I hate it when someone post something stupid, and change it after I answered! Then I'm the one looking stupid! 😉
Posted by Guigue  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  07:21 PM
Sup, i just tried to sign up but i keep getting an error that says "You are not authorized to perform this action." I filled out everything properly and checked the "Agree to Terms" box but still get the error, even after trying a web-based email adress (i use aol). WHat could be happening?
Posted by BorealFace  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  09:05 PM
Sometimes I get that 'you are not authorized' message. I don't know what causes it. Maybe the server running slow. But I would check your email to see if it has actually processed the form anyway and sent you the activation code.

When I get that message I just try what I want to do over again, and usually it works.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Nov 08, 2004  at  10:20 PM
Most awesome!! ^__^
Posted by Mewtaila  on  Tue Nov 09, 2004  at  12:10 AM
Ok I have run into a problem. I posted something in a different comment section for a different article and everything was fine. But now going back I see that someone who must not be registered has entered a comment that then had to be reviewed and was posted later on that day. Their comment has a time stamp and position earlier than mine and is now between my comment and the comment I was responding to. And of course that person responded basically the same way I did. So I kinda look like a tool now for commenting on something when it looks like i'm bascially regurgitating what the person before me said. Which, had I known that person was going to post the same thing I did, I wouldn't have commented at all.

Is there a solution to situations like this? I've tried to think up one but I haven't been successful. I suppose if they are unregistered and post something they do deserve to have their comments posted with the correct time stamp and order...but it totally messes up the continuity of the comment section because people are responding to what they see and when new comments are being added in the middle of the stream, the logical flow of conversation seems to get a bit disrupted. Maybe I'm making something out of nothing but it just seems like the general flow of conversation has the possibiity of getting a bit out of order.
Posted by Saribellum  on  Thu Nov 11, 2004  at  11:06 AM
I know what you mean...I think I know the post that you're talking about too. Puts just a little bit of redundancy into the comments. It is a little annoying.
Posted by Maegan  on  Thu Nov 11, 2004  at  11:54 AM
Saribellum, it does disrupt the flow of conversation, but I'm not sure what the solution is. Every option has a downside.

I could go back to having no comment moderation, so that all posts appear instantly. But then the spam problem reappears. This is especially obnoxious for people who have clicked the 'notify me of follow-up comments' link, who are then automatically notified of spam.

I could force everyone who wants to post something to register. But I don't like this option, because it stops casual one-time visitors from posting.

But actually, now that I think about it, there is another option that might work. I think the software allows me to set up a 'captcha' system that requires people to type in a number shown in an image before their post will appear. I could get rid of comment moderation and replace it with this captcha system. I doubt a spammer would take the time to manually type in the random captcha code. And registered members wouldn't be required to do it. But non-member's comments would also appear automatically. I think this is the best option.

What a hassle dealing with spam is.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Nov 11, 2004  at  12:34 PM
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