VIJAY GANDHI

Ah spam how nice.

Obviously posting 12 will brainwash us into using him!

Another "Please send me work"

DaveA

Moderators deleting the messages doesnt seem to undo the problem. The spammer/seller doesnt learn the lesson as they never seem to bother to check what has happened to their posting. Or they simply ignore it and carry on. A more robust fix is required.

Reading his post it doesn't seem like he is selling something, he appears to be asking for help. (If he is trying to sell something, he is doing a poor job of it.)

Marianne

P.S. Deleted all but one and will send him and email.

If you have any ideas, please help me out by letting me know (reply to this topic is fine).

As far as spam is concerned, the next version of CCV should have a new thing I've been working on called (cough) 'VoiceMail. Which I've threatened before on a number of occasions, but there's a fighting chance I might find the time to release it in v1.5 (due mid-December).

Basically, it's email between members (so that external emails aren't needed, and so that inter-person communication can be controlled to a greater degree than can external email). Unregistered members, of course, don't get access to this. New members will be restricted in some way until they've been 'vetted' (no idea how at this point in time).

In time I may extend this to allow external email in and out, with some kind of mechanism to allow only 'invited' external email to pass in. Should sort the spam out.

On a seperate note, the CCV public email addresses have become so polluted by spam (much of it vile and/or highly irrelevant) that I will soon deactivate the standard public email accounts (and use a new email address which won't appear on the site in anything other than a graphical representation, to avoid 'harvesting' by spam-mongers' automated tools. There will also be a 'contact us' form which will use 'VoiceMail too.

Now all I need is a technical assistant with whom to delegate. It's a tough job, single-handedly building a community...

John

>>>New members will be restricted in some way until they've been 'vetted' (no idea how at this point in time).

Just limit it to 2 voicemails per day. That should limit them and undo the need for a vetting system, anyone with more than 2 emails a day ought to be exchanging their personal addresses.

With regards to new posters and controlling their posts. They need to be sent an auto message upon joining with big red signs saying dont advertise, then one automatically once they've sent their first posting (which perhaps ought to be seen by a moderator first before public display). The message should eb strong and tough saying if you advertise you are out, you really should be out if all you contribute on your first ever posting is an advert. This ought to make them think twice about the implications of their membership bot before and after making their first posting.

It's a difficult one to deal with.

Deleting the posts has to be the 1st step with termination of membership also a viable course of action, however there is little to stop the offender from re registering under a slightly different name.

I would think that as long as the posts are reported and deleted quickly enough these people will realise that there is little to no point in spending their time in this way, especially if they would have to continually re register.

An idea (if this became a major problem) would be to have a probationary period of say 3 days before a member can post, and more facilities such as voicemail depending on how they used their membership.
This would then give some incentive to avoid their membership being revoked.

At least this would get around the drastic alternative which would be for only paid members being able to post.

Bloody vikings.

"At least this would get around the drastic alternative which would be for only paid members being able to post."

Just wanted to add that that isn't an option. Whilst we intend to try to claw back some money from you lot by offering additional 'Voice services for a really-quite-tiny-amount (to help us keep this site going) we won't go down the route of making posting a chargeable 'benefit', though we may make other (new) facilities chargeable and we certainly will allow paid advertisements in a new commercial area.

For the record we hope that our more dedicated membership support our plans - it is extremely difficult to keep this community going without funding, and to remain impartial we need to be able to raise independent funds. If anyone out there wishes to form an impartial partnership with us in the running of this site, please speak up as the bottom line is scarily close at times :-}

John

On the subject of funding, some of you might be interested in the following:

CCV has been running for 2.5 years now, and serves approximately 175,000 to 225,000 pages per month to readers in over 40 countries worldwide, with a multi-disciplinary, international membership of almost 5,500. This equates to approximately 5 to 10Gb bandwidth a month on a 24/7 multiply redundant T1 array, and that's moderately costly.

As a free and independent site, we run this site on a non-profitmaking basis. Recently, the increased volumes and the decline in paid advertising revenue has meant that this site now runs at a loss, and to have a certain future, needs to stand on its own two feet.

To keep this community operating at the level it currently enjoys, it costs a basic £500 per month, as our co-hosting costs run to £300 and our additionals run to another £200, before we factor in any salaries or other costs.

If anyone wishes to help out financially, we'd be very happy to talk to you. Alternatively, if you have a spare TCP/IP socket on a T3 or multiple T1, and a few units of spare rack-space, we'd also consider relocating from our rather pricy co-host ISP. Especially if you're based somewhere around Edinburgh!

John

John,

The rack space etc I can't help with unfortunatly.

However testing etc I'm more than willing to help with.

Drop me a line and let me know.

cheers

DaveA

Same here,

I'd be willing to put in a few hours testing.

Steven

Your willingness to help with the testing is gratefully acknowledged. Closer to launch I'll get in touch and see how we can work this.

In the meanwhile, the biggest pressing issue that we should all have a think about is in finding a way for this community to be entirely self-sufficient so that it can remain independent and guarantee its future. Luckily, it isn't a large amount of money to raise, so if anyone has any ideas then please feel free to post...

John

Sub post office, Stocking mask & Fast Car?

DaveA

I'll try and think of something serious.

There may be an un-tapped market out there

I'll have a proper think about this, there must be a way aprt from the obvious sponsorship and all of the issues of independance that surround that.

I'm not sure what you're implying there Steven.



Enough of that or I'll let him off his lead.

DaveA

John,
We are on the verge on opening a NOC in UK somewhere near edinburgh, based on the volume of business we pick up in UK and Europe. May be we can slot some space and telco for you if you as a complementary and also as a token of appreciation of service. But if you need any in US, you are always WELCOME, i havea huge setup that can accomodate you any day , all i would charge you is a APPLE TANGO ..lol.

John, i respect ppl like you and would be happy to assist to you in all aspects.Just gimme few wks( If you can wait!).

Cheers