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| < Registration Query and an apology or two ... |
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Fri May 04, 2007 2:41 pm
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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First of, I would like to apologize for almost sending you an email as soon as I've joined your forum. It's not something I appreciate happening to me and I'm sure you get more than your share of the same drivel from people wanting something. In my case, I have a feeling someone has used one of my email addresses in an inappropriate manner in the past and I would like to find out all I can about it if at all possible. Fortunately, I thought of making a post instead. This way I not only have a chance of being publiclly humiliated but of giving your members some amusement. 
I am the owner and webmaster for an extremely small, private website that has, among other options, a user forum that I have been forced to close to public registration due to spammers. The website and all associated options are there mainly for my use as a teaching aid for the Adult Computer Literacy classes I teach. Though I do not mind if others use it as long as they "play nice", I've had more than my share of Spammers, Hackers, and Scammers.
I had found your original site some time ago and was immediately taken with your imaginative graphics. Today I finally found you again and thought I would register for your forum and try to give some positive feedback ... or at least see if your forum was as entertaining as your graphics.
Imagine my surprise when the two email addresses I initially tried (using my website domain) both came up as banned! I can only assume that my entire domain has been banned for some transgression. As far as I know (and I try never to be too definite, at my age it could definitely be embarrassing!) I have never tried to register for your forum before. In fact, when I first found your other site, you didn't even have a forum.
It is apparent to me that someone has been using my identity or my domain name to do something I probably wouldn't approve of and I can understand why you would ban an entire domain ... I have done the same with my site in the past. I would just like to know, if you don't mind, what the circumstances were. Not that I'm likely to ever be able to actually do anything about it but, if there is some information that I can provide that can help catch someone, I would be eager to be involved. Feel free to either answer in here, send me a PM, an email, or ignore me entirely. Any sort of response will be instructive in its own unique way.
If on the other hand, I have already irritated you so much that you ban me as a member as well, I will understand and will not bother you further. I have come across many little mysteries in my life and have come to realize that not all have a solution or answer at my level of involvement.
Regardless of the outcome of this post, I have now found your website and will be showing it to my students for not only the humor it contains but also the pointed commentary on certain aspects of the human condition.
Regards,
Spock
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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Sat May 05, 2007 4:47 pm
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Thread Slayer
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
Posts: 1496
Location: New York
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You beat yourself up way to much man
welcome aboard and have fun. |
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Sat May 05, 2007 8:42 pm
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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| Kramer wrote: |
| You beat yourself up way to much man ... |
Wasn't trying to beat myself up, was just trying, in as diplomatic a way as possible, to find out why my domain had been banned from someone who probably has a very good reason and a very bad impression from a previous user of said domain. 
From perusing portions of the forum it appears your founder is MIA and has been for a while. I shall probably take advantage of the time e is away to explore the forum to try to determine exactly what your core purpose is supposed to be. I'm not sure becoming a better Flame Warrior is anything I aspire to be.  I'm also fairly sure that isn't the sole purpose of this forum.
Thank you for your welcome, I shall endeavor to utilize the facilities in a manner to enhance its purpose and my enlightenment ... at least until something happens in the future that would preclude such activities.
Do I really talk like this in RL? Probably not quite as stilted as the printed page appears but I do make every attempt to be as concise as possible, even if sometimes I fail to always think of the exactly proper turn of phrase. That's the big advantage to online communication that many fail to take advantage of, Spell Check and online dictionaries and Thesauruses. 
It has been my experience so far that it doesn't matter what you really are in RL. People accept you as your projected persona as long as you make some effort to maintain it. This is one of the things I try to get my students to understand but they are so wrapped up in just trying to learn the basics I fear it may be beyond them while they are in my classes.
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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Sat May 05, 2007 10:59 pm
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Space Whale
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 2410
Location: Far, far away from wherever you are
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I'm guessing...a series of Spambots took your domain name into its IP, irritus then deleted them and banned their range, thus cutting you off. On the other hand, it might've been one of the horrendously bad trolls we had to ban for such epic failures which amounted to crimes against e-humanity(or just posting porn), which would have done the same thing.
And, uh, why is it that you mind so much having your domain blocked, by the way?
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Every person alive lives in their own personal alternate reality.
Good luck trying to get other people into yours. |
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Sat May 05, 2007 11:19 pm
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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| Smite wrote: |
| ... why is it that you mind so much having yoru domain blocked, by the way? |
Not really sure I mind, more curiosity I guess. Since it's not really used for much except teaching, I find it interesting that it seems to have spread so far.
I've only been banned from one other forum, that I know of, and that was because they didn't like me pointing out that owning pirated software could lead to a $250,000.00 fine and/or up to 5 years in jail. If they don't want my input, then I don't feel obliged to try to force it on them.
Actually, there was a second that I know of and to this day, I still don't know why I was banned. They even went so far as to remove my username and all posts, at least those that I remember making. Must have made a real mess of their forum and no, I haven't been back there either.
The first I don't bother to mention to anyone as they can get into trouble all on their own. The second, I reference still as it has some good information that may help others even if they no longer seem to appreciate my presence.
Two out of the dozens I have been a member of isn't too bad. At least I don't think so and that's all that matters isn't it?
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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Sat May 05, 2007 11:23 pm
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Space Whale
Joined: 01 Apr 2005
Posts: 2410
Location: Far, far away from wherever you are
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At this moment, for example, a Spambot named TedLauzon is on the forum. I expect a large group of similar types were accessing this site and spamming from your domain. Not much we can do, unless we wanted to encounter more of them.
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Every person alive lives in their own personal alternate reality.
Good luck trying to get other people into yours. |
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| Posted:
Sat May 05, 2007 11:36 pm
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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| Smite wrote: |
| ... I expect a large group of similar types were accessing this site and spamming from your domain. .... |
Understood and I wouldn't expect you to put up with any such activities. I'm sure it was something like that myself. I have actually received an email from someone using my domain. When I checked, there was no such email assigned!
I would truly love to catch someone doing something like that and know their physical location. I would ask the police/FBI/whomever if I could go along and watch them lock him away and impound his computer equipment. Spammers, Scammers, and such have got to be the lowest of the low and whatever they get isn't bad enough.
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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Sun May 06, 2007 1:57 am
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Abusive Admin
Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 6059
Location: The Archive of Fortitude
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Domains only get banned under three circumstances:- A spammer used it as their email address.
- A spammer used it as their website.
- A spammer posted a link to it.
In the case of your domain, I recall it being a spammer's email address. I'm wouldn't unban it even if it was one of the others. You're still able to sign up for an account here using a different email domain.
I'm well aware that websites can get exploited (typically through free software like phpBB or phpNuke). I don't hold anything against you for it. However, that doesn't change the fact exploited sites have caused spam to pop up here.
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Tireless Rebutter / Archivist
The Grand Suggestion List |
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| Posted:
Sun May 06, 2007 9:25 am
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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| irritus wrote: |
| ... I wouldn't unban it even if it was one of the others. ... |
I would never dream of asking you to do so. I just wanted to know why it had been banned. To me someone's domain is an extension of their personality. If someone else is misusing it, that is akin to identity theft and should be punished accordingly ... if you can ever determine who is the miscreant.
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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Sun May 06, 2007 11:38 pm
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TARGET
Joined: 20 May 2006
Posts: 907
Location: The World Wide Warp
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There is no need to apologize: we are pretty much certain that you are not a spammer. Whoever the other spambot was, we are certain that you are innocent.
Spock, welcome to the forum. Please enjoy your stay.
We haven't had non-spambot/bad troll visitors in a while. 
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Chaos Revenant:
Doing What You Don't Have The Guts To Since 2006
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| Posted:
Mon May 07, 2007 12:04 pm
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Clueless Newb
Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 58
Location: MD, USA
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| Chaos Revenant wrote: |
| ... We haven't had non-spambot/bad troll visitors in a while. |
That is not good. I will have to start publishing the main site URL to see if I can get some interest generated ... if no one in here minds that is. It wouldn't be much advertising, just a plain text link buried amongst others but it would be one more reference that wasn't there before.
I suppose I could also highlight the site on my home page for a while, as I do with other new discoveries. That would give it two links on my site ... not that my site gets all that much traffic.
[Added]
With the above in mind, and if those here agree, please peruse the following page and give me input as to where to place the link to best advantage:
http://pctalk.info/pages/links.htm
My initial feeling is under Educational\Miscellaneous ...
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If it isn't fun, why do it? |
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