Warning - Free email addresses

[Murray]

WARNING...Please take note.

In the past week we have had several incidents by Spammers and other unsavory characters attempting to join the forum and do their mischief.
Typically, these types use some sort of free email service in order to remain anonymous.
If these attacks continue we may have to take the step of setting the software to reject any new registration that is using any sort of free email service including hotmail and yahoo addresses.

Genuine persons wishing to join this forum, please note,
It would be better if you do not use a free email address when joining this forum.

We have deliberately set this forum to be only available to members thereby offering a higher degree of privacy protection for each member.
You will notice that the member list is also blocked for the same reason.

Murray Admin.

[Shannon]

I don't actually have a proper E-mail address to register with. I have my school one which I am using currently but once I complete year 12 (end of the year), I will no longer have an email account besides a hotmail. Is there any way you could let exeptions through if you block the free accounts?

[Murray]

Hi Shannon,
You will be fine, just email me or Gary when the time comes.

[DaveOponic]

Good on ya Murray, those idiots can really destroy a forum.

Another thing I like about Aquaponics HQ - Free from off topic rubbish, spammers and porn purveyors.

Dave

[Jackalope]

Will that include Gmail accounts? I know it's free, but when I got it you had to be invited by someone, so one forum I'm on, has exempted gmail when they got rid of hotmail and yahoo accounts. I don't know how to get another email account, as my ISP charges extra for email accounts, so to keep the costs down, I only use free ones. I have Gmail, Hotmail, and a couple from some Linux forums I use .... USALUG, and Archlinux, so other than those, I don't know what I would use for an email account. I hope your software can be set to allow those who are already members .... can it be that discriminating?
Jackalope

[Murray]

We allow gmail accounts, but I must say if I could, I would exclude them as well.
We still get 5 or 6 sign ups a day that immediately attempt to post porn links etc. Almost without exception now they use gmail accounts. And that is because the other free type accounts are gradually being banned on most interactive web sites.

It creates a lot of work just trying to keep the forum clean.
My job would be cut in half if we could get rid of gmail accounts.

Most forums now ban hotmail, yahoo and the like accounts etc. I think the day is not far away when gmail will be banned as well.

Everyone must have an email facility with their broadband internet provider ?

Why would one want to use a gmail account when they already have a real one anyway?

If it is to allow a person to be anonymous, then that is the basic problem. People get up to mischief when they think they can remain anonymous.

[Dufflight]

I use a hotmail account so I don't get a lot of spam hitting my business email address. When you give out an email address to some sites it then gets passed on. Bit of a double edged sword. At least here the members don't have access to the email addresses. And if you get pm'ed with spam you just forward it to a mod and they deal with it.

[Outbackozzie]

I change ISP's relatively frequently, so my gmail and hotmail addresses are very handy.

[Jason Palenske]

I don't know how it is for folks in Australia but here in the States many small ISP's don't even provide e-mail purely because of the existence of the free services. Especialy because ones like G-mail offer far more than they can. I know my ISP doesn't provide anything other than access so my G-mail is the only way to go. The whole situation really is a double edged sword.:confused:

[jpcw]

You should consider getting you own domain. It's actually quite simple and cheap if you get a plain .com.
You can then have anything@yourdomain.com and divert it to your ISP's email or to hotmail etc. That way you never have to change email addresses ever again. If you change ISP's you just divert your domain to your new ISP. Also you don't have to worry about forums that don't like free email addresses.

For myself I signed up as a dealer with a domain reseller, that way you get it slightly cheaper even I you only sell one (ie your own) plus if you have any friends you can do them a good deal as well. It will cost anywhere from $US5 to $AU20 per year for a domain but you have multiple emails for life. In fact it's a great spam beater, you use one primary email but keep a few others for those dodgy sites and just drop the email once the spam gets too bad.

If anyone wants any help with doing something like this let me know.

[jpcw]

I don't know how it is for folks in Australia but here in the States many small ISP's don't even provide e-mail purely because of the existence of the free services. Especialy because ones like G-mail offer far more than they can. I know my ISP doesn't provide anything other than access so my G-mail is the only way to go. The whole situation really is a double edged sword.:confused:

I think most Australian ISP's still provide emails, in fact all the one's I have had recently let you create up to 5 per account. Most people however don't realise this. The big problem is when you change ISP's.

[wafiq95]

I use gmail (free) because i`m a secondary school student.:)

[hellbent]

i had a spam/pornbot join my forums once, i just up'd the security level and so far no more problems. on my forum software it changes the capcha level to something more difficult. (you know, the 'type whats in the image' part)
ive seen some other mods where users have to answer a question, like what is 2+2 to be able to make an account.

[GaryD]

Hi,

This is an old thread. When Murray was doing the daily maintenance on the forum, the spam attempts used to irritate him (understandably) and he considered banning free email accounts.

I now do the daily maintenance and keeping the spammers out is just part of the work involved in running a public forum.

Gary

[hellbent]

and a great job too! thanks!

[Woftam]

I totally disagree and take exception to your statement about people getting up to no-good when wanting to be anonymous.

I have two anonymous accounts that stop spam getting through to my server. They work very well.

Only people I trust or, believe I can trust, get my main email address.

Now the point is, can I trust you with my main email address.
Have I your assurance that my email address will stay private in your hands.
Have I your assurance that you take adequate, protection of all email address on your server, from phishing outside.

Trust is a two way street.

[hellbent]

are you serious?

whats got a bigger likelyhood? a random person registering for the forums being a spammer or the owners of APHQ selling your email address?

[GaryD]

Hi Woftam,

As I indicated this was an old thread - Murray doesn't live here anymore and we are not contemplating banning free email addresses.

We rarely contact our email list.....except to say "Happy Birthday".....and our email list is not for sale to anyone.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

Gary