A Message to Ze Germans

[Zilla]

Please be advised that web.de email addresses are no longer valid for account signup at The Source. As I'm sure many are aware, we've had a surge in problems with bots and spammers lately, and about 80% of them use web.de (a free webmail service like hotmail) to create dummy email addresses for account creation.

The mod staff are doing what we can do regulate this problem, and unfortunately, banning web.de emails for account signups is one of the easiest steps to take.

There are some legitimate members who have used web.de email addresses to sign up for their Source accounts. Existing members should not be affected by this banning. If you or a friend are experiencing problems logging in, and you originally used a web.de address to sign up for your account here, please send myself or another moderator a private message and we will take the necessary steps to help fix with the problem.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[TorpidNinja]

Not a German, but nonetheless, wouldn't it be easier to use a captchas system rather than banning an entire demograph of potential users?

Mind you, I don't know the limitations of the forum software, but for some reason I was under the impression that they could be easily implemented in vBulletin.

[tivadar]

Oh no, looks like the Germans just got Das Boot! Yeah, yeah that's right, I went there. Obvious I just saw Beerfest? Probably.

[revenge_inc]

please send myself or another moderator a private message...

...and how do you send a PM if you can't login?

So if in fact you can't, as I would suspect, then unless you personally know someone else who has an account, then you are screwed.

[clavio]

Not a German, but nonetheless, wouldn't it be easier to use a captchas system rather than banning an entire demograph of potential users?

Mind you, I don't know the limitations of the forum software, but for some reason I was under the impression that they could be easily implemented in vBulletin.

http://www.botmaster.net/more1/


Bots can get by captchas now....

[TorpidNinja]

Now? Sufficiently sophisticated bots have existed for sometime that can make it past CAPTCHAs. Nonetheless, it using them leaves you with two scenarios (assuming that they're available for use freely on vBulletin:

A) The cost of the CAPTCHA recog software is prohibitive such that the bots that are currently targeting this site would be ineffectual because they can't access such software.

B) You try using CAPTCHAs, fail because the bot program is advanced enough, and - no harm no foul - because it didn't cost anything in the first place. In this event it comes down to a pretty simple concept: they really want ins on this site and then your only option is banning Germany. But, hey, at least you tried.

Either way, it seems better than eliminating a country from this site's potential user base preemptively.

[mikekelley]

He isn't elimating an entire country, just people that try to register from www.web.de.

[Lukas Preuss]

Yeah, as Mike said... it's just one e-mail provider. Not everyone in Germany uses web.de. In fact, most users that already registered from a web.de adress haven't experienced any trouble...

[TorpidNinja]

Then I apologize for the misunderstanding, but maintain that some sort of Turing Test would be wise for the boards if there are issues like this in the future.

[Zilla]

Haha. Yes, the Germans are still welcome here. And in fact, even those that had already signed up with web.de mail accounts are still able to log in as normal. Only new signups are banned from using web.de as a mail provider. Sorry for any confusion.

[Clark Kant]

zefrank.com - Damn Germans.