New members not being able to join VF

[bzar]

Originally Posted by JackieB

I had someone recently message me that they had been trying for years...yes years....trying to join VF. She says she loves the forum and can only read it, not post.

i "reported" your post - could you send a private PM to wwwendy to tell her what your friend's name is? PM me if successful/unsuccessful if you can.

Originally Posted by Usia

Jeannine (bzar) is the Exchange Moderator. Maybe she can assist?

thanks - i reported Jackie's post to bring it to the attention of the mods.

[adawn]

Not sure is part of the problem, but I'm a mod on another site and partly responsible for activating new members. We've chosen to do it manually because there are so many spammers (mainly Russian, but some have USA IPs and legit looking email addresses). I have to copy and paste every new member's IP address (that's not an obvious spammer) into two different websites to check their location and whether they are known spammers. Also, if the person is using a VPN and we can tell, we choose to not activate those people.

I've never actually counted/logged and done the stats but our tiny little niche site gets maybe 30 new members a day on average, sometimes double or triple that if the spammers are feeling industrious. So all day long I pop into that site to delete obvious spammers and plug the few (if any) remaining IP addresses into websites to check them. This way people only have to wait 12 hours at the most usually to be activated and I don't get swamped with pages of members needing to be checked with one lone legit person buried in the middle of the pack.

If you just activate everyone and let the spammers through, it's a nightmare constantly playing whack-a-mole deleting spam posts and accounts after the fact.

I have no idea how activating new members works on VFF, but these are reasons some people aren't activated quickly (or at all) on the little board I mod on.

[JackieB]

Originally Posted by bzar

i "reported" your post - could you send a private PM to wwwendy to tell her what your friend's name is? PM me if successful/unsuccessful if you can.

thanks - i reported Jackie's post to bring it to the attention of the mods.

I sent Wendy a message on FB. I know that she has been responsive to other members including myself in the past.

I just feel bad for this person....and also wonder if that is why the forum is slowing down.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by JackieB

I sent Wendy a message on FB. I know that she has been responsive to other members including myself in the past.

I just feel bad for this person....and also wonder if that is why the forum is slowing down.

i also created this thread in the "questions about using this forum software" forum in case the other mods can get to it sooner.

mods - please contact JackieB

[Pat58]

I hate to think new people want to join and then can't. We'd love to indoctrinate more vidiots.

[Sand]

Thank you so much for this thread! I had created an account before this one and it was never activated.

Years later I created this account and I didn't realize until I was activated this morning, that this account had been pending since 2015.

I have very much enjoyed reading the posts but haven't been able to contribute without my account being activated. I had sent e-mails and even tried logging in on a regular basis to see if that would work.

[JackieB]

Welcome, Sand! I'm glad you're here (finally).

I think this is something that needs to be addressed. I totally understand that Wendy has things going on in her life that are more important than a fitness forum. There should be more than one person approving members; I had someone else contact me today via my Essentrics website who has also been trying to join.

If we've had pending memberships for years, no wonder this board has gotten quiet!

[yogapam]

Originally Posted by JackieB

If we've had pending memberships for years, no wonder this board has gotten quiet!

Yes, that fits Jackie! It has gotten quiet.

I saw the list of moderators that Joni O posted. Many are not familiar to me so I can only assume they aren’t active any more. I’d be happy to moderate if Wendy is looking for new people.

[Pat58]

Pam that is so kind of you.

[JackieB]

I am also on VF regularly and would be willing to moderate. I just think we need people who are active and can approve new members and moderate posts.