Cannot view profiles....

[jaycee]

Hello!

I'm new to the board, and am having difficulties viewing member profiles.  I recieve the following error whenever I try to click on a member name:

Many apologies, but you can't view just any profile



Is there a problem with the site, or is it because I'm new and have to pass some sort of probationary period?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Mike had to tighten up security a bit because of internet spammers harvesting profiles to spam.
I think he is working on a time/post ratio thing to compensate.
Bruce

 

[jaycee]

Mike had to tighten up security a bit because of internet spammers harvesting profiles to spam.
I think he is working on a time/post ratio thing to compensate.
Bruce

Ahhh gotta love spammers :/
So does this loosely translate into I have to make so many posts to be considered a non-bot?  Or is it just a temporary glitch while admin is working on security?

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Bruce is right... he and the other Staff caught some accounts registering and then going right to peoples profiles... presumably to try to gather contact info.* He and the others always catch and ban these guys fast, but sometimes they come on during a slow time and are able to view a few profiles before we show them the door.

So, I changed the rules, and new members cannot view the profiles of others until they hit 25 posts. I'm open to feedback on how mich of a pain this creates for folks... maybe it's taking things too far but I wanted to err on the side of caution.

Comments (as always) are welcome.


Cheers
Mike

* This is a good reason to have your e-mail address hidden from public view.

 

[elliot]

Bruce is right... he and the other Staff caught some accounts registering and then going right to peoples profiles... presumably to try to gather contact info.* He and the others always catch and ban these guys fast, but sometimes they come on during a slow time and are able to view a few profiles before we show them the door.

So, I changed the rules, and new members cannot view the profiles of others until they hit 25 posts. I'm open to feedback on how mich of a pain this creates for folks... maybe it's taking things too far but I wanted to err on the side of caution.

Comments (as always) are welcome.


Cheers
Mike

* This is a good reason to have your e-mail address hidden from public view.

That is understandable and reasonable.
3 posts down and 22 to go!

Thanks for the quick replies
*cheers*

 

[dustinm]

Ah. I wondered why this was. I used to remember being able to view profiles but when I came back recently I was unable to. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Snafu-Bar]

I'm not sure how easy this would be to put in place, but hows this for an option?

Perhaps upon someone "requsting" to see someones profile it sends the person a PM alerting them someone is requesting to see their profile and then allow the user to either allow/deny the request?


Cheers.

 

[Mike Baker]

This is actually a great security thing to do Mike. Thanks for helping us all out here! And again, thanks for all the work you do for Army.ca. Who knows what I would be doing now...


Beaver

 

[socialhandgrenade]

How about instead of 25 posts you go by how long they have been members .I don't post allot .But i read allot here and i want to make sure that the info i receive is at least backed up by some knowledge of what that poster might have for experience.If I'm right out of it just let me know.

SH

 

[the 48th regulator]

How about instead of 25 posts you go by how long they have been members .I don't post allot .But i read allot here and i want to make sure that the info i receive is at least backed up by some knowledge of what that poster might have for experience.If I'm right out of it just let me know.

SH

Very good quesion.

Think of if this way.

When in a group of people, pick any group, do you always stay silent?

Get in there and be a part of the fun!

dileas

tess

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

A time-based solution isn't a bad idea... but the post-based solution was very quick and easy to implement. There's no mechanism for limiting profiles based on time unfortunately.

 

[George Wallace]

I might also point out that some of these SPAMMERS register and don't go into action immediately, but wait for a period of time after registering, so as to "remain under the radar" for a "grace period" before they go to work. 

As for all the questions about how to PM someone, and they can't do so because they can't see a profile; don't forget that there is a PM button under a person's name.

 

[MB25]

I find myself in the same position as socialhandgrenade.  I have benefited from the wealth of information that army.ca provides for a long time without posting more than once or twice.  It is not that I have no questions or concerns, but rather (as you mods all too well know) just about any question I can think of has been answered 100 times before.  I try to only open my mouth when I have something constructive to contribute.

 

[LuvsMud]

Aha! That explains why I can no longer view profiles... Oh wait this is my 25th post. We're good to go. ;D

 

[kratz]

There is a time online mechanisim with the Mil points.

Would it be possible for those who do read more than posting the 25 posts, be able to view profiles after earning a certain number of Mil points? Let's say a medimum number  300 Mil Points or 25 posts.

 

[Marshall]

Keep the post or milpoint method.. A time method can take a bit longer depending on how much people lurk.

25 posts does not take that long.. A spammer could set up some kind of refresh-bot to boost their duration to however many hours. Unless you can detect such a thing?

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

The Staff would reliably detect that better than any software would.

Anything is possible here... using time, MilPoints, posts or some combo. However only posts are built in to the software, anything else would require a custom development effort.

 

[jp86]

I understand the need to protect people from spam, so I'm not really worried about this.  But I have seen some people take flak for not filling out their profiles ("Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself so we can see if you're in your lane"), and I hope people will be a little more forgiving in this regard as long as profile-viewing is disabled.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Actually, this enhances the privacy of your profile, knocking down one of the roadblocks to completing it a bit more. I'd say this should encourage people to add a bit more info about themselves, knowing it's much less likely to see a wide distribution.

 

[George Wallace]

I understand the need to protect people from spam, so I'm not really worried about this.  But I have seen some people take flak for not filling out their profiles ("Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself so we can see if you're in your lane"), and I hope people will be a little more forgiving in this regard as long as profile-viewing is disabled.

Actually, when you look at it, those who usually ask someone to fill out their profile have many more than 25 posts under their belts, and are quite regular participants in discussions.  They have established their credibility, and often wonder as to that of a newbie.  As they can still see the profiles, I am sure the above mentioned "habits" will not change.