A mid-October update

October 12, 2009 in About this site by Stephen Oliver

Almost one month ago, I disabled the creation of blogs for all new registrants. If you registered before September 18th., you had the option of also creating a personal blog when you signed up. I disabled the blogs simply to get a handle on the potential harm caused by spambots that were registering here. Since mid September, bogus registrations have dropped to almost zero.

A couple of you have contacted me recently saying that you were getting nonsense comments made on your blogs. Though this is certainly a nuisance, it is easy to erase them and be done with it. Be sure that you have Comment Moderation turned on so that you must approve all comments before they are publicly displayed on your blog.

If you ever receive a message from a registered user here that you believe is spam (i.e.  you do not know the person or the message is full of advertising links and nonsence text) I want to know about it ASAP. Do not erase the message but rather email me your concerns. I can then go in and look at its source in ways that you cannot see.

Thanks again everyone for your patience and understanding as we work through these issues. Please continue to encourage new registrations.